The United States and Ukraine are trying to hammer out a natural resources agreement that would give Washington access to Kyiv’s untapped mineral riches in exchange for investments and what Ukraine hopes would be concrete security guarantees.

A copy of the agreement obtained by The New York Times says that the United States “supports Ukraine’s effort to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”

But Ukraine appears to have steered away from America’s first brazen, extractive demands into something that is closer to a joint investment venture. The deal looks to be a good way short of the $500bn “payback” that Mr Trump had demanded from Ukraine,