US and Ukraine ink minerals deal
Ukraine and the US have made an agreement that will allow Washington privileged access to some of the war-ravaged country’s minerals.
The deal heavily sought by U.S. President Donald Trump, will establish an investment scheme that Ukraine hopes will secure US support as it continues its fight to fend off Russia, three years after its full-scale invasion, Reuters reported on May 1st.
Following months of tense negotiations, the deal was signed in Washington DC on May 1st with the situation remaining unpredictable until the very end, with an 11th-hour bid to change the terms of the deal.
The accord marks a major development in US-Ukraine relations. The relationship hit rock bottom after a feisty row between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a meeting at the White House, in February Al Jazeera reported on April 30th.
The agreement will see an investment fund formed to stimulate Ukraine’s economic rebuild after the war. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the formation of a reconstruction fund was to demonstrate to Russia that the Trump administration was “committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term”.
Bessent said: “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.” According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy, the US would provide finances to the fund or give military support.
Kyiv would then provide 50% of returns from the exploitations of its mineral resources. The ministry added that all of the fund’s resources would be solely invested into Ukraine for a decade, then the “profits may be distributed between the partners.”
The US and Ukraine would share equal control for decision-making over the investment scheme, according to the ministry, with the deal only encompassing expected US military support, not prior funding.
Ukraine, has understood that the agreement is crucial to facilitating US military support, BBC News reported on May 1st. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who signed the agreement in Washington – said in an X post that the fund would “attract global investment into our country”.
Trump has more than once said the deal is mandatory for any potential US security backstops for Ukraine. Zelensky secured some concessions from Washington. Trump received noticeably less than what he had initially asked for, in which he had requested all US military aid to be reimbursed.
Ukraine’s reserves include 22 out of the 34 minerals defined as critical by the European Union.
Al Jazeera, Reuters, BBC
