Cnn
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The United States and Ukraine have signed an “economic partnership agreement” which will give Washington access to kyiv mineral resources in exchange for the creation of an investment fund in Ukraine.
The United States and Ukraine are trying to conclude the natural resources agreement since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
Compared to previous versions, the final agreement would be less unbalanced in favor of the United States and is not as extensive. It states that UKRAINE US military assistance in Ukraine will count within the framework of American investment in the fund, rather than calling the reimbursement for past aid.
The agreement comes after weeks of intense negotiations which sometimes became bitter and temporarily derailed the help of Washington in Ukraine.
Speaking on Wednesday in a call with Newsnation, Trump said that he had concluded the agreement to “protect” Washington’s contribution to the Ukrainian war effort. “We have concluded an agreement today where we get, you know, much more in theory, than the $ 350 billion, but I wanted to be protected,” said Trump. “I didn’t want to be there and look stupid.”
Trump falsely said that the United States had given Ukraine 350 billion dollars since Russia has fully invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The real figure is around $ 120 billion, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
The American president said that he had said to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at their weekend meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis funeral that “it is a very good thing” if he signed the agreement because “Russia is much greater and much stronger”.
Among the terms of the agreement are “full ownership and control” of the resources remaining with Ukraine, according to the Minister of the kyiv Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, who went to Washington to sign on behalf of the Ukrainian government.
“All resources in our territory and in territorial waters belong to Ukraine,” she said, adding: “It is the Ukrainian state that determines this and where to extract. The basement remains under the Ukrainian property – this is clearly established in the agreement. ”
The signature comes a few hours after a last -minute disagreement on the documents to be signed threatened on Wednesday to derail the agreement.
The details of the agreement were not made public. However, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Sunday that the agreement “will not include assistance provided before his signature”.
“This is really an equal and beneficial international agreement on joint investment in the development and resumption of Ukraine between American and Ukrainian governments,” added Shmyhal.
Meanwhile, the tone of the US -Treasury Department’s announcement by the Ukraine’s American Department of the Treasury than the previous statements of the Trump administration, describing the war of “Russia’s large -scale invasion” of Ukraine.
“As the president said, the United States is determined to help facilitate the end of this cruel and insane war,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement, calling it “historical economic partnership”.
“This agreement clearly reports to Russia that the Trump administration has engaged in a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and long -term prosperous Ukraine,” added Bessent. “And to be clear, no state or person that has funded or provided the Russian war machine will be authorized to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Bessent said the United States looked “impatiently to operate quickly” the agreement, but it is not clear to what extent new mining projects and collaborations can be launched quickly.
Zelensky had to conclude the agreement during his trip to Washington in February – but the agreement was not signed when this visit was interrupted after a controversial oval office meeting.
Among the main points of collation of negotiations were the question of security guarantees – and if the United States would provide them within the framework of the agreement. Trump first refused this, saying that he wanted to sign Ukraine first and talk about guarantees later.
At that time, Zelensky described the draft agreement asking him to “sell” his country. Since then, Ukrainian officials have indicated that they thought that US investment and the presence of American companies in Ukraine will make the United States more interested in Ukraine’s security.
Shortly after the visit condemned to the White House, Trump ordered the suspension of American aid to Ukraine. Although the aid has since been restored, the episode has become a great awakening call for the European allies of Ukraine, who have committed to intensify their aid in the country.
Trump had previously billed the agreement while Ukraine “reimbursed” the aid that the United States has provided to Ukraine since the launch of its large-scale uninsured invasion of the country in February 2022.
Addressing Fox News on Wednesday, Bessent said that the agreement was “a signal to the American people, that we have a chance to participate, to obtain part of the funding and weapons, compensation for them.”
Under the agreement, the United States and Ukraine will create a joint investment fund in Ukraine with an equal contribution of the two and an equal distribution of management actions between them, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal.
“The American side can also count again, I emphasize a new military aid to Ukraine as a contribution to this fund,” added Shmyhal.
Kyiv allies have long been mineral wealth of Ukraine. The country has deposits of 22 of the 50 materials classified as criticism by the US Geological Survey.
These include minerals of rare earths and other materials which are essential for the production of electronics, clean energy technologies and certain weapons systems.
Global production of minerals of rare earths and other strategically important materials has long been dominated by China, leaving the western countries desperate for other alternative sources – including Ukraine.
A memorandum of understanding prepared within the framework of the Biden administration last year said that the United States promoted investment opportunities in Ukraine mining projects to American companies in exchange for kyiv creating economic incentives and implementing good commercial and environmental practices.
Ukraine already has a similar agreement with the European Union, signed in 2021.
This story has been updated with developments.
