Ukraine agrees on U.S. minerals deal

Ukraine agrees on U.S. minerals deal | Daily Tribune

KYIV (AFP) — Ukraine has agreed on the terms of a minerals deal with the United States (US) and could sign it Friday, the two countries said, a move Kyiv hopes will lead to future security guarantees from Washington.

US President Donald Trump, in part of a dramatic shift of policy that includes reaching out to Russia, has demanded that Ukraine give access to its rare earth minerals to compensate for the billions of dollars of wartime aid it received under Joe Biden.

The deal would see the US jointly develop Ukraine’s mineral wealth, with revenues going to a newly created fund that would be “joint for Ukraine and America,” a senior Ukrainian source told Agence France-Presse on the condition of anonymity late Tuesday.

The source said the draft of the deal included a reference to “security,” but did not explicitly set out the US’ commitments — one of Kyiv’s prior demands for an agreement.

“There is a general clause that says America will invest in a stable and prosperous sovereign Ukraine, that it works for a lasting peace, and that America supports efforts to guarantee security.

“Now government officials are working on the details,” the source said.

The Ukrainian source said President Volodymyr Zelensky could sign the deal on a trip to Washington as early as Friday — a timetable confirmed by Trump.

“I hear that. I hear that he’s coming on Friday,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“He would like to sign it together with me, and I understand that — it’s a big deal, a very big deal,” Trump said.

Zelensky had earlier baulked at Trump’s demands to give the US $500 billion worth of valuable minerals used in aerospace, electric vehicles and other technologies — a sum far above the official figure of $60 billion in US military aid to Ukraine since the invasion.

Ukraine hopes the minerals deal will improve relations with the Trump administration which have quickly soured.

Trump has upended US foreign policy since taking office last month, opening dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin while making threats against Washington’s traditional allies.

The US sided at the United Nations on Monday with Russia rather than its European allies, pushing a resolution that called for the war to end without condemning Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor three years ago or insisting on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Last week, Trump branded his Ukrainian counterpart a “dictator” and called for him to “move fast” to end the war, a day after Russian and US officials held talks in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv.