US and Ukraine sign critical minerals deal

The US has signed a long -awaited natural resource agreement with Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance told that it would help with post -war reconstruction efforts.

President Donald Trump repeatedly urged the agreement as a condition for offering future security guarantees to Kiev, since Ukraine fights against the invasion of Russia.

In a statement, the US said that the agreement “signals to Russia” is that the Trump government “is dedicated to a peace process aimed at a free, sovereign and prosperous” Ukraine.

The deal will see the creation of a joint Ukrainian-US investment fund to look for minerals and to postpone how the income would be split.

According to the US Treasury statement on Wednesday afternoon, the newly created US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund acknowledges the “substantial financial and material support” that the US has given Ukraine since Russia arrived in February 2022.

“President Trump presented this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show the dedication of both parties to permanent peace and prosperity in Ukraine,” said Finance Minister Scott Bessent in the statement.

“And to be clear, no state or person who has financed or supplied the Russian war machine, may benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he added.

He said in a video statement that the deal would help “to unlock the growth assets of Ukraine”.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko flew to Washington on Wednesday after a clear breakthrough in negotiations.

In a post on X, Svyrydenko said – outside the Treasury building in Washington – that the fund established by the agreement would attract worldwide investments in our country ‘.

The announcement comes after a delay, of which American authorities said it was a result of Ukraine who tried to negotiate about already observed aspects of the deal.

“We are ready to sign this afternoon when they are,” Bessent said earlier on Wednesday, adding that Ukraine “decided to make last-minute changes” in the agreement.

On Wednesday afternoon, an American source criticized that was familiar with the conversations that Ukraine criticized because he tried to reopen some conditions that were apparently completed during the weekend.

Both the American and the Ukrainian teams worked through the night on Friday to Saturday to match the documents, as well as in the early morning on Wednesday, the source told the BBC.

They added that the StickPoints governance of the fund, the transparency mechanism and steps had taken to ensure that all funds would be fully traceable.

“Nothing has been removed,” Bessent said earlier when he was asked about changes in the deal. “It is the same agreement that we agreed to during the weekend. No changes on our side.”

Technical documents were signed last week by representatives from both countries.

Ukraine is supposed to have enormous reserves of critical rare minerals, such as graphite, titanium and lithium under its soil. They are highly sought after because of their use in renewable energy, military applications and industrial infrastructure.

The urge of the Trump government to access to the mineral wealth of another country comes in the midst of a growing trade war with China, where 90% of the current shares with rare earthy earth comes.

The design of the deal seemed to give American radical access to the Ukrainian industry outside minerals.

Although it did not specify security support that Washington would like to offer in exchange, it stated that the deal “was a tangible demonstration of the support of the United States of America for Ukraine’s safety”.

The agreement comes days after Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had held a face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral, and as conversations between Moscow and Washington about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine continue.

The latest Trump-Affenky conversations seemed to be much friendlier than them Meeting in the White House in Februaryand led to a mitigation in tone of the US president to his Ukrainian counterpart in the days that followed, as well as an increased level of criticism of the Russia attacks.

On Wednesday Trump said: “As you know, we are looking for rare earth [minerals] all the time.

“They have a lot, and we have closed a deal, so we can start digging and doing what we have to do. It’s also good for them.”

The first agreement would be signed in February, but fell apart after the heated exchange between the two leaders, when Trump accused Zensky of “gambling with the Second World War”.