Kyiv / Washington: Ukraine and the United States said on Wednesday that it was ready to sign a mineral agreement imminently after months of sometimes difficult negotiations, but an eleventh hour clip injected uncertainty in timing.
“Our team is ready to sign. The Ukrainians decided last night to make last minute changes,” said Scott Bessent, secretary of the US Treasury, to the White House journalists.
“We are sure they will reconsider this and we are ready, if they are.”
A Ukrainian official was on the way to Washington for the signing. However, a source said the United States pushed Ukraine to sign two additional documents, and kyiv estimated that it was premature.
Bessent denied that the United States had attempted the agreement of the agreed agreement during the weekend.
The agreement, which would give the United States access to Ukraine mineral deposits, is at the heart of kyiv’s efforts to repair ties with US President Donald Trump and the White House while Trump requests a regulation of peace in the Russian war in Ukraine.
Two sources told Reuters that the signature could still occur later on Wednesday. The first Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko was theft in the United States to sign the agreement, said the country’s Prime Minister earlier.
A project of the main agreement of the minerals observed by Reuters has shown that Ukraine has obtained the abolition of any requirement to reimburse the United States for previous military assistance – a clause Ukraine had firmly opposed.
Washington has been the largest military donor in Ukraine since the invasion of Russia in 2022, with aid totaling more than 64 billion euros ($ 72 billion), according to the Kiel Institute in Germany.
Trump repeated on Wednesday that the United States is expected to receive something in exchange for his help in kyiv – hence the effort to obtain access to the rich Ukrainian deposits of rare earth minerals.
“I guess they will honor the agreement. … We have not yet really seen the fruits of this agreement. I suspect that we will do it,” said Trump after a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials hope that the signing of the agreement promoted by Trump will strengthen US support in kyiv in the war of more than three years.
The draft agreement gives preferential access to the United States to new Ukrainian natural resources agreements, but does not automatically give Washington a share of the mineral wealth of Ukraine or its gas infrastructure.
“Indeed, it is a strategic agreement … It is a good international agreement really equal to joint investments in the development and resumption of Ukraine,” said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The project did not include any American concrete security guarantee for Ukraine – one of kyiv’s initial objectives. In addition, Ukraine discussed the European Allies with the creation of an international force with the European allies to ensure the security of Ukraine if a peace agreement is concluded with Russia.
Joint fund
The mineral project defines the creation of a joint UKrainian reconstruction fund, which will receive 50% of the profits and fees that accumulate in the Ukrainian state from new natural resource permits.
The project does not clarify how the fund’s revenues will be spent, which benefit from it, or which holds the control of expenditure decisions.
Shmyhal declared on television that once the main agreement signed, the two parties would agree on two other technical and additional documents covering details such as the accumulation of funds.
He said Ukraine would keep full control of its resources under the agreement, while the fund would invest in the development of Ukraine for 10 years.
“Ukraine will only contribute new licenses, new fees on mineral resources. This will be our contribution, 50% of which will be allocated to this fund,” he said.
The United States could use future military assistance in Ukraine as a contribution to the fund, added Shmyhal, without any previous help.
The two parties signed a memorandum on April 18 as a first step towards the finalization of an agreement on the development of mineral resources. In the memo, the two parties aimed to make talks by April 26 and sign the agreement as soon as possible.
Trump and members of his administration threatened this month to abandon peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine unless there is soon clear progress.
