Ukraine said it gained key benefits after protracted negotiations, including solemn sovereignty over its own rare earths, which are crucial to new technologies and largely untapped.
Trump initially demanded Ukraine’s mineral wealth rights to compensate Russia for billions of US weapons dispatched by former President Joe Biden three years ago.
After initial hesitation, Ukraine accepted a mineral deal to secure long-term U.S. investment as Trump attempted to significantly expand U.S. security commitments around the world.
Finance Minister Scott Bessent announced the signing of the deal in Washington, saying “both sides are committed to Ukraine’s lasting peace and prosperity.”
“This agreement clearly shows to Russia that the Trump administration has long been centered on free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” Besent said.
“And it is clear that no state or person that fundes or provides the Russian war machine will benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
The Treasury statement specifically mentioned Russia’s “full invasion” of Ukraine – a statement that differs from the “conflict” that the Trump administration usually bears a lot of responsibility for Kiev.
In Kiev, Prime Minister Denys Shygal said on state television that the agreement was “good, equal and beneficial”.
Smiguel said in a post about the telegram that the two countries will establish a reconstruction investment fund, with both sides having 50% voting rights.
“Ukraine retains comprehensive control over its subsoil, infrastructure and natural resources,” he said.
He said meeting Kiev’s main concerns, and he said Ukraine would not ask for any “debt” repayment for billions of US weapons and other support since the February 2022 invasion.
“The profits of the fund will be reinvested only in Ukraine,” he said.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Facebook that the deal would fund mineral and oil and gas projects as well as “related infrastructure or processing.”
Trump initially demanded $500 billion in mineral wealth – about four times the United States has contributed to Ukraine since the war.
The existence of the United States and the “bad actors”
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Trump has been providing security assurances for Ukraine and rejecting his desire to join NATO.
But he said on Wednesday that the U.S. presence on the ground would benefit Ukraine.
“I think the presence of the United States will keep a lot of bad actors away from the country, or certainly in the areas we are digging,” Trump said at the cabinet meeting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened Tuesday that the Trump administration would abandon mediation about the conflict – Trump vowed to end his first day of office during the campaign – unless both sides made a “specific proposal.”
Trump urged settlements that Ukraine would abandon some territory Russia seized, which rejected U.S.-backed proposals for at least 30 days.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has made any formal concessions to Russia in Crimea, the peninsula occupied in 2014 and Moscow was completely rejected internationally by Moscow.
But Zelensky, at a Feb. 28 White House meeting, Trump and Vice President Judd Vance, have taken care of expressing support for Trump’s diplomacy after the disastrous White House meeting on February 28.
U.S. Congressman Gregory Meeks, a Democrat in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Trump should now focus his efforts on putting pressure instead of “fixed” to Zelensky and Ukraine.
According to various estimates, Ukraine owns about 5% of the world’s mineral resources and rare earths. However, work has not yet begun to utilize many resources, many locations in territories now controlled by Russian forces.
According to the French Bureau of Geology and Mining Research, it is worth noting that Ukraine has about 20% of the world graphite, an important material for batteries.
Ukraine is also the main producer of manganese and titanium and says it has the largest lithium deposit in Europe.
