Ukraine signs outline of minerals deal with US
Washington and Kyiv have signed a declaration of intent with the aim of concluding a minerals deal, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has confirmed. Meanwhile, the US secretary of state has warned that the US will withdraw from the peace process in Ukraine without meaningful progress in the coming days.
The letter of intent on the minerals deal “paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine”, Yulia Svyrydenko posted on X.
“In the meantime, we continue to work on the Agreement itself. There is a lot to do, but the current pace and significant progress give reason to expect that the document will be very beneficial for both countries.”
Compensation for aid
US president Donald Trump wants to gain control over part of Ukraine’s mineral resources and their exploitation. He sees it as compensation for the military aid Ukraine has received from the US since the Russian invasion in 2022.
Negotiations on the deal are not public, but some details have been leaked to the media. The intention is that part of the proceeds from the extraction of Ukrainian raw materials will go to a fund. This will ultimately be used to invest in Ukrainian projects but will first be used to repay the US with interest.
The US is said to have imposed stricter conditions after president Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House in February. He had come to sign an earlier version of the deal but left without signing after Trump and vice president JD Vance accused him of showing a lack of respect and gratitude.
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal is due to travel to Washington next week for negotiations on the agreement, according to a document published on Friday by the Ukrainian government.
The negotiating teams aim to conclude talks on the agreement by 26 April, according to the same source.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said the US will withdraw from the process if there are no clear signs of peace in Ukraine.
"We are not going to continue this effort for weeks and months"
American, European and Ukrainian leaders met this week in Paris and will meet again in London next week. “I think the United Kingdom, France and Germany can help us move things forward and bring us closer to a solution. I find their ideas very useful and constructive,” Rubio told journalists at Le Bourget airport in Paris on Friday.
However, “we are not going to continue this effort for weeks and months”, he said. Trump “has other priorities in the world”.
"We need to determine very quickly now - and I'm talking about a matter of days - whether or not this is doable" in the short-term, he said. "If it's not going to happen, then we're just going to move on."
Since his return to the White House, Trump has been pushing hard for a peace agreement. He has spoken with Russian president Vladimir Putin, raising fears in Kyiv and Europe that they will be sidelined from the process. However, negotiations have reached an impasse.
A worker in a graphite mine in the Uman region of Ukraine, 10 March 2025 © PHOTO PHILIPPE DE POULPIQUET / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
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