Ukraine and the United States have signed an agreement on minerals. The event has received a resonance from both the Ukrainian and American sides. The reactions of Kyiv and Washington were not slow - the document is being actively discussed, calling it a key stage of cooperation and fair to Ukraine's interests.
"Apostrophe" will tell you more about this later, citing sources.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko announced the signing of the agreement with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant on Facebook :
"As agreed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump, together with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund."
The topic of the agreement began to be actively discussed in the Ukrainian information space. In particular, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal noted five key principles, including:
- Equality. The fund is created on a 50/50 basis and both parties have equal voting rights.
- Maintaining control. Ukraine retains full control over subsoil, infrastructure, and natural resources.
- New investments, not debts. The agreement does not include any debt obligations.
- Guaranteed investors and buyers. The fund will invest in projects and guarantee commercial purchases of products on a "take or pay" basis.
- Consistency with the European integration course. The agreement will not constitute an obstacle to Ukraine's accession to the EU.
"The Fund will be filled with contributions from the United States and Ukraine. The Fund's profits will be reinvested exclusively in Ukraine, " he emphasized. " Thanks to this agreement, we will be able to attract significant resources for reconstruction, start economic growth, and receive the latest technologies from partners and a strategic investor in the United States."
Ukrainian economist, president of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), former Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, associate professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, Tymofiy Mylovanov, also noted on this occasion that the agreement is a huge political and diplomatic victory for Ukraine:
"This is a huge political and diplomatic victory for Ukraine! It gives Trump a domestic political victory, and because of this a more positive attitude towards Ukraine. Ukraine was able to protect its interests in this deal! All the draconian desires of the other side, despite the insane pressure that is difficult to imagine, were canceled. And the deal looks fair."
It also, according to Mylovanov, opens up the possibility of new military assistance to Ukraine from the United States.
"I just read the full text of the agreement to make sure of this. There are no reparations or any return of previous US aid. There are contributions that are assessed at actual cost. From Ukraine, these are revenues from new projects, and from the US, military aid is potentially included. There is no requirement to necessarily sell everything to the US, or to invest only through this fund; there is also a requirement to provide fair market opportunities for the created fund to participate in new investment projects," the economist draws attention to the details.
The American side also commented on the signing of the agreement. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant stated that this agreement clearly signals to Russia that the Donald Trump administration is committed to a peace process, at the center of which is a free and sovereign Ukraine in the long term.
A press release on the US Treasury website quotes him as follows:
"President Trump conceived of this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to demonstrate the commitment of both sides to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine. And, to be clear, no nation or individual that has funded or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine."
American leader Donald Trump, commenting on the agreement, said on the NewsNation TV channel:
"Today we have concluded a deal that theoretically gives us much more than $350 billion."
According to him, this is the amount that former US President Joe Biden allegedly sent to Ukraine in the form of cash and military equipment.
"We have made a deal where our money is safe and we can start mining and do what we need to do, " Trump stressed, adding. "It's also good for Ukraine because the American presence at the excavation site will help protect the country and prevent intruders from interfering in the area where the work will be carried out."
As a reminder, earlier, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak explained what had changed in the draft agreement on minerals between the US and Ukraine.