Ukraine and the United States said on Wednesday that it was ready to sign an imminently mineral agreement after months of sometimes difficult negotiations, but a nineteenth hour grab injected uncertainty in the moment.
“Our side is ready to sign. The Ukrainians decided last night to make last minute changes,” said Scott Bessent, secretary of the US Treasury, to journalists in the White House.
“We are sure they reconsider this, and we are ready, if they are.”
A Ukrainian official was on the way to Washington for the signing. But a source said that the United States pushed Ukraine to sign two additional documents, and that kyiv estimated that it was premature.
Bessent denied that the United States has tried to modify the agreement to which the two parties had agreed 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 tries to obtain a peace regulation in the Russian War in Ukraine.
Two sources told Reuters that the signature could occur on Wednesday later. 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 minerals observed by Reuters has shown that Ukraine has obtained the abolition of any requirement for it to reimburse the United States for previous military assistance, which Ukraine had firmly opposed.
Washington has been the largest military donor in Ukraine since the invasion of Russia in 2022 with the help of more than 64 billion euros ($ 100 billion CDN), according to the Kiel Institute in Germany.
Trump repeated on Wednesday that the United States is expected to get something for its aid prior to kyiv, so the effort to conclude an agreement for the abundant deposits of Ukraine of rare earth minerals.
For the National, Chris Brown of CBC visited a titanium career west of kyiv to learn more about natural resources than US President Donald Trump wishes a song.
“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 cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials hope that the signing of the agreement promoted by Trump will make American support in kyiv in the war of more than three years.
The draft agreement gives American preferential access to the new Ukrainian natural resource agreements, but does not automatically give Washington a share of the mineral wealth of Ukraine or one of its sparkling infrastructure, the project said.
“Indeed, it is a strategic agreement … This is a good international agreement really equal to joint investments in the development and resumption of Ukraine,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The project has not specified any American concrete security guarantee for Ukraine, one of kyiv’s initial objectives. In addition, Ukraine discussed the European Allies with the training of an international force with the European Allies to ensure the security of Ukraine if a peace agreement is concluded with Russia.
Creation of the joint reconstruction fund
The mineral project defines the creation of an American-Ukrainian fund for reconstruction, which will receive 50% of the profits and royalties that accumulate towards the Ukrainian state from new natural resource permits in Ukraine.
The project does not explain how the income of the common fund will be spent, which benefits or controls the decisions concerning expenses.
Shmyhal said in the television comments according to which once the main agreement has been signed, the two parties would suit two other technical and additional documents describing questions such as the ways are accumulated.
He said Ukraine would retain control of all its resources in the agreement, while the fund will invest in the development of Ukraine for 10 years.
“Ukraine will only make a contribution from new licenses, new fees on mineral resources. This will be our contribution, 50% of which will be given to this fund,” he said.
The United States could use its future military assistance in Ukraine as a contribution to the fund, said Shmyhal, without any military aid prior to the country reflected in the agreement.
The two parties signed a memorandum, published on April 18, as a first step towards the winning agreement on the development of mineral resources in Ukraine. In the memorandum, they declared that they were aiming to make talks by April 26 and to sign the agreement as soon as possible.
Trump and officials of his administration threatened this month to move away from efforts to negotiate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, unless there is soon signs of clear progress.
