The United States will share the future revenues of Ukraine mineral reserves under an agreement announced Wednesday by the Trump administration which creates a joint investment fund between countries.
The agreement comes after months of difficult negotiations when the United States tried to negotiate the end of the three-year war of Ukraine with Russia. He is intended to give President Trump a personal participation in the fate of the country while responding to his concerns that the United States has provided Kyiv a white check to try to resist the invasion of Russia.
“This agreement clearly reports to Russia that the Trump administration has engaged in a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and long -term prosperous Ukraine,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement. “President Trump planned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show the commitment of both parties to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.”
He added: “And to be clear, no state or person that has financed or provided the Russian war machine will be authorized to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
The Trump administration did not immediately provide details on the agreement, and it was not clear what it meant for the future of American military support in Ukraine. A person familiar with negotiations, discussing her on condition of anonymity, said the final agreement does not include explicit guarantees of future US security assistance. Another said that the United States rejected this idea at the start of the process. Despite the fanfare, the agreement will have little importance if the fights between Ukraine and Russia persist.
But supporters of Ukraine hope that the agreement could lead Mr. Trump to see the country as something more than a silver pit and an obstacle to the improvement of relations with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
The concept of giving the United States a participation in Ukraine minerals was proposed for the first time to Mr. Trump by the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, at a meeting at Trump Tower last September.
Although the announcement does not mention the minerals of Ukraine, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department said that the agreement referred to the natural resources pact which had been the subject of negotiations.
The Treasury Department said that the US International Development Finance Corporation would work with Ukraine to finalize the details of the agreement.
In an article on TelegramThe Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote that the two countries would have equal voting rights on the fund and that Ukraine would retain full control over its sub-company, its infrastructure and its natural resources. He also said that the profits from the investment fund would be reinvested in Ukraine.
“Thanks to this agreement, we will be able to attract significant resources for reconstruction, start economic growth and receive the latest partner technologies and a strategic investor in the United States,” said Shmyhal, according to a translation of his post.
In Washington, several Ukraine allies have pushed a limited sigh of relief, qualifying the agreement to improve notable compared to previous versions – and a sign that kyiv can work constructively with Mr. Trump.
“They obtained a much better mineral agreement” than the one who proposed for the first time, said William B. Taylor, former American ambassador to kyiv. “The Americans have taken many suggestions from the Ukrainians.”
“A good sign for ceasefire negotiations,” added Taylor.
A former American official familiar with negotiations said that the Trump administration had reached at least one Ukrainian effort to include explicit security guarantees, such as the continuation of American military aid in kyiv.
But the former official declared that the agreement would serve the important objective of building good will with Mr. Trump and giving him an economic interest in the survival and stability of the country.
The agreement had been delayed after an explosive meeting at the oval office at the end of February between President Trump and Mr. Zelensky. During the two months since then, the main point of collision of negotiations had been focused on whether the American aid given to Ukraine since Russia launched its large -scale invasion in February 2022 would be treated as a debt that Ukraine had to reimburse.
Trump said Ukraine is expected to reimburse the money. Ukrainian officials have said that accepting it to do so would financially punish the country for generations.
Ukraine initially proposed to draw American investments in mining in Ukraine to encourage the United States to support any peace agreement with security guarantees to prevent Russian aggression in the future.
But discussions on the agreement were controversial as early as their start in February. In addition to saying that Ukraine had to reimburse the United States for its aid, Trump also said that Ukraine should turn to Europe, not the United States, for any security guarantee.
Previous versions had pivoted between what the criticisms called a cheeky extortion of Ukraine by the Trump administration and the versions which included points sought by Ukraine, such as references to American support for post-war security guarantees. Without them, said Ukraine, Russia could quickly rape any ceasefire or restart war after gathering and rearm.
Trump and Mr. Zelensky were to sign an agreement at the White House in February. But instead of signing him, Trump and Vice-President JD Vance reprimanded the Ukrainian leader in front of television cameras, saying that he was not grateful enough for American help. Mr. Zelensky was invited to leave.
The Trump administration then briefly suspended the delivery of any military aid and sharing American intelligence for Ukraine. Trump said Mr. Zelensky “should be more grateful” to restart negotiations.
Mr. Zelensky presented himself with an opening the next day, calling for the meeting of the “regrettable” oval office.
Some in and outside Ukraine have seen the agreement as nothing more than the United States taking advantage of Ukraine’s dependence on American weapons and financial support to gain control of precious natural resources, without offering strong guarantees in return. American negotiators said that US investment would dissuade future assault.
In a memorandum of understanding to conclude the agreement, signed on April 16, Ukraine and the United States described an agreement to form an investment fund in post-war reconstruction.
In addition to opening opportunities for American companies in mines, oil or natural gas, the fund could lead reconstruction work, which should be a company of several billion dollars if a ceasefire is reached, for American companies.
But Mr. Zelensky clearly indicated that the mineral agreement is not an end in itself. Concluding the agreement aims to pave the way for more consecutive talks on American military support and under the terms of a possible ceasefire with Russia, he said.
“We consider this agreement as a step towards greater security and solid security guarantees, and I really hope that it will work effectively,” said Zelensky in March in a post on x.
Ukrainian authorities say the country has deposits of more than 20 critical minerals; A consulting firm appreciated as worth several dollars billions. But they may not be easy to extract, and the cards of the Soviet era describing where the critical deposits have never been modernized and they were not all carefully verified.
Ukraine is now gaining approximately $ 1 billion a year in natural resources fees, well below hundreds of billions of dollars, Trump said he expected the United States to draw from the agreement.
The income sharing agreement comes at a perilous time for Ukraine: Russian forces have seized the advantage on the battlefield, and Mr. Trump approached Mr. Putin.
A ceasefire agreement proposed by the United States-at least the terms that have been made public-promote Russia. He would oblige Kyiv to abandon his aspirations to join NATO, would only offer Ukraine only guarantees waves of security and would see the United States officially recognizing Crimea as Russian. Ukraine rejected this agreement.
The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to move away from peace negotiations. Trump said on Sunday that he wanted a cease-fire contract in two weeks or less-later, he said that a little more time could be acceptable.
But Mr. Trump also insisted that the mineral agreement was to be signed. On Friday, he said that Ukraine was at least three weeks late in signing the mineral agreement with the United States, “let’s hope it will be signed immediately,” he wrote on Truth Social.
On Wednesday, there was a certain uncertainty about the agreement, while Ukrainian officials arrived in Washington and said they were looking for late changes.
During a meeting from the cabinet to the White House, Mr. Bessent expressed his optimism that the agreement, which, according to him, was reached in principle during the weekend, would soon be signed.
“The Ukrainians decided last night to make last minute changes,” said Mr. Bessent. “We are sure they will reconsider this and we are ready to sign this afternoon if they are.”
Cassandra Vinograd,, Constant meheut And Oleksandra Mykolyshyn Contributed reports.
