The United States and Ukraine announced on Wednesday an economic agreement after a press of several weeks from American President Donald Trump on Ukraine to compensate Washington for billions of military and economic aid to help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion.
The Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said in a video published on X that “this partnership allows the United States to invest alongside Ukraine, to unlock Ukraine growth assets, to mobilize American talents, capital and governance standards that will improve the Ukraine’s investment climate and accelerate economic recovery from Ukraine.”
The announcement arrives at a critical moment of the war when Trump has become more and more frustrated by the leaders of Russia and Ukraine with the brutal battles that drag.
The American president criticized his Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for measures which, according to him, extended the murder, and he reprimanded Russian President Vladimir Putin for having complicated negotiations with the “very bad timing” by launching fatal strikes on Kyiv.
Trump met Zelenskyy on Saturday on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis.
The Minister of the Economy of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, in an article on X, celebrated the breakthrough.
“With the United States, we create the fund that will attract global investments to our country,” she said.
The two parties only offered naked details on the structure of the agreement, but he should give the United States access to his precious rare minerals in the hope of ensuring continuous American support in kyiv in his crushing war with Russia.
The Ukrainian Minister of Economy and Vice-Prime Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, flew to Washington on Wednesday to help finalize the agreement, said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during an appearance on Ukrainian television. Although the main part of the agreement was settled, there were still obstacles to overcome, said a senior Ukrainian official who spoke under the cover of anonymity because the manager was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
For Ukraine, the agreement is considered the key to ensuring its access to future American military aid.
“Really, this is a strategic case for the creation of an investment partners’ fund,” said Shmyhal. “This is really an equal and good international agreement on joint investment in the development and restoration of Ukraine between the governments of the United States and Ukraine.”
Trump began his push for an agreement in February that he wanted to access Ukraine’s rare earth materials as a condition for continuous support of the United States in the war, describing him as a reimbursement for billions of dollars in aid that the United States brought to kyiv.
But the talks stalled after an oval office reunion tent from American and Ukrainian leaders, and reaching an agreement since then, it has proven difficult and tense relationships between Washington and kyiv.
Negotiations seemed to be extended until the two parties confirmed that an agreement had been reported for the agreement.
Earlier Wednesday, Bessent said at a meeting from the Cabinet to the White House – a few hours after Ukrainian officials said that an agreement had been almost finalized – that there was still work to do.
“The Ukrainians decided last night to make last minute changes,” said Bessent when asked information that Ukraine was ready to accept the pact. “We are sure they will reconsider this. And we are ready to sign this afternoon if they are. ”
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He did not explain the late changes he said that Ukraine has brought.
The United States has sought access to more than 20 raw materials deemed strategically essential to its interests, including certain non-minerals such as oil and natural gas. Among them, Ukraine titanium deposits, which are used to make aircraft wings and other aerospace manufacturing, and uranium, which is used for nuclear energy, medical equipment and weapons. Ukraine also has lithium, graphite and manganese, which are used in electric vehicle batteries.
After Kyiv thought that the initial American agreement of the agreement has disproportionately favored American interests, he introduced new provisions to respond to these concerns.
According to Shmyhal, the latest version would establish an equal partnership between the two countries and last 10 years. Financial contributions to a joint fund would be made in cash, and only new American military aid would count American. The aid provided before signing the agreement would not be counted. Unlike an earlier version, the agreement would not be in conflict with the path of Ukraine to membership of the European Union – a key provision for kyiv.
The Ukrainian cabinet approved the agreement on Wednesday, allowing Svyrydenko to sign it in Washington. Once signed by both parties, the agreement should be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament before it can take effect.
Putin wants answers before engaging in a ceasefire
Negotiations are involved in the midst of rocky progress in the push of Washington to stop the war.
Putin supports a cease-fire before the peace negotiations, “but before this is done, it is necessary to answer a few questions and sort a few nuances,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Putin is also ready for direct talks with Ukraine without preconditions to seek a peace agreement, he added.
“We realize that Washington wants to achieve rapid progress, but we hope to understand that the regulation of the Ukrainian crisis is far too complex to be done quickly,” Peskov said at his conference on a daily call with journalists.
Trump expressed his frustration as to the slowness of progress in negotiations to stop war. The leaders of Western Europe accused Putin of blocking while his forces seek to grasp more Ukrainian land. Russia captured almost a fifth of the territory of Ukraine since the forces of Moscow launched a large -scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
Trump has long rejected war as a waste of life and money from American taxpayers – a complaint he repeated on Wednesday at his meeting of the cabinet. This could end a crucial military aid for Ukraine and heavier economic sanctions against Russia.
We want both sides to accelerate things
The US State Department attempted on Tuesday to postpone both parties to move more quickly and warned that the United States could withdraw from negotiations if there is no progress.
“We are now at a time when concrete proposals must be delivered by both parties on how to end this conflict,” said the department of department, Tammy Bruce, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him.
Russia has effectively rejected an American proposal for an immediate and complete 30-day ceasefire, which makes it conditional when the mobilization effort of Ukraine and Western weapons supplies in Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Ukraine had accepted an unconditional truce only because it was pushed back to the battlefield, where the greatest Russian forces have the upper hand.
The UN says that the Ukrainian civilian victims are increasing
Meanwhile, Ukrainian civilians were killed or injured in attacks every day this year, according to a UN report on Tuesday in New York.
The United Nations Human Rights Office declared in the report that during the first three months of this year, it had checked 2,641 civilian victims in Ukraine. It was almost 900 more than during the same period last year.
In addition, between April 1 to 24, civilian victims in Ukraine increased by 46% compared to the same weeks in 2024, he said.
The Daily Grind of the War shows no sign of relaxation. A night attack of Russian drones against the second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, injured at least 45 civilians, said Ukrainian officials.
Also on Wednesday, the Ukrainian security service said that its drones had hit the Murom instrument engineering plant in the Vladimir region in Russia overnight, causing five explosions and a fire in the military installation. The complaint could not be checked independently.
Press writer Assois Fatima Hussein contributed to reports.
