US and Ukraine agree on terms of critical minerals deal!
The United States and Ukraine have agreed on the terms of a draft deal on minerals crucial to Kiev's push to win Washington's support as President Donald Trump seeks to quickly end the war with Russia, Reuters reports.
According to sources cited by Reuters, the draft agreement does not specify any US security guarantees or continued flow of arms, but says the United States wants Ukraine to be "free, sovereign and secure."
According to Reuters, future arms shipments are still being discussed between Washington and Kiev. Trump told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wants to come to Washington on Friday to sign a "very big deal." This came after the two leaders exchanged hostile words last week.
The US president, who has cast the deal as a payback for billions of dollars in aid to Kiev, also said some form of peacekeeping force is needed in Ukraine if a deal is reached to end the conflict. Moscow, which launched an invasion of Ukraine three years ago, has refused to accept any deployment of NATO forces.
Several European countries have said they would be willing to send peacekeepers to Ukraine. Trump said on Monday that Moscow would accept such peacekeepers, but the Kremlin denied that on Tuesday. Trump’s rush to impose an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine and his bowing to Moscow have raised fears of broad U.S. concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin that could undermine security in Ukraine and Europe and alter the geopolitical landscape.
Trump last week falsely called Zelenskiy an unpopular "dictator" who needed to reach a quick peace deal or lose his country. The Ukrainian leader said the US president was living in a "disinformation bubble." Officials from both sides have agreed with the draft and have advised that it be signed, Reuters reports.
The deal could open up Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth to the U.S. “ What we’re doing now is we’re saying, look, we want to be secure ,” Trump said. “ The American taxpayers are now going to get their money back, plus.” Zelenskiy refused to sign an earlier draft of a minerals deal after Washington sought rights to $500 billion in Ukraine’s natural wealth. Kiev protested that it had received far less than that in U.S. aid and that the deal lacked the security guarantees that Ukraine needed.
Under the terms of a draft minerals agreement, according to sources familiar with its contents, the United States and Ukraine would establish a Reconstruction Investment Fund to collect and reinvest revenues from Ukraine's resources, including minerals, hydrocarbons and other extracted materials.
Ukraine will contribute to the fund 50% of revenues minus operating expenses and will continue until contributions reach $500 billion. The United States will provide a long-term financial commitment to the development of a “stable and economically prosperous Ukraine .”
Asked what Ukraine would get in return for the minerals deal, Trump cited what he said was $350 billion already offered by the US "and a lot of ... military equipment and the right to fight."
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