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Details in the minerals deal follow months of sometimes fraught negotiations between Ukraine and the US
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Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has revealed key details of the ‘historic’ minerals deal which was reached on Wednesday, following months of sometimes fraught negotiations.
Yulia Svyrydenko, who signed the agreement alongside US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington, says the agreement would have knock-on effects for Ukraine.
Through the deal, the countries will create a joint fund to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction, with a draft saying Washington would get preferential access to new Ukrainian resource deals.
“It is important that the agreement will become a signal to other global players that it is reliable to cooperate with Ukraine in the long term – for decades,” Ms Svyrydenko said.
The deal comes as overnight attacks killed several people. Russian drone strikes on the Black Sea port city of Odesa in the early hours of Thursday killing two and injuring 15, emergency services said. Russia also reported that Ukrainian strikes in the Russian-controlled part of Kherson killed seven.
Earlier, Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi has said Russian forces have significantly increased the intensity of fighting in eastern Ukraine as Vladimir Putin is publicly talking about wanting a ceasefire.
Ukrainian emergency services tackled huge fires in Odesa following a Russian drone attack that took place in the early hours of Thursday, according to the local authorities.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has met with senior minister from Luxembourg.
Mr Zelensky said in the meeting on Wednesday he thanked the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence for their ongoing support to Ukraine.
“We discussed Luxembourg’s participation in the reconstruction of the Kryvyi Rih district and the city of Kryvyi Rih, as well as our European integration. Diplomatic efforts to achieve a reliable peace were also on the agenda,” he said on X.
“Ukraine is ready for a full and unconditional ceasefire for a sufficient period, which should be the first step toward peace. We are ready for negotiations, but only after the killing of our people stops. And we are grateful to everyone who supports us in this.”
Mark Almond writes that the minerals deal Ukraine agreed with the US is less humiliating than the one Zelensky initially refused to sign, but it doesn’t necessarily leave Ukraine better off.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has called the US and Ukraine minerals deal “a first of its kind economic partnership for the reconstruction and long term economic success of Ukraine.”
“President Trump has been clear from the beginning he wants the killing in this brutal war to end. This agreement shows how invested the president is in securing a truly lasting peace,” she said in a press briefing.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the agreement was a full economic partnership between American and Ukraine that will give president Donald Trump a stronger negotiating position.
The deal will show “Russian leadership that there is no daylight between the Ukrainian people and the American people, between our goals,” Mr Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for helping to mediate prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin and Sheikh Mohammed spoke by phone on Thursday.
Mr Putin also hosted the United Arab Emirates’ deputy prime minister and the minister of interior, Russia’s foreign ministry said.
Ukraine is sitting on one of Europe’s largest deposits of critical minerals, most of which remain untapped. Here are some of the key locations:
The agreement can be amended if both countries agree, the full document of the US-Ukraine minerals agreement said.
It will remain in force “until such time as the Parties agree to its termination,” the agreement said, and both sides agreed to resolve any disputes over the deal “by mutual consultation”.
“The Parties shall endeavor to agree on the interpretation and application of this Agreement and shall make every attempt through cooperation and consultations to arrive at a mutually satisfactory resolution of any matter that might affect its operation.”
In the agreement, the US will gain an interest in any new project involving Ukraine’s natural resources.
The list is long, and includes rare earth minerals including lithium, graphite and titanium, as well as tin, zinc, copper and gold.
Natural gas is also on the list, as is oil.
In total more than 50 commodities are included in the agreement.
In the full text of the deal signed yesterday between Washington and Kyiv, the US has recognised Ukraine’s efforts towards peace.
The document says: “the United States of America and Ukraine recognise the contribution that Ukraine has made to strengthening international peace and security by voluntarily relinquishing the world’s third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.”
The deal also says both sides have agreed that any income from the fund will not be taxed, including tariffs.
World affairs editor Sam Kiley says the US-Ukraine mineral deal is good for both countries:
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said that he didn’t want to look “foolish” in sending US aid to defend Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
The new deal gives him a “win” – he had been made to feel that America will gain from its investment in Kyiv, which amounts to about $130 billion.
Nonetheless, by striking the mineral deal, Trump has been prised away from the embrace of Putin because he sees more immediate financial and personal profit now in Kyiv.
He is fickle and fissile and there will be many opportunities to accidentally drive him back into the arms of Moscow where he feels safe and celebrated after years of flattery by the Kremlin.
He has not acted on principle in defending a young democracy against a foreign invasion and he has not agreed the deal because it binds America back into the fabric of Europe after ripping it out.
But he is on board – which means Volodymyr Zelensky has outplayed the master manipulator Putin.
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Ukraine latest: US hails ‘first of its kind’ minerals deal as strong signal to Putin – The Independent
