The Ukraine and the United States said on Wednesday that they were ready to sign a mineral contract after months of minor negotiations, but a catch of the eleventh hour injected injected.
“Our team is ready to sign. The Ukrainians decided last night to make some changes at the last minute,” said US Finance Minister Scott Bessent to reporters in the White House.
“We are sure that you will rethink it and we are ready when you are.”
A Ukrainian official was on the way to Washington for the signing. But a source said the USA urged Ukraine to sign two additional documents, and Kyiv thought it was premature.
Besser denied that the United States tried to change the agreement that the two sides had agreed over the weekend.
The agreement, which would give the United States access to the mineral payments of Ukraine, is of central importance for Kyiv’s efforts to improve relationships with US President Donald Trump and the White House, while Trump tries to secure peace settlement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Reuters said two sources that the signing could take place later on Wednesday. The first deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, flew to the USA to sign the deal, the country’s Prime Minister previously said.
A draft of the main mineral contract observed by Reuters showed that Ukraine had secured the removal of the requirement to repay the United States for previous military support, which the Ukraine had decidedly rejected.
Washington has been the Ukraine of Ukraine’s largest military donors since the Kiel Institute in Germany since the 2022 Russia with the help of more than 64 billion euros (100 billion US dollars).
Trump repeated on Wednesday that the USA should receive Kyiv for its previous help, so the efforts to make a deal for the abundant deposits of Ukraine of minerals of the rare earth.
For the national, Chris Brown visited a Titan Stirkbruch west of Kyiv to learn more about the natural resources that US President Donald Trump wants.
“I assume that you will honor the deal … We haven’t really seen the fruits of this deal. I suspect that we will do it,” said Trump after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian officials hope that the signing of the Deals funded by Trump will determine American support for Kyiv in the more than three years of war.
The draft of the contract enables preferred access to new Ukrainian natural resource transactions, but does not automatically give Washington a share of mineral assets in Ukraine or one of its gas infrastructure, as the design has shown.
“Indeed, it is a strategic agreement … It is a really same, good international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shhmyhal.
The draft did not provide any specific US security guarantees for Ukraine, one of Kyiv’s initial goals. Regardless of this, Ukraine discussed European allies about the formation of an international force to ensure Ukraine’s security if a peace agreement is achieved with Russia.
Creation of a joint reconstruction fund
The Minerals draft determines the creation of a common US Ukrainian fund for the reconstruction, which is received 50 percent of the profits and license fees for the Ukrainian state from new natural resources in Ukraine.
The draft does not show how the income of the common fund is issued, who benefits or who controls decisions about the expenses.
Shmyhal said in television comments that the two sides would agree to two other technical and additional documents in which problems such as the accumulation of the funds were presented as soon as the main agreement was signed.
He said Ukraine would keep control of all resources in business, while the fund would invest in Ukraine for 10 years.
“Ukraine will only make a contribution from new licenses, from new license fees to mineral resources. This will be our contribution, of which this fund is transferred 50 percent,” he said.
The United States could use its future military support for Ukraine as a contribution to the fund, said Shmyhal, without the military help for the country in the deal.
The two teams signed a memorandum published on April 18 to determine a first step in the development of mineral resources in Ukraine. In the memorandum, they said they wanted to complete the talks by April 26 and sign the deal as soon as possible.
Trump and civil servants in his administration threatened this month to move away from the efforts to convey a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, unless there were clear signs of progress soon.
