A long discussed landmark minerals deal between Ukraine and the United States is set to be signed today, it has been claimed.
The beleaguered country’s Economy Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, is currently in Washington DC for the final details of the agreement, sources said. Under the terms of a rare earth mineral deal, the US would have the right to extract precious metals, including uranium and lithium, from Ukraine. The Ukrainian Cabinet is expected to approve the agreement’s text today, after which it will be signed – but it will still require ratification in the country’s parliament before it can finally come into effect.
President Donald Trump is particularly on plundering Ukraine‘s mines, claiming it is essential for the US to claw back some of the money it spent supporting Ukraine against Kremlin aggression under the previous administration. He also sold the deal as a way of giving the US a financial stake in Ukraine.
The minerals under discussion are titanium, lithium, uranium and graphite, which are found in abundance in mines across the country. The Trump Administration has so far refused to detail the full terms, which are said to go well beyond those of the initial deal.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is said to be in charge of the negotiations. James Hewitt, National Security Council spokesperson, said earlier: “The mineral deal offers Ukraine the opportunity to form an enduring economic relationship with the United States that is the basis for long-term security and peace.”
The earlier deal proposed setting up a joint investment fund, which would see Ukraine extracting the state-owned resources and depositing 50 per cent of all future profits. The new deal says the US will be offered first right of refusal to buy resources that have been extracted under the joint agreement.
Ukraine will be unable to access the fund’s profits until the US recoups all the money it has spent since 2002, plus an additional four per cent annual interest charge.
Trump previously threatened Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with “big problems” should not sign a controversial mineral death with the US. He told reporters on Air Force One: “He’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal.
“If he does that, he’s got big, big problems. We made a deal on rare earth. And now he’s saying, ‘well you know, I want to renegotiate the deal.”
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