The US and Ukraine on Wednesday reached a deal over access to Ukraine’s natural resources, with Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha yesterday hailing it as “an important milestone.”
The deal signed in Washington grants the US privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources, including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas.
It has been seen as critical to fostering US President Donald Trump’s goodwill as his administration pushes to end the war with Russia.
Photo: Reuters
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement. “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian Minister of Economic Affairs Yulia Svyrydenko said on social media that “together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.”
Trump, in a NewsNation “town hall” on Wednesday, said that he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy when they both attended the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican last weekend that “I was telling him that it’s a very good thing if we can produce a deal that you sign.”
Under the terms of the deal, the US would get first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be jointly managed by both nations.
The deal is intended in part to reimburse the US for future military assistance to Ukraine.
“We made a deal where our money is secure, where we can start digging and doing what we have to do,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House earlier on Wednesday.
Washington also acknowledged Kyiv’s intentions for the deal to avoid any conflict with its plans to join the EU.
The focus will now shift to the negotiations over a peace deal.
Sybiha discussed the deal with the EU’s top diplomat.
“This marks an important milestone in Ukraine-US strategic partnership aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s economy and security,” Sybiha wrote on X.
He said he had informed European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas about the deal and that they had discussed moves to “coordinate steps ahead of important international events.”
“We discussed recent diplomatic efforts and the next steps to achieve a fair and lasting peace,” Sybiha said.
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