Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he directed his ministers not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals because the document was too focused on US interests.
The proposal, which was at the center of Zelenskiy’s talks with US Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, one current and one former senior official familiar with the talks said.
Zelenskiy’s decision to reject a deal, at least for now, was described as “short-sighted” by a senior White House official.
Photo: AP
“I didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant agreement because in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest,” Zelenskiy said on Saturday.
The proposal focused on how the US could use Kyiv’s rare earth minerals “as compensation” for support already given to Ukraine by the administration of former US president Joe Biden and as payment for future aid, current and former senior Ukrainian officials said on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine has vast reserves of critical minerals, which are used in aerospace, defense and nuclear industries.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has indicated it is interested in accessing them to reduce dependence on China, but Zelenskiy said any exploitation would need to be tied to security guarantees for Ukraine that would deter future Russian aggression.
SECURITY GUARANTEES
“For me is very important the connection between some kind of security guarantees and some kind of investment,” the Ukrainian president said.
Zelenskiy did not go into details about why he instructed his officials not to sign the document, which was given to Ukrainian officials on Wednesday by US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on a visit to Kyiv.
“It’s a colonial agreement and Zelenskiy cannot sign it,” the former senior official said.
White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes did not explicitly confirm the offer, but in a statement said: “President Zelenskiy is being short-sighted about the excellent opportunity the Trump Administration has presented to Ukraine.”
‘RECOUP’ MONEY
The Trump administration has grown weary of sending additional US aid to Ukraine. Hughes said a minerals deal would allow US taxpayers to “recoup” money sent to Kyiv while growing Ukraine’s economy.
The White House believes “binding economic ties with the United States will be the best guarantee against future aggression and an integral part of lasting peace,” Hughes said.
“The US recognizes this, the Russians recognize this, and the Ukrainians must recognize this,” he added.
US officials in discussions with their Ukrainian counterparts in Munich were commercially minded and largely concentrated on the specifics of exploring the minerals and how to form a possible partnership to do that with Ukraine, the senior official said.
The potential value of the deposits in Ukraine has not yet been discussed, with much unexplored or close to the front line.
The US proposal apparently did not take into account how the deposits would be secured in the event of continuing Russian aggression.
The official said the US did not have “ready answers,” to that question and that one of their takeaways from discussions in Munich would be how to secure any mineral extraction operation in Ukraine involving people and infrastructure.
Any deal must be in accordance with Ukrainian law and acceptable to the Ukrainian public, the senior Ukrainian official said.
Zelenskiy and Vance did not discuss the details of the US document during their meeting on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, the senior official said.
That meeting was “very good” and “substantive,” with Vance making it clear his and Trump’s main goal was to achieve a durable and lasting peace, the senior official said.
Zelenskiy told Vance that real peace requires Ukraine to be in a “strong position” when starting negotiations, adding that the US negotiators should come to Ukraine, and the US, Ukraine and Europe must be at the negotiating table for talks with Russia.
NO EUROPE
However, Keith Kellogg, the US president’s special envoy to Ukraine, all but cut Europeans out of any Ukraine-Russia talks, despite Zelenskiy’s request.
“You can have the Ukrainians, the Russians, and clearly the Americans at the table talking,” Kellogg said at an event hosted by a Ukrainian tycoon at the Munich Security Conference.
Pressed on whether that meant Europeans would not be included, he said: “I’m a school of realism. I think that’s not going to happen.”
Ukraine is now preparing a “counter-proposal,” which would be delivered to the US in “the near future,” the official said.
“I think it’s important that the vice president understood me that if we want to sign something, we have to understand that it will work,” Zelenskiy said.
That means, “It will bring money and security,” he said.
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