Ukraine, US 'agree deal on minerals'

(Sharecast News) - Ukraine and the US have struck a minerals deal that to enable Kyiv to pay back billions in military aid supplied by Washington to fight the Russian invasion, media reports stated on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was planning to travel to Washington on Friday to see his US counterpart Donald Trump to sign the agreement.

The Financial Times reported that Kyiv was ready to sign the agreement on jointly developing its mineral resources, including oil and gas, after the US dropped demands for a right to $500bn in potential revenue from the deal, which Zelenskyy said would force "10 generations" of Ukrainians to pay it back.

According to the terms of the agreement a fund would be set up into which Ukraine would contribute 50% of proceeds from the "future monetisation" of state-owned mineral resources not already producing revenue for the Ukrainian treasury, including oil and gas.

However, there was no reference to US security guarantees which Kyiv had originally insisted on in return for any agreement. Ukraine officials argued they had negotiated better terms and described the deal as a way of expanding the relationship with the US to bolster Ukraine's prospects after three years of war.

Tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy intensified last week after ceasefire talks began in Saudi Arabia last week exclusively between officials from the US and Russia. The US president also over-inflated the amount of money Washington has given to Ukraine and described his opposite number as a "dictator" for postponing elections that were due to be held last year.

"The minerals agreement is only part of the picture. We have heard multiple times from the US administration that it's part of a bigger picture," Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister and justice minister who has led the negotiations, told the Financial Times.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he was aware of the reports Zelensky would arrive in Washington this week, adding: "We're saying, look ... we want to get that money back. Without the United States and its money and its military equipment, this war would have been over in a very short period of time."

"I hear that he's coming on Friday. Certainly it's OK with me if he'd like to. And he would like to sign it together with me. And I understand that's a big deal, very big deal."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com