Ukraine and the U.S. said on Wednesday they signed an agreement on a joint fund to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction, and a draft of the document said it would give Washington preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals.
The two countries signed the accord in Washington after months of sometimes fraught negotiations, with uncertainty persisting until the last moment with word of an eleventh-hour snag.
“In recognition of the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defence of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, this economic partnership positions our two countries to … accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the U.S. Treasury Department said.
A draft of the minerals agreement seen by Reuters gave the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals but did not automatically hand Washington a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth or any of its gas infrastructure.
It provided for creation of a joint U.S.-Ukrainian fund for reconstruction which will receive 50 per cent of profits and royalties accruing to the Ukrainian state from new natural resources permits in Ukraine.
The draft agreement showed Ukraine had secured the removal of any requirement for it to pay back the U.S. for past military assistance, something Ukraine had staunchly opposed.
The agreement is central to Kyiv’s efforts to mend ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and the White House as Trump tries to secure a peace settlement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Washington has been Ukraine’s single largest military donor since Russia’s 2022 invasion with aid of more than 64 billion euros ($100 billion Cdn), according to the Kiel Institute in Germany.
Trump repeated on Wednesday that the U.S. should get something for its prior aid to Kyiv, thus the effort to secure a deal for Ukraine’s plentiful deposits of rare earth minerals.
For The National, CBC’s Chris Brown visited a titanium quarry west of Kyiv to learn more about the natural resources U.S. President Donald Trump wants a piece of.
Ukrainian officials hope that signing the deal promoted by Trump will firm up American support for Kyiv in the more than three-year-old war.
“Indeed, it is a strategic agreement…. It is a truly equal, good international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The draft did not specify any concrete U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, one of Kyiv’s initial goals. Separately, Ukraine has discussed with European allies the forming of an international force to help ensure Ukraine’s security if a peace agreement is reached with Russia.
Details of reconstruction fund to be worked out
The draft does not spell out how the joint reconstruction fund’s revenues will be spent, who benefits or who controls decisions about the spending.
Shmyhal said in televised comments earlier that once the main agreement was signed, the two sides would agree on two further technical and supplementary documents outlining issues such as how the funds are accumulated.
He said Ukraine would retain control of all its resources in the deal, while the fund will invest in the development of Ukraine for 10 years.
“Ukraine will only make a contribution from new licenses, from new royalties on mineral resources. This will be our contribution, 50 per cent of which will be given to this fund,” he said.
The U.S. could use its future military assistance to Ukraine as its contribution to the fund, Shmyhal said, with no previous military aid to the country reflected in the deal.
The two sides signed a memorandum, published on April 18, as an initial step toward clinching an accord on developing mineral resources in Ukraine. In the memorandum, they said they aimed to complete talks by April 26 and to sign the deal as soon as possible.
Trump and officials in his administration threatened this month to walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine unless there were clear signs of progress soon.
