Washington and Kyiv are moving closer to signing a deal involving Ukraine’s minerals, almost two months after Volodymyr Zelenskyy first travelled to the White House to sign it.
Both Ukraine and the US have signed a memorandum of intent, published by the Ukrainian government yesterday, that says they “intend to set up an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine as part of an economic partnership” between the two countries.
What’s in the deal?
Trump has pushed for a deal that would allow the US to share in profits of Ukraine’s natural resources and critical minerals, something he casts as repayment for military aid provided by Washington to Kyiv since 2022.
The memo notes the US’s “significant financial and material support”, with Ukraine’s economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko saying she expected the deal to be “very beneficial for both countries”.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who signed the memo over video call with Svyrydenko, said the current deal was “substantially what we’d agreed on previously”.
That previous agreement, which Zelenskyy failed to finalise in February after a fiery clash with Donald Trump and JD Vance in the Oval Office, was never published, but details were shared by Ukrainian media at the time.
Those details envisaged Ukraine contributing 50% of its future proceeds from state-owned mineral resources, oil and gas to an investment fund, which would be used “to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine”.
The latest deal is not believed to include any security guarantees from the US for Ukraine, something Zelesnskyy has long called for.
Trump has previously suggested the presence of US contractors in Ukraine would act in itself as a security guarantee, but responsibility for its security would now fall to Europe.
When could it be signed?
The memorandum says both countries aim to complete discussions by 26 April, with the aim of signing a final deal “as soon as possible”.
Trump, however, has said he hopes to sign the deal sooner, by 24 April.
“We have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday… next Thursday. Soon. And I assume they’re going to live up to the deal. So we’ll see. But we have a deal on that,” he said this week.
What minerals does Ukraine have?
Before Russia’s invasion in February 2022, minerals made up 6.1% of Ukraine’s GDP (gross domestic product) and 30% of its exports.
It is home to various ‘critical’ minerals, so called for their use in technology manufacturing, defence systems, and green energy, with examples including copper, nickel, lithium, and titanium.
Back in February, Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway looked into the nuts and bolts of Ukraine’s minerals. Watch his report below.