The United States will share future revenues from Ukraine’s mineral reserves, which establishes a joint investment fund between the two countries, according to a deal announced by the Trump administration on Wednesday.
The deal was held during months of negotiations as the United States sought to end the three-year war between Ukraine and Russia. It aims to gain personal gain in the fate of the country while addressing his concerns about the US providing blank checks for Kiev in an attempt to withstand Russian invasion.
“This agreement clearly shows to Russia that the Trump administration has been centered on freedom, sovereignty and prosperous Ukraine for a long time,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “President Trump envisions this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to demonstrate their commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.”
“It is clear that states or people who do not fund or provide Russian war machine can benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he added.
The Trump administration did not immediately provide details about the deal, nor did it know what it means for the future of U.S. military support for Ukraine. A familiar with the negotiations discussing them on anonymous condition, he said the final deal does not include clear assurances of future U.S. security assistance. Another said the United States rejected the idea early in the process. Despite the big fanfare, the deal would be meaningless if the battle between Ukraine and Russia persisted.
But Ukrainian supporters hope the deal could lead to Mr. Trump seeing the country as a money pit and a barrier to improving relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Last September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky first proposed the concept of Ukrainian Mineral Shares at a meeting held at the Trump Tower in September last year.
Although the announcement did not mention Ukraine's minerals, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said the deal really refers to a natural resource agreement that was once the subject of negotiations.
The Treasury Department said that the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will work with Ukraine to finalize the details of the agreement.
In an article on the telegram, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote that the two countries will have equal voting rights over the fund and that Ukraine will retain full control of its underground soil, infrastructure and natural resources. It also said that the profits of the investment fund will be reinvested in Ukraine.
“Thanks to this agreement, we will be able to attract significant resources to rebuild, start economic growth, and get the latest technology from partners and strategic investors in the United States,” Mr Shyhal said.
In Washington, several Ukraine allies breathed a sigh of relief, saying the deal had significantly improved on the earlier version, suggesting that Keefe could work constructively with Mr. Trump.
William B., former U.S. ambassador to Kiev, “Americans have accepted a lot of Ukrainians’ advice.”
Mr Taylor added: “Good signs for the ceasefire negotiations.”
A former U.S. official familiar with the negotiations said the Trump administration rejected at least one Ukrainian effort to include clear security assurances, such as continuing U.S. military aid to Kiev.
But the former official said the agreement would serve the important purpose of establishing goodwill with Mr. Trump and give him an economic benefit to the survival and stability of the country.
The deal was postponed after an explosive meeting in the Oval Office between President Trump and Mr. Zelensky in late February. In the two months since that time, the main key points in the negotiations have focused on whether U.S. aid since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022 will be seen as Ukraine’s debt that needs to be repaid.
Mr Trump said Ukraine should repay the money. Ukrainian officials say agreeing to do so will punish the country financially for generations.
Ukraine initially proposed to invest U.S. investment in Ukraine mining as a way for U.S. support any peace agreement with security assurance to prevent Russian aggression.
But negotiations on the deal starting in February are controversial. Mr. Trump also said that in addition to saying that Ukraine needs to repay the help from the United States, Ukraine should look for Europe, not the United States with any security guarantee.
The earlier drafts spin between what critics say is the Trump administration’s extortion of Ukraine and the version that includes Ukraine’s view-seeking versions, such as mentioning U.S. support for post-war security assurances. Ukraine said without them, Russia could quickly violate any ceasefire or restart the war after reassembly and reassembled.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky were planning to sign a deal at the White House in February. But Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance condemned Ukrainian leaders in front of television cameras, saying he was not very grateful for our aid and not signing it. Mr. Zelensky was asked to leave.
The Trump administration then briefly suspended the delivery of all U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine. Mr. Zelensky “should be more grateful” to restart the negotiations, Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Zelensky presented a prologue the next day, calling the Oval Office meeting “a pity”.
Some inside and outside Ukraine believe the deal is nothing more than the United States' use of Ukraine's dependence on U.S. weapons and financial support to gain control of precious natural resources without providing strong assurances. U.S. negotiators say U.S. investment will prevent future aggression.
In a memorandum of intent for the deal signed on April 16, Ukraine and the United States outlined an agreement that constituted the post-war reconstruction investment fund.
In addition to opening up opportunities for mining, oil or gas for U.S. companies, the fund could also guide reconstruction efforts, which, if a ceasefire arrives, is expected to become a multi-billion dollar business for U.S. companies.
But Mr. Zelensky made it clear that the mineral agreement itself was not the purpose. He said the purpose of summarizing the deal was to clear the path to negotiations more relevant to the conditions for a possible ceasefire in Russia.
“We believe this agreement is a step towards greater security and solid security assurance,” Mr. Zelensky said in an article on X.
Ukrainian authorities say the country holds deposits for more than 20 key minerals; a consulting firm believes they are worth trillions of dollars. But they may not be easy to extract, and Soviet-era maps outline where key sediments were never modernized, and have not been reviewed all.
Ukraine now has about $1 billion in natural resources royalties every year, much lower than Mr Trump said he hopes the U.S. profits from the deal.
The income sharing agreement emerged at a dangerous moment in Ukraine: Russian troops seized the advantage on the battlefield, and Mr. Trump was getting closer and closer to Mr. Putin.
A ceasefire agreement proposed by the United States (at least the published terms) is beneficial to Russia. This would force Kief to abandon his desire to join NATO, provide vague security assurances for Ukraine and formally recognize Crimea as Russian. Ukraine rejected the deal.
The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to get rid of peace talks. On Sunday, Mr. Trump said he hopes to reach a ceasefire agreement in two weeks or less – later, he said there may be more time to accept.
But Mr. Trump also insists that the mineral agreement needs to be signed. He said Friday that Ukraine had “hopefully, it will sign immediately” when it signed a mineral agreement with the United States for at least three weeks, he wrote.
There was some uncertainty about the deal Wednesday as Ukrainian officials arrived in Washington and said they were looking for some late changes.
At a cabinet meeting held at the White House, Mr. Best expressed optimism that the agreement he said was in principle reached by the weekend and would be signed soon.
“The Ukrainians decided to make last-minute changes last night,” Besent said. “We are sure they will rethink that and if anything, we are ready to sign this afternoon.”
Cassandra Vinograd,,,,, The Continuing Mehet and Oleksandra mykolyshyn Contribution report.
