KYIV/WASHINGTON: Ukraine and the US said on Wednesday they were ready to sign a minerals deal imminently after months of sometimes fraught negotiations, but an eleventh-hour snag injected uncertainty into the timing.
“Our side is ready to sign. The Ukrainians decided last night to make some last-minute changes,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House.
“We’re sure that they will reconsider that and we are ready, if they are.”
A Ukrainian official was en route to Washington for the signing. However, a source said the US was pushing Ukraine to sign two additional documents, and Kyiv felt it was premature.
Bessent denied that the US had made any attempt to alter the accord agreed over the weekend.
The agreement, which would give the United States access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits, is central to Kyiv’s efforts to mend ties with US President Donald Trump and the White House as Trump pushes for a peace settlement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Two sources told Reuters the signing could still happen later on Wednesday. Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko was flying to the United States to sign the deal, the country’s prime minister said earlier.
A draft of the main minerals agreement seen by Reuters showed Ukraine had secured the removal of any requirement to repay the US for past military assistance — a clause Ukraine had staunchly opposed.
Washington has been Ukraine’s single largest military donor since Russia’s 2022 invasion, with aid totalling more than €64 billion ($72 billion), according to the Kiel Institute in Germany.
Trump repeated on Wednesday that the US should receive something in return for its past aid to Kyiv — hence the effort to secure access to Ukraine’s rich deposits of rare earth minerals.
“I assume they’re going to honour the deal. … We haven’t really seen the fruits of that deal yet. I suspect we will,” Trump said following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials hope that signing the deal promoted by Trump will reinforce American support for Kyiv in the more than three-year-old war.
The draft agreement gives the US preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals but does not automatically grant Washington a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth or its gas infrastructure.
“Indeed, it is a strategic agreement … it is a truly equal, good international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
The draft did not include any concrete US security guarantees for Ukraine — one of Kyiv’s initial goals. Separately, Ukraine has discussed with European allies the creation of an international force to help ensure Ukraine’s security should a peace agreement be reached with Russia.
Joint fund
The minerals draft sets out the creation of a joint US-Ukrainian reconstruction fund, which will receive 50% of profits and royalties accruing to the Ukrainian state from new natural resources permits.
The draft does not clarify how the fund’s revenue will be spent, who benefits, or who holds control over spending decisions.
Shmyhal said on television that once the main agreement was signed, both parties would agree on two further technical and supplementary documents covering details such as fund accumulation.
He said Ukraine would retain full control of its resources under the deal, while the fund would invest in Ukraine’s development for 10 years.
“Ukraine will only contribute from new licences, from new royalties on mineral resources. This will be our contribution, 50% of which will be allocated to this fund,” he said.
The US could use future military assistance to Ukraine as its contribution to the fund, Shmyhal added, with no previous aid being counted.
The two sides signed a memorandum on April 18 as an initial step toward finalising an accord on mineral resource development. In the memo, both parties aimed to complete talks by April 26 and sign the agreement as soon as possible.
Trump and members of his administration have threatened this month to abandon peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine unless there is clear progress soon.