Ukraine has accepted an agreement with the United States regarding mining rights, an agreement that, according to President Trump, will be formalized on Friday in a ceremony in the White House in the presence of the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. Sources close to interviews reported that the text of the agreement was aimed and that the United States renounced the previous request to obtain 500 billion dollars from the potential revenues deriving from the exploitation of Ukrainian mining resources. Trump, engaged in negotiations to end the conflict, said that the agreement on mining resources would contribute to compensating the financial aid granted by the United States to Ukraine to support Russian invasion resistance. “It is an agreement of great importance. It could be worth up to a trillion of dollars. We are investing hundreds of billions of dollars between Ukraine and Russia for a war that would never have had to burst, “Trump said to journalists last Tuesday.
The agreement for access to the natural resources of Ukraine, including those of oil and gas, represented a critical node in relations between Kiev And Washington in the last week. The question emerged when Zelensky refused to sign an agreement on the mining rights proposed by the Administration Trump. European officials have experienced surprise in the face of some requests made by the United States in the offer, including the claim of a maximum of 500 billion dollars of revenue deriving from mining exploitation, a figure far higher than what Washington has so far destined Ukraine from the beginning of the Russian invasion. According to the Wall Street Journalif the agreement were to be finalized, would represent a success for Zelensky in its often complex relationship with Trump. The Ukrainian president insisted on a direct meeting with Trump, refusing to sign the agreement with a lower degree representative, the secretary of the treasure Scott Bessent.
The refusal of Zelensky To sign the agreement led to a rapid worsening of the relationships between Washington and Kiev. For months, the Ukrainian president had declared that Ukraine partners in the war against Russia could have obtained access to the country’s mining resources. However, he explained that he could not accept an agreement that does not provide for security guarantees for Ukraine. Even European representatives expressed amazement in the face of some of the conditions set by the United States, including the request of a maximum of 500 billion dollars of revenue deriving from mining activity, a figure higher than the amount of the economic aid provided by the United States to Ukraine from the beginning of the Russian invasion. “I don’t want something to become a debt that ten generations of Ukrainians will have to repay,” said on Sunday in a press conference.
After Zelensky rejected the initial proposal, Trump labeled him as “a dictator” and accused, in a unfounded way, the Ukrainian of having started the conflict. In the meantime, high American officials have met with their Russian counterparts to discuss possible solutions to war, excluding Ukraine from interviews. In addition, the United States expressed a vote against a United Nations resolution that condemned the Russian invasion. Although the new document does not provide for security guarantees, Ukrainian representatives hope that they can facilitate the restoration of the country’s relations with Trump. The latter declared that in Ukraine Peacekeeping forces could be unfolded, without specifying if the United States would have provided support or correspondent for the mission of deterrence. Nonetheless the opposition of Russia in the presence of European forces on the Ukrainian territory, Trump has ensured to journalists, last Tuesday, that the agreement would foresee “a form of Peacekeeping acceptable for everyone”.
The Financial Times He had previously reported the content of the final text of the agreement. According to the planned terms, Ukraine will allocate part of the revenues deriving from the future development of its mining resources to a fund dedicated to investments in projects in the country. The resources that currently guarantee entry to the Ukrainian government, such as the production of oil and gas, will not be included in the agreement. The participation fee of the United States in the Fund and any co -ownership agreements will be established in subsequent negotiations. Ukraine is believed to have deposits of at least 20 of the 50 minerals that the United States consider critics. Among these, lithium, titanium, manganese, ferrous minerals, mercury, coal, scholarship, uranium And rare eartha collection of 17 essential elements for everything, from smartphone to the defense industry. In addition, Ukraine and the third largest iron exporter in the world and holds beyond 19 million tons of ascertained reserves graphite which are used to make the batteries of electric vehicles
According to sector analysts, their overall potential value is estimated in thousands of billions of dollars. However, up to 40% of those mineral deposits are in areas of the country currently under Russian employment. Much of what is under Ukrainian control has never been extracted. Make them commercially sustainable will require, in some cases, years of study and hundreds of millions of dollars of investments, the capital that it will be difficult to find while the war is still in progress. Finally, Russia and the United States are exploring opportunities to develop joint economic projects, said Wednesday Kirill DmitrievEconomist and Russian representative for economic cooperation and international investments, according to what reported by the Russian news agency Tass. Dmitrievappointed on Sunday by President Vladimir Putin, he is considered – according to Reuters – a central figure in Moscow’s efforts to strengthen relations with the new administration of the US president Donald Trump.
