Seven dishes to remember from the Ukrainian mineral agreement

The United States and Ukraine have signed an agreement that will give Washington access to some of the country’s natural resources torn by the war.

Months in the preparation, he sets up an investment fund that Ukrainian hope will cement aid in the United States when the country has trouble repelling Russia three years after the invasion.

The Ukrainians have now published the agreement and there have been public statements on both sides. Here are seven key dishes to remember.

Trump previously demanded that Ukraine will reimburse $ 350 billion (264 billion pounds sterling) of aid which, according to him, was provided by the United States during the war – a condition that Zelensky rejected.

But Washington seems to have made a concession. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the agreement had not dictated that his country reimburses an supposed “debt”.

Trump also styled the agreement as a victory for his team, saying that his country will return “much more in theory” than the billions that were provided to Ukraine by his predecessor Joe Biden.

The language used by the United States to announce the agreement is notably more severe towards Russia than is generally the case with the Trump administration.

The agreement refers to “the large -scale invasion of Russia” and the American Treasury Department adds that no state or person who has financed or provided the Russian war machine will be authorized to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine “.

This will encourage Kyiv, who demanded that more pressures be exerted on Russia in talks between Moscow and Washington to discuss a possible ceasefire.

Despite the fact that a large part of the conversation concerning the agreement concerns the mineral wealth of Ukraine, the agreement also includes provisions for oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbons.

In all cases, the resources remain in the Ukrainian property, even if the United States will have joint access.

The inclusion of oil and gas was considered to be a softening of the Ukrainian position, because they were not in the previous versions of the agreement.

Ukraine has long aspired to join the European Union and membership talks officially started last June.

There were concerns in kyiv that the resource agreement could hinder Ukraine’s ability to join the EU, if it gave preferential treatment to American investors, because kyiv and Brussels already have a strategic partnership on raw materials.

But the text of the agreement indicates that the United States recognizes the intention of Ukraine to join the EU and the need for this agreement not to come into conflict with this.

He also indicates that if Ukraine must review the terms of the agreement due to “additional obligations” in the context of EU membership, the United States agrees to negotiate in good faith.

In addition, Kyiv says the United States will support additional investment and technology transfers in Ukraine, including EU and elsewhere.

The United States has considered the agreement essential to sign if Ukraine must continue to receive its military aid.

The first Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyryrydenko – who flew to Washington DC to sign the agreement – said it was considering the United States that contributed to new assistance in the future, such as air defense systems.

This would also mark a change of strategy for Trump – who sought to disturb military support in Ukraine since his return to the White House.

An unanswered question is that the agreement ultimately means for the state of war. The Kremlin has not yet responded to the agreement.

It seems that there are no concrete security guarantees from the United States, which Ukraine and Europe have long been pushing the White House to provide.

Trump has long been reluctant to give the same military commitment as Biden had given.

Instead, its interest in maintaining the course with support in the United States for Ukraine is more implicit, due to the economic commitments set out in this agreement.

This means that there would always be fragility for the engagement of the most important ally in Ukraine.

An intriguing point highlighted by the Ukrainian government is that for the first decade of the reconstruction investment fund, the profits will be “entirely reinvested in the economy of Ukraine”, either in new projects or in new projects.

This could be potentially significant if there is no financial advantage for the United States for 10 years.

However, this provision does not seem to be in the agreement signed in Washington, although it can then be part of a “technical” additional agreement.

After this first period of 10 years, Kyiv claims that the profits can be distributed between the partners.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday that the agreement was a signal for the American people that “we have the opportunity to participate, to obtain part of funding and weapons, compensation for them and partnerships with the success of Ukraine”.