Ukraine and the US said yesterday they signed an agreement on a joint fund to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction, and a draft of the deal said it would give Washington preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals.
The two countries signed the accord in Washington after months of sometimes fraught negotiations, with uncertainty persisting until the last-moment with word of an eleventh-hour snag. “In recognition of the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defence of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, this economic partnership positions our two countries to ... accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the US Treasury Department said.
A draft of the minerals agreement seen by Reuters gave the US preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals but did not automatically hand Washington a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth or any of its gas infrastructure.
It provided for creation of a joint US-Ukrainian fund for reconstruction which will receive 50 per cent of profits and royalties accruing to the Ukrainian state from new natural resources permits in Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a video posted to X that “this partnership allows the United States to invest alongside Ukraine, to unlock Ukraine’s growth assets, mobilise American talent, capital and governance standards that will improve Ukraine’s investment climate and accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.”
Ukraine’s economy minister and deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko flew to Washington yesterday to help finalise the deal, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during an appearance on Ukrainian television.
Svyrydenko confirmed that the deal had been signed in Washington. In a post on X, she said “Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment to our country.”
For Ukraine, the agreement is seen as key to ensuring its access to future US military aid.
“Truly, this is a strategic deal for the creation of an investment partner fund,” Shmyhal said. “This is truly an equal and good international deal on joint investment in the development and restoration of Ukraine between the governments of the United States and Ukraine.”
A draft of the main minerals agreement seen by Reuters showed Ukraine had secured the removal of any requirement for it to pay back the US for past military assistance, something Ukraine had staunchly opposed.
Washington has been Ukraine’s single largest military donor since Russia’s 2022 invasion with aid of more than 64 billion euros ($72bn).
Trump repeated yesterday that the US should get something for its prior aid to Kyiv, thus the effort to secure a deal for Ukraine’s plentiful 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 after a cabinet meeting yesterday.
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