Ukraine and the US have said they have signed an agreement on a joint fund to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction. A draft of the deal said it would give Washington preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals.
The two countries signed the accord late Wednesday, Washington time, after months of sometimes fraught negotiations, with uncertainty persisting until the last moment with word of an eleventh-hour snag.
US President Donald Trump, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.Credit: AP
“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 over a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth or any of its gas infrastructure.
It provided for the 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.
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, reported by the New York Times.
“President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.
“And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Reuters
