Kiev has handed Washington the final draft of the mineral agreement; it focuses on the creation of a reconstruction fund for Ukraine, CNN quoted a Ukrainian source familiar with the talks as saying.
According to the source, ‘problematic technical details,’ including the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine, were decided to be left until further discussions.
‘The US side is very much opposed to the inclusion (in the document) of security guarantees,’ the source said.
Kiev hopes the topic will be raised at the upcoming meeting between Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump. Trump said the day before that he might meet with him this week or next week.
‘Everything is ready from our side,’ the source said.
According to him, Ukraine has ‘done everything possible to make the terms acceptable’ and is waiting for the Americans’ response.
US Treasury Department chief Scott Bessent said the deal offered by Washington does not include military guarantees, but ‘implies guarantees of active investment’ and is part of Trump’s negotiating strategy to ‘return Ukrainians to a peaceful life’. As envisioned by the United States, Ukraine’s revenues from natural resources, infrastructure and other assets would be channelled into a special fund focused on the long-term reconstruction and development of the country. Initially, the US share in the fund was supposed to be 100 per cent, but according to the Financial Times, the latest version of the document does not include this clause.
Zelensky emphasises that the rare earth minerals agreement should be mutually beneficial. Last week, he refused to recognise the $500bn financial claims made by Trump and said he would not sign papers on which ten generations of Ukrainians would have to pay.
According to Zelensky, since the start of the full-scale conflict with Russia, the US and Europe have together allocated $200bn, with the US part accounting for $67bn in weapons and $31.5bn in direct financial aid.