The US and Ukraine have finally signed a deal giving America access to rare earth minerals in exchange for President Donald Trump’s support in ending the war with Russia.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced they had signed the agreement in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
The deal, which was subject to contentious debate for weeks, will allow the US to engage in investment projects developing Ukraine’s resources including natural gas, oil, aluminum and graphite.
It establishes the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, with each nation putting up 50% of the financing and America’s future military assistance counting toward it. Trump has long sought to end ‘blank checks’ to Ukraine.
‘As the President has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war,’ stated Bessent.
‘This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.’
The deal recognizes that the US has provided ‘significant financial and material support’ to help Ukraine defend itself since Russian launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to the US. It is meant to position both countries to work collaboratively to ‘accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery’.
Bessent credited Trump with envisioning ‘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,’ he stated.
Svyrydenko X announced on X (formerly Twitter) that she signed the agreement on behalf of Ukraine’s government.
‘Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country,’ she wrote.
The deal had been on the table since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House in late February with the US anticipating he would sign the agreement.
But Zelensky’s Oval Office meeting with Trump quickly descended into a shouting match, with the Ukrainian leader being asked to leave without singing the deal.
Trump and Zelensky last spoke in person as they attended the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday.
In the hours before the deal was signed on Wednesday, sources told CNN that the two sides encountered last-minute disagreements.
Neither president immediately remarked on the signed deal on social media platforms.
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