Washington and Kyiv conclude an agreement to access natural resources

Washington and Kyiv signed a broad economic agreement on Wednesday that establishes an investment fund to rebuild war-torn Ukraine and gives the Trump administration access to Ukraine’s natural resources.

This agreement came in parallel with diplomatic talks to find a solution to the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, which has been ongoing for three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I am pleased to announce today the signing of a historic Economic Partnership Agreement” with Ukraine, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said.

For her part, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said after signing the agreement in Washington, “In cooperation with the United States, we are creating this fund that will attract global investments to our country”.

She added in a Facebook post that the agreement will provide funding for mineral, oil, and gas extraction projects in Ukraine.

However, she stressed that Ukraine retains full ownership and control over these resources and that the Ukrainian state will be the one to determine what is extracted and where.

For its part, the US Treasury Department said that the United States and Ukraine signed an agreement to establish a reconstruction investment fund.

“In recognition of the significant financial and material support the people of the United States have provided to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, this economic partnership positions our two countries to collaborate and invest together to ensure that our assets, talent, and capabilities can accelerate Ukraine’s economic rebuilding,” the US Treasury Department added in a statement, without providing details on the contents of the agreement.

Under former President Joe Biden, the United States provided tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine.

Donald Trump recounted Wednesday evening during a television interview with News Nation that he told Zelensky during their meeting at the Vatican on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral that it’s very good that he signed the agreement because Russia is much bigger and much stronger.

The draft agreement has been a source of tension for weeks between Kyiv and Washington, whose support for Ukraine is considered vital.

A previous version of the agreement was supposed to be signed during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House at the end of February, but his unprecedented on-camera altercation with his US counterpart led to his departure without signing.

Washington proposed a new version of the agreement in March, which Ukrainian lawmakers and media outlets deemed unfair to Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said that through negotiations, the text of the agreement was modified to be acceptable to Kyiv.

But Democratic US Congressman Gregory Meeks denounced it on Wednesday evening, calling it blackmail by Trump.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal welcomed the agreement before signing it, saying on national television, “this is truly a beautiful international agreement between the American and Ukrainian governments on joint investments to develop and rebuild Ukraine”ز

Shmyhal stressed that no debts or aid granted prior to the signing fall within the framework of this agreement.

It’s worth noting that in order for the agreement to be affected, the Ukrainian Parliament still has to approve it.

It appears to include no US security guarantees against Russia, despite Ukraine’s demands and Zelensky’s insistence on them.

“This agreement clearly demonstrates to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process based on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine in the long term,” the US Treasury Secretary said.

The agreement establishes a reconstruction investment fund for Ukraine, financed and managed equally by Ukrainians and Americans.

The extent of Ukraine’s underground mineral wealth is unknown, as most of these resources have yet to be exploited, are difficult to extract, or are under Russian control because they are located in areas occupied by the Russian military.

The Russian military launched a drone attack on a residential area in Odessa, southern Ukraine, killing two people and wounding five others, the region’s governor announced on Telegram on Thursday.

Meanwhile, explosions were heard in a neighborhood in the city of Sumy, and air raid sirens sounded in various regions, including Kyiv, Kharkov, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia, warning of an airstrike.