What we know about the mineral deal in the US-Ukraine

Kiev agreed to the terms of a large deal that gives US access to Ukraine’s deposits on rare earth minerals, says Ukraine’s prime minister.

Ukraine hopes the deal – which will give the United States a financial share in the country – will encourage the White House to protect Ukraine if the war with Russia takes advantage of the fire.

US President Donald Trump said the agreement would help us taxpayers “return their money” for help in Ukraine throughout the war and give Ukraine the right to fight against Russia.

The main details have not yet been publicly announced, but on Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Dennis Schmihal said Ukraine and the United States had finalized a version of the agreement.

Speaking to Ukrainian television, Schmikhal said the preliminary agreement predicted that an “investment fund” would be created for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Kyiv and Washington will run the Fund on Equal Terms, the prime minister added.

He said Ukraine would contribute 50% of future revenues from state mineral resources, oil and gas to the fund and then the fund will invest in projects in Ukraine itself.

The New York Times reports that it refers a draft document that the United States will have the maximum amount of authorized fund authorized under the US Act, but not necessarily all this.

The agreement was at the center of a break between Trump and Zelenski last week, with the Ukrainian president rejecteding the initial request for $ 500 billion (£ 395 billion) revenue from rare minerals.

Media messages say this search has dropped.

“The provisions of the deal are much better for Ukraine now,” a source in the Ukraine government told the BBC.

On Tuesday, Trump said the United States has given Ukraine between $ 300 billion ($ 237 billion) and $ 350 billion (£ 276 billion) to help and want to “pay that money” through a deal.

BBC check the analysis did not find evidence For this figure.

Reports suggest that the deal does not include a solid security guarantee from the US, something that Zelenski has previously insisted.

However, Ukrainian Prime Minister Schmikhal said on Wednesday that the United States supported “Ukraine’s efforts to receive security guarantees to build lasting peace.”

He said that Ukraine would not sign the deal until Zelenski and Trump “agree on security guarantees” and decide how to “bind this preliminary agreement” with a US security guarantee.

Yuri Sak, an adviser to the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, told the BBC earlier on Wednesday: “There is no point in signing a critical mineral transaction if the Russians can reinstate themselves one month after signing the deal.”

He said discussions on the security guarantees needed to continue.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of President Alha Stefanishna, who negotiates, told The Financial Times that the deal is “part of a bigger picture”.

The prospect of a mineral deal was proposed for the first time by Zelenski last year as a way to offer the US a tangible reason to continue to support Ukraine.

Trump said on Tuesday that Ukraine would receive the “right to fight” in exchange for access to his minerals, although he has not yet confirmed an agreement.

He suggested that the US would continue to supply equipment and ammunition in Ukraine, “until we have a deal with Russia.”

He also said that he would need “some form of peace maintain” in Ukraine after every peace transaction, in a shape that should be “acceptable to everyone”.

Schmikhal said the US and Ukraine have prepared a final version of the agreement that the Ukraine government will authorize to sign Wednesday.

Trump said he expects Zelenski to sign the deal when visiting Washington on Friday, although Zelenski has not yet commented on this visit.

Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are in Ukraine.

This includes about 19 million tonnes of proven graphite reserves that the State Geological Survey Agency of Ukrainians says that the nation makes the nation “one of the five most guessed countries” for the delivery of the mineral. Graphite is used to make batteries for electric vehicles.

Ukraine also has significant deposits of titanium, lithium and rare earth metals – a group of 17 elements used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other products vital in the modern world.

Vladimir Putin has not yet addressed the reports that the terms of a transaction between the US and Ukraine have been agreed.

But on Monday evening, he told state television that he was ready to “offer” US partners resources in joint project invasion three years ago.

Putin said that the potential US-Ukraine deal for rare minerals is not a problem and that Russia “undoubtedly has, I want to emphasize significantly more resources than Ukraine.”

“As for the new territories, this is the same. We are ready to attract foreign partners to the so -called new ones, to our historical territories that have returned to the Russian Federation,” he added.