Ukraine is set to sign a mineral agreement with the United States and could do so as early as Wednesday, a Ukrainian government source told Reuters.
- I think the agreement could possibly be signed late this afternoon in Kyiv time, the source said. The source was not immediately named.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed to Reuters that a mineral agreement would be signed in the near future. Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, an unnamed government source said Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko had travelled to the United States on behalf of the Ukrainian government to sign the agreement.
According to AFP, the agreement will establish a fund in which funds from mineral extraction in Ukraine will be placed. The money in the fund will be divided equally between Ukraine and the United States.
Ukraine's share of the fund will not be affected by how much support the country has received from the United States during the war against Russia, the unnamed source told AFP.
- This is to ensure equality between the parties. An investment fund will be established, which will be used to invest in reconstruction, the source said.
Long negotiations
The United States and Ukraine have been negotiating an agreement on the extraction of natural resources in Ukraine for the past few months. In February, both parties said they were ready to sign an agreement. But a visit to the White House ended in a kind of argument with the US president and vice president for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This meant that Zelensky left the White House without signing the agreement, and since then the two nations have been trying to agree on a new agreement.
On April 18, Ukraine and the US signed a memorandum stating that the parties would conclude negotiations on a minerals agreement on April 26 and sign an actual agreement as soon as possible thereafter.
During a trip to the US last week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. From there, Shmyhal reported on "good progress" in negotiations with the US on the minerals agreement.
/ritzau/
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