The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that Ukrainian and US officials had signed a joint economic investment agreement, which included granting the US access to Ukrainian rare earth minerals.
According to a press release from the Treasury Department, the two countries have agreed to establish a “United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund,” also known as a “economic partnership.” The statement did not provide additional information about the agreement.
Ukraine’s Economic Development Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, confirmed that she had signed the agreement. In a series of posts on X written in Ukrainian, she described it as a 50/50 partnership between the United States and Ukraine for the development of mineral, oil, and gas projects.
She stated that the deal would be funded by direct investment, future US aid, and revenue from new mineral licensing deals, and that there would be no Ukrainian debt obligations.
According to a Ukrainian fact sheet, the United States will contribute to the fund “either through direct financial input or through new military assistance,” and the agreement “focuses on further, not past, U.S. military assistance.” Ukraine would contribute 50% of any future royalties from oil, gas, and mineral licenses that do not yet exist.
According to the agreement, Ukraine would retain ownership of its natural resources, and the fund could only be used to invest in resource and infrastructure projects in Ukraine. Profits from the fund would be reinvested in the Ukrainian economy for the first decade before being “distributed between the partners” after that, according to the fact sheet.
According to a Development Finance Corporation official, the joint fund will “make strategic investments in critical minerals, hydrocarbons, natural resources, and natural resources-related infrastructure in Ukraine, which will help diversify and secure supply chains essential to U.S. economic prosperity and national security.”
The fund will also “select vital critical minerals to the United States for offtake,” according to the official.
President Trump had pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an economic deal that included access to Ukraine’s minerals, framing it as a way for the US to recoup its aid to the Ukrainian military in its war against Russia.
Ukraine is thought to contain approximately 5% of the world’s reserves of rare earth elements, which are used in electronics, defense technology, and energy projects. Some of the country’s reserves are located in Russian-occupied parts of eastern Ukraine.
Mr. Trump touted the agreement in an interview with NewsNation late Wednesday. “They have amenities that many other places lack. “It’s a huge asset for them,” Trump said of Ukraine’s rare earth element reserves.
Zelenskyy first traveled to Washington in February to sign a mineral deal with President Trump. Those plans were derailed following an explosive meeting in the Oval Office between Mr. Trump, Zelenskyy, and US officials, including Vice President JD Vance. During the meeting, Vance accused Zelenskyy of being insufficiently grateful for US military assistance.
Despite the public acrimony, negotiations continued. Earlier Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated at a Cabinet meeting that the US was ready to sign a deal, but Ukraine had requested “last-minute changes.”
Mr. Trump has portrayed the mineral deal as a critical component of his larger strategy to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.
Those talks have proven difficult: at least twice in recent weeks, Trump administration officials have threatened to withdraw from negotiations unless more progress is made. Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked Zelenskyy, calling him a “dictator” earlier this year and accusing him last week of prolonging the war by refusing to recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The two leaders met privately in the Vatican on Saturday while attending Pope Francis’ funeral.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has threatened to impose additional sanctions on Russia unless Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to a deal. Last week, Russia launched deadly strikes on Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, infuriating Mr. Trump, who wrote “Vladimir, STOP!” on Truth Social.