The soap opera between the US and Ukraine over the rare earths of the latter country seems to be close to finishing. “Ukraine and the United States teams are in the Final stages of negotiations on the mineral agreement“Annuncododed on Monday the vice Ukrainian prime minister for European and euroatlántic integration, Olga Stefaninawho is also Minister of Justice, through a message in her account in the social network X.
He stated that “The negotiations have been very constructive” And that “almost all the key details have been completed”. “We are committed to complete this quickly to proceed with the firm. We hope that the leaders of the United States and Ukraine signed it and support it in Washington as soon as possible to show our commitment for the next decades,” he has settled.
A day before, the Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhale Podolyak I had already said on national television that the negotiations were underway and that the signing of the agreement was only a matter of time: “the president Zelenski is supervising the process strictly professionally, with the participation of key ministriesincluding the Ministry of Defense. “
The pact will address Two key themes for Ukraine: a equitable income distribution generated by projects and security guarantees. The US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said that Washington will invest in Ukraine without claiming the property of its resources and without imposing new debts to the country.
However, negotiations have faced challenges. Ukrainian government sources say that kyiv received a Revised version of the agreement on February 21 With more strict terms than those initially proposed, which had been for not complying with the two demands of Ukraine.
The new draft assigns to the US the total property of an investment fund valued at 500,000 million dollars, with a scheme of Income distribution of 2 to 1: Ukraine would provide two thirds of mineral extraction profitswhile The US would contribute the remaining third in the form of armament. In addition, the agreement would also include oil and gas, but would exclude income from Ukrainian ports.
