Earth and minerals are loaded onto trucks at an open-pit mine near the frontline, despite the threat of bombing by Russian invading forces on February 26, 2025 in Donetsk Region, Ukraine.
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The U.S. and Ukraine have signed a long-awaited minerals deal, providing Washington with preferential access to Kyiv’s natural resources in exchange for the formation of a reconstruction investment fund.
The highly anticipated agreement, long coveted by U.S. President Donald Trump, comes after months of tense negotiations and more than three years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that the economic partnership would allow the two countries to invest together to accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery and help to “facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war.”
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Bessent said in a statement.
Since his inauguration in January, Trump has pushed for a minerals deal with Ukraine, saying an agreement to jointly develop and monetize Kyiv’s deposits of rare earths, critical minerals, oil, gas and other natural resources would act, effectively, as compensation for U.S. aid to Ukraine throughout the war with Russia.
In this handout photo released via the official social media channels of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) meets with U.S. President Donald Trump (L) during Pope Francis’ funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, in Vatican City, Vatican, on April 26, 2025.
Handout | Getty Images News | Getty Images
In comments to a town hall on the NewsNation network, Trump said the deal represents payback for the money the U.S. has spent so far on supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
Trump added that he “wanted to be protected. I didn’t want to be out there and look foolish.”
The U.S. president also confirmed that he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the minerals deal when they both attended Pope Francis’ funeral last week.
Ukraine to determine ‘where and what to extract’
Zelenskyy signaled that the outline of a deal had already been agreed in mid-April.
Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s minister of economic development and trade, said on Wednesday that the economic deal is capable of delivering success for both the U.S. and Ukraine.
“It is important that the agreement will become a signal to other global players that it is reliable to cooperate with Ukraine in the long term — for decades,” Svyrydenko said via social media platform X, according to a Google translation.
As part of the agreement, Svyrydenko said it is Ukraine “that determines where and what to extract.”
She added that the fund is being created on 50-50 basis, reflecting an equal partnership between Washington and Kyiv. Neither party will hold a dominant vote, Svyrydenko said.
— CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.
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