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Ukraine has reached a significant agreement with the United States on a minerals deal after weeks of tense negotiations, Ukrainian officials confirmed. The agreement represents a major shift in the relationship between the two nations amid Russia's ongoing invasion.
"We have indeed agreed it with a number of good amendments and see it as a positive outcome," a senior Ukrainian official told the BBC, marking a diplomatic breakthrough after public tensions between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.
The final agreement appears substantially different from initial US demands. According to reporting by the Financial Times, Washington has dropped its controversial claim to $500 billion in potential revenue from Ukraine's natural resources, a demand that had previously drawn sharp criticism from Kyiv.
Instead, the revised deal establishes a fund receiving 50% of proceeds from future monetization of state-owned mineral resources, including oil, gas, and related logistics. Importantly, the agreement excludes resources already contributing to Ukraine's budget, protecting operations by major producers Naftogaz and Ukrnafta.
Ukraine possesses substantial mineral wealth, including approximately 5% of the world's "critical raw materials." This includes 19 million tonnes of graphite reserves, a third of European lithium deposits, and significant titanium and rare earth metals. Some deposits remain in Russian-occupied territories.
Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, who led Ukraine's negotiating team, told the Financial Times the agreement is "only part of the picture" in strengthening US-Ukrainian ties. Ukrainian sources indicate the US backed away from more demanding terms as negotiations progressed.
Trump characterized the agreement as providing Ukraine with "military equipment and the right to fight on," adding, "They're very brave, but without the United States and its money and its military equipment, this war would have been over in a very short period of time."
The deal notably lacks security guarantees from the US, which Ukraine had initially insisted upon. This comes as Russia's war objectives remain "not yet achieved," according to Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik.
President Zelensky is expected to visit Washington to sign the agreement this week, potentially diffusing recent tensions that saw Trump label him a "dictator without elections."
The minerals agreement establishes a new precedent in US foreign policy under Trump, where aid comes with explicit economic benefits for America. As one analyst noted, "US aid in the Trump era comes with strings attached. Aid for aid's sake is a thing of the past."
With reconstruction costs for Ukraine estimated at $524 billion over the next decade—2.8 times higher than Ukraine's 2024 GDP—the minerals deal may provide crucial economic foundations for the country's future recovery while securing strategic resources for both nations.
