BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 3. Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement on minerals with the US, said President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a discussion with Ukrainian and British journalists in the UK.
“The agreement on minerals is ready. The final version is prepared. Ministers can sign it. We are not taking any steps back. It is our policy—to be consistent. Regardless of what has happened before, we are constructive. If we agreed that it would be signed—then on our side, we are ready to sign it,” he said.
Zelenskyy pointed out that he is ready for any format of constructive relations with the United States.
“We have all this, and it is within our power to preserve it all. We are counting on this. The agreement that is on the table—yes, it will be signed if the sides are ready,” the Ukrainian president added.
The agreement would grant the United States access to Ukraine’s critical minerals and other valuable resources. The deal would allow the United States to obtain a portion of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in compensation for the financial aid provided to Ukraine during its conflict with Russia and potentially for future aid.
In Kyiv on February 12, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent presented President Zelensky with the first draft of a minerals cooperation agreement. The deal called for 50 percent of Ukraine’s resulting mineral and natural resources revenues to go to the United States as payment for previous military support for the war against Russia. This would include not only revenues from rare earth mining but the “entire economic value associated with resources in Ukraine” including uranium, lithium, oil, gas, and even some port revenues. The deal also specified that U.S. companies must hold 50 percent ownership of Ukraine’s rare earth elements deposits. The deal would override all of Ukraine’s other trade agreements.
Zelensky refused to sign the agreement as it included no security guarantees for Ukraine.