KYIV/WASHINGTON: The terms of a mineral deal between Ukraine and the US have not yet been finalised, Ukrainian officials said on Friday, after a summary of Washington's latest offer showed it demanding all of Ukraine's natural resources income for years.
The latest US proposal would require Kyiv to send Washington all profit from a fund controlling Ukrainian resources until Ukraine had repaid all American wartime aid, plus interest, according to the summary, reviewed by Reuters.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told lawmakers that Kyiv would issue its position on the new draft only once there was consensus. Until then, public discussion would be harmful, she said.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior official in President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, said there was no finalised draft for now: "Consultations are still happening at the level of the various ministries," he said, declining to elaborate further.
Another Ukrainian source described the full document presented by the Americans as "huge".
The Trump administration, which has reoriented Washington's policy towards endorsing Russia's narrative about the three-year-old war in Ukraine, has been pressing Kyiv for weeks to sign a deal giving Washington a stake in Ukraine's resources.
Zelensky has repeatedly said he accepts the idea, although he would not sign an agreement that would impoverish his country. On Thursday, he said Washington was constantly changing the terms but that he did not want the US to think he was opposed in principle.
Three people familiar with the ongoing negotiations said Washington had revised its proposals. The latest draft gives Ukraine no future security guarantees and requires it to contribute to a joint investment fund all income from the use of natural resources managed by state and private enterprises.
According to the summary, it stipulates that Washington is given first rights to purchase extracted resources and recoup all the money it has given Ukraine since 2022, plus interest at a 4% annual rate, before Ukraine begins to gain access to the fund's profits.
The joint investment fund would be managed by the US International Development Finance Corporation and have a board of five people, three appointed by the US and two by Ukraine. Funds would be converted into foreign currency and transferred abroad.
The updated proposal was first reported by the Financial Times.
An earlier version of the deal, which Ukraine agreed to in principle before Zelensky visited the White House last month, had terms that appeared more favourable to Ukraine. It proposed a joint investment fund with Ukraine contributing 50% of proceeds from future profits of state-owned natural resources.
Zelensky's visit on February 28 ended with Trump berating him in the Oval Office, later followed by several days during which Washington suspended all intelligence support and military aid to Ukraine.
Since then, Zelensky has trod carefully, repeatedly thanking the United States for support.
Earlier this month, Ukraine agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, even though this was rejected by Russia.
Last week, Ukraine and Russia both agreed to pause attacks on energy infrastructure and at sea, but Moscow demanded international sanctions be eased before it accepted the maritime truce.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been spearheading negotiations on the mineral deal. In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, he said the US had "passed along a completed document for the economic partnership" and Washington hoped to "perhaps even get signatures next week."
Trump has said a minerals deal will help secure a peace agreement by giving the United States a financial stake in Ukraine's future. He also sees it as America's way of earning back some of the tens of billions of dollars it has given to Ukraine in financial and military aid since Russia attacked in 2022. Most of the aid funds were spent in the United States.
The proposal summary makes no mention of the US taking ownership of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, another proposal Trump has floated. - Reuters
HIGHLIGHTS
The Trump administration, which has reoriented Washington's policy towards endorsing Russia's narrative about the three-year-old war in Ukraine, has been pressing Kyiv for weeks to sign a deal giving Washington a stake in Ukraine's resources
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