The United States and Ukraine are trying to hammer out a natural resources agreement that would give Washington access to Kyiv’s untapped mineral riches in exchange for investment and what Ukraine hopes would be concrete security guarantees.
While US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a deal has been made and that he was “happy” about it, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been more cautious, saying the agreement could be a “big success” — but that it depended on Trump.
Here is what we know — and don’t know –—about the agreement:
What’s in the deal? The draft agreement seeks the establishment of a “reconstruction investment fund” that would be jointly managed by the US and Ukraine. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed the deal would exclude existing “deposits, facilities, licenses and royalties” tied to Ukraine’s natural resources. The draft agreement goes beyond just minerals and rare earths. It spans Ukraine’s other natural resources, including oil and gas, as well as any infrastructure connected to the sectors, such as ports or LNG terminals.
What does Trump want from the deal? Trump said over the weekend that he’s “trying to get the money back,” referring to the aid provided to Ukraine under the previous administration.
What does Ukraine want from the deal? Ukraine’s mineral riches have long been eyed by its allies — and Kyiv has made them part of its appeal for support. Zelensky has made it clear he wants security guarantees to be part of the deal.
Why is Trump so keen on this deal? Materials such as graphite, lithium, uranium and the 17 chemical elements known as rare earths are critical for economic growth and national security. They are essential to the production of electronics, clean energy technology, including wind turbines, energy networks and electric vehicles, as well as some weapons systems. The US largely depends on imports for the minerals it needs, many of which come from China, which has long dominated the market. Experts have long warned that relying on China for strategic materials is risky, but the latest trade tensions between Washington and Beijing make it even more important for the US to look for alternative suppliers.
How large are Ukraine’s resources? Ukraine doesn’t have globally significant reserves of rare earth minerals, but it does have some of the world’s largest deposits of graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium, all of which are classed by the US as critical minerals. But while Ukraine does have large reserves of these minerals, little has been done to develop the sector. It is unlikely that Kyiv would be able to extract these resources without foreign investment.
CNN’s Victoria Butenko, Nick Paton Walsh and Gul Tuysuz, Christian Edwards, Svitlana Vlasova, Dariya Tarasova-Markina, Lauren Kent, Betsy Klein, Michael Williams contributed to this report.
