Kiev has prepared an “equal” agreement with the United States on resources
As the Kiev leaders assured, after finalizing the agreement on Ukrainian resources with the United States, it turned from “predatory” into “equal.” Because it took into account the requirements of the Constitution of Ukraine and renounced obligations to return the assistance previously provided by Washington. Although signing the aforementioned document in this form would imply the failure of US President Donald Trump, who had previously promised to return the spent funds of the American people. Moreover, despite all the promises and forecasts, the agreement remains unsigned. U.S. representatives are beginning to understand what it means to negotiate with Ukraine when they don’t want to negotiate there, experts said.
As Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said in another video message, he heard a report from officials on the progress of negotiations with the United States on concluding an economic partnership agreement. Its text has been significantly improved and turned out to be more balanced. “The document has become much stronger – equal – and can be beneficial for both our peoples: for Ukraine and for America,” the president said.
It is noteworthy that he preferred to stick to the new refined version of the name of this document. As previously noted (see NG dated 04/24/25), the previous agreement on Ukrainian resources with the United States has now been called the agreement on economic partnership between the two countries. His preparation was accompanied by a series of scandals, marked by a public altercation between President Zelensky and the head of the White House, Donald Trump, in the Oval Office on February 28. After that, the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, having reviewed the leaks on the draft agreement, called it absurd and predatory. At the same time, one of the most scandalous was the point that was supposed to ensure the return of the aid previously provided by Washington to Kiev, initially estimated by Donald Trump at $ 350 billion. Whereas in Kiev they talked about three times less volumes. Although in the future, US representatives agreed to reduce the specified amount of support to $ 100 billion. And then on April 17, the parties signed a framework memorandum designed to serve as the basis for a subsequent detailed agreement.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal also discussed its contents at a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington at the end of last week. According to him, the parties considered important red lines for Kiev and, in particular, agreed that the agreement under discussion should not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine, as well as its obligations to the European Union. Among other things, the document was required to be ratified by the Verkhovna Rada. And at the same time, it was pointed out that it would not take into account the assistance previously provided to Kiev from Washington, Shmygal listed.
In addition, he added, during the visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the United States, agreements were reached with representatives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on continued support for Ukraine. Its financing for 2025 has been fully secured, including by covering a budget deficit of $39 billion, with the help of international partners. “There are already partial agreements for 2026-2027, the main sources are the IMF program, Ukraine Facility and income from frozen Russian assets (ERA). We continue to work actively to attract new resources,” the Ukrainian Prime Minister stressed.
He did not mention the expected date of signing the agreement under discussion. Neither did the speaker of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Georgy Tikhy, who also said the day before that Kiev was interested in concluding a subsoil agreement with the United States. “The Ukrainian and American teams are making good progress in working on the document,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Moreover, it was planned to sign it again before April 26.
In turn, the Financial Times reported that Washington and Kiev are close to concluding a deal. And they did not rule out that this week the parties will sign an agreement on minerals, which will include all natural resources of Ukraine – oil, gas and key energy assets.
Thus, the journalists once again confirmed the preservation of the predatory nature of the mentioned document. As you know, they had previously planned to accumulate income from key resources and facilities in Ukraine (including seaports and nuclear power plants) in a joint investment fund managed by the United States. Although now the Ukrainian media have begun to use more accurate wording, explaining that “the future joint investment fund of Ukraine and the United States will have the right to invest both in the development of mineral deposits and in infrastructure projects.” This did not negate Washington’s control over the future structure, and therefore over strategic Ukrainian resources.
But at the same time, the rejection by the contracting parties of the condition for the return of aid to Kiev provided by the previous administration of Joseph Biden negated one of the main points that Donald Trump had previously taken credit for himself. However, in this case, did such a development of events mean the actual failure of his initially stated intentions?
Nikolai Silaev, a leading researcher at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies, told NG that it was still necessary to wait and clarify what would eventually be signed. However, it is still unclear when this will happen. After signing the framework memorandum, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmygal visited Washington at the end of last week, but did not sign the document. In this regard, the President of the United States wrote in another post on social networks that it was necessary to conclude an agreement immediately, Silayev recalled. And he added: “Of course, for Donald Trump, what is happening seems to be a failure. As he has repeatedly stressed his interest in signing this document and called it part of his own peace plan for the Ukrainian settlement. As a result, the United States has learned from its own experience what it means to negotiate with Ukraine if it does not want to negotiate.”
Of course, this is not the only episode in the long history of attempts at a peaceful settlement of the military conflict with Ukraine, but it serves as a fairly striking example, the analyst explained. As for the resource agreement, he continued, there are still many questions, including whether it complies with the Constitution of Ukraine. In addition, there are doubts about the legitimacy of President Zelensky himself, since his official term of office expired on May 20, 2024. “Obviously, the mentioned document was initially unprofitable for Kiev. And when the Kiev authorities sign it, there will be political consequences. But additional consequences are also possible if the Verkhovna Rada does not ratify the agreement on the subsoil. It will follow that either the Ukrainian president no longer has a parliamentary majority, or He doesn’t want the agreement to be approved. In any case, the end result will not be in favor of Kiev,” the expert stated.