Washington and Kiev have refined a deal on Ukrainian resources

At a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant reiterated the need for the early signing of a document on mineral resources, now called the agreement on economic partnership between the United States and Ukraine. Representatives of Kiev have already started talking about financial assistance from Washington for next year.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky left on Thursday for a working visit to South Africa. Moreover, before the meeting with the President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, Zelensky reiterated Kiev’s desire to bring a decent peace closer, and to this end, to involve the G20 countries, where South Africa currently holds the presidency, in diplomatic efforts.

In such circumstances, there was inevitably a feeling that the president of Ukraine wanted, albeit briefly, to escape to Africa not only from the peace initiatives of his American counterpart, who promised to make them public by the end of this week, but also from the scandalous agreement on the Ukrainian subsoil. The next date of signing this document has been postponed to April 26.

The day before, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmygal called a similar date, MGIMO Professor Oleg Barabanov, program director of the Valdai International Discussion Club, clarified in an interview with NG. He noted that during his trip to South Africa, President Zelensky was clearly not up to an agreement on resources with the United States, since the visit turned out to be turbulent and, in particular, South African trade unions protested against him. But without the sanction of the head of the Ukrainian state, it is hardly possible to agree on the final version of the document, which Kiev has become accustomed to calling predatory.

At the same time, the logic of US President Donald Trump in promoting this agreement seemed clear: the United States spent a lot of money on aid for Ukraine under the administration of Joseph Biden. And now the current head of the White House intends to return the funds spent, thereby protecting the national interests of his country, Barabanov explained.

It is noteworthy that during a meeting in Washington the day before with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant already began to call this document an economic partnership agreement between the United States and Ukraine, promising benefits for the peoples of both countries. At the same time, high-performance technical negotiations are continuing between Washington and Kiev, Bessent said. He further stressed the need for an early conclusion of these negotiations and the signing of the final agreement.

It should be noted that after the repeated postponement of the signing dates, it was not until April 17 that the representatives of the parties signed the framework memorandum confirming their intention to ensure the economic partnership of the two states and, in particular, to create a joint investment fund. After that, the practical details of the operation of the mentioned fund had to be specified in a special agreement. Leaks to the media of the alleged contents of the agreement had previously caused a scandal. Moreover, the Verkhovna Rada (BP) declared the deliberately predatory and colonial nature of the project proposed by Washington, as it implied the transfer of strategic mineral deposits and infrastructure facilities of Ukraine to the control of the United States.

As Lana Zerkal, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, recalled in an article published in early April, the “resource” story began even before last year’s presidential elections in the United States – in September 2024. Then Vladimir Zelensky met with Republican candidate Donald Trump and, in order to gain his favor, promised to give Washington access to Ukrainian resources, including rare earth metals.

“However, then, even before the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States, Kiev managed to sell one of Europe’s largest titanium ore mining enterprises, the United Mining and Chemical Company (OGCC), without a competition for 4 billion UAH (over 8 billion rubles). After that, Washington proposed a project based on “the logic of a stronger one that can do anything,” Zerkal clarified.

In such circumstances, she continued, in the Verkhovna Rada, at the initiative of the head of the pro–presidential faction “Servant of the People” David Arahamia, a draft resolution of the Verkhovna Rada was initiated “On the development of a legislative framework to create preferential business conditions for Ukraine’s partner countries within the framework of the post-war alliance.” In this plan, it was proposed to create a “paradise” for American businesses with tax and customs benefits, priority access to mining and accelerated permit procedures (if possible, to take away dormant licenses from existing owners).

“But among other things, in order to regain Washington’s favor, he will need to promise “wonderful” Ukrainian enterprises that produce a unique titanium sponge necessary for American aircraft and rocket production. Although for their stable operation, it will also be necessary to return the “wonderful” Zaporizhia NPP with the adjacent territory,” stated Lana Zerkal.

In this regard, the persistent mention in Washington’s peace plans of the clause on the return to Ukraine (with transfer to the administration of the United States) outlined in the media did not seem accidental Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, taken under Russian control in March 2022. Representatives of the Russian Federation have repeatedly noted that the NPP is located on the territory of the Russian Federation and its transfer is excluded, Oleg Barabanov emphasized. And he added: “As for the agreement on resources, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmygal yesterday again reminded that it must be further ratified by the Verkhovna Rada. And it is possible that the document signed with Washington will eventually be rejected in parliament.”

However, it is still unclear how realistic such a scenario is. According to the same Prime Minister Shmygal, at a meeting with the head of the US Treasury, representatives of Ukraine have already raised the issue of financial assistance for Kiev for next year.