The USA and Ukraine have announced that they have agreed on the terms of a draft agreement on rare minerals.
A source has revealed said that the draft does not specify any US security guarantees or continued flow of weapons, despite it saying that the United States wants Ukraine to be “free, sovereign and secure”.
Trump has said that peacekeeping troops will be necessary in Ukraine (probably from Europe), while Russia has staunchly declined the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine.
This comes after a series of acrimonious accusations between Trump and Zelensky just last week.
Zelensky refused to sign an earlier draft, which is known to have proposed rights to $500 billion in Ukraine’s natural wealth to the USA. He said that Ukraine had received far less than that sum for aid.
Under the terms of a draft minerals agreement, the US and Ukraine will create a Reconstruction Investment Fund to collect and reinvest revenues from Ukrainian sources: minerals, hydrocarbons and other extractable materials. Ukraine would contribute to the fund 50% of the revenue minus operating expenses and continue until the contributions reach the sum of $500 billion (Trump estimates the US has provided $350 million by now).
The United States, in turn, would provide a long-term financial commitment to the development of a “stable and economically prosperous Ukraine.”
Trump says he is now waiting for Zelensky to come to Washington and sign with him.
It is estimated that about 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are in Ukraine, worth billions of dollars.
