US and Ukraine sign agreement on access to natural resources

Daniel Flatley and Natalia Drozdiak, Bloomberg News on Apr 30, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. and Ukraine reached a deal over access to Ukraine’s natural resources Wednesday, a move that Kyiv sought to solidify President Donald Trump’s backing in ceasefire talks with Russia.

The deal will grant the U.S. privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas. It’s been seen as critical to nurturing Trump’s goodwill toward Kyiv as his administration pushes to end the war that began when Russia mounted its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.

“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a social media post that “together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.”

After weeks of Ukrainian and U.S. officials wrangling over the text, momentum toward a breakthrough was building early this week, with Ukrainian negotiators visiting Washington to iron out final details. The two sides had agreed on the main accord but were discussing technical details spelled out in separate texts. Ukrainian officials had been hoping to sign the overarching deal and nail down the details later, but the U.S. insisted all components be agreed on together, a person familiar with the matter said.

“We made a deal where our money is secure, where we can start digging and doing what we have to do,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House earlier Wednesday. “It’s also good for them because you’ll have an American presence at the site, and the American presence will keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we’re doing the digging.”

The accord was reached as Trump marked the first 100 days of his current term and is under pressure to notch victories as polls have shown an erosion of his favorability, driven largely by angst over his economic policies. He’s also been frustrated in delivering on promises to bring quick solutions to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Reconstruction fund

The accord will grant the U.S. first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be controlled by Washington. The deal is intended in part to reimburse the U.S. for future military assistance to Ukraine. But Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that Washington dropped its insistence that the deal provide for repayment of billions of dollars in aid already delivered since the start of Russia’s invasion.

“In recognition of the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defense of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, this economic partnership positions our two countries to work collaboratively and invest together to ensure that our mutual assets, talents, and capabilities can accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

White House officials have said Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with both Ukraine and Russia and the difficulty in getting them to agree to end Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.

Trump has threatened to “walk away” if there’s no progress in those ceasefire negotiations, raising concerns among Ukraine’s allies about the extent to which Kyiv may be blamed for talks falling apart. With a natural resources deal between the U.S. and Ukraine, Trump may be more lenient toward Kyiv.

A previous attempt to clinch the agreement fell through earlier this year after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy clashed with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials signed a memorandum of intent earlier in April, and continued to hash out the technical details of the deal. Zelenskyy then met one-on-one with the U.S. president at the Vatican on Saturday before the funeral of Pope Francis.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials signed a memorandum of intent earlier in April, and continued to hash out the technical details of the deal, which would grant the U.S. first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be controlled by Washington. Zelenskyy then met one-on-one with the U.S. president at the Vatican on Saturday before the funeral of Pope Francis.

As part of the agreement, the U.S. and Ukraine will seek to create the conditions to “increase investment in mining, energy, and related technology in Ukraine,” according to the draft document. Washington also acknowledges Kyiv’s intentions for the deal to avoid any conflict with its plans to join the European Union — long seen as a red line for Ukraine in the talks.

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