“The United States and Ukraine encountered obstacles on Wednesday at the last minute, when they were close to signing a framework agreement on the operation of Ukrainian minerals,” writes the British daily Financial Times.
The contract, which was to be on the table, said that Washington and Kyiv will increase investments in Ukraine through the development of its natural resources and the creation of a joint investment fund.
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However, problems arose when the first Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Julia Svyrydenko, flew to Washington on Wednesday to sign a contract. According to unofficial reports, the team of the Secretary of the US Treasury Scott Bessenta told Svyrydenko that “She should be ready to sign all contracts or go home“.
Americans want Ukrainians to sign not only a framework agreement, but also a second detailed contract regarding the fundwhich would complete a full mineral agreement, and a third technical document. In turn, Ukraine was to try to revise the conditions agreed over the weekend.
“Disputed issues relate to management, transparency mechanism and identification of funds. However, the contract can be signed on Wednesday if Ukraine returns to the original conditions,” we read.
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The Ukrainian side was to indicate that it could not sign all documents on Wednesday, because the fund's contract must be ratified by the parliament.
One of the Ukrainian officials quoted by “FT” said that he was afraid that the US “would not be satisfied with anything.”
The framework agreement does not clearly offer American security guarantees for which Ukraine sought.
Donald Trump recently expressed the growing impatience of stretching conversations regarding the suspension of weapons and expressed doubts as to the readiness of Russian President Vladimir Putin to seriously involve a peace frame that he was hoping to negotiate during the first 100 days of office.
