Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski speaks during a press conference in Kiev on March 15, 2025. Photo: Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Profimedia
Ukrainian President Volodirmir Zelenski welcomed the agreement with the United States on access to access to natural resources and critical minerals of Ukraine, which he called “really fair and correct”, presenting as the first result of his meeting with the US President Donald Trump, held on the funeral of Pope Francis.
“The agreement has changed significantly during the negotiations,” Zeenski said in his Thursday, May 1 speech. “Now it is a truly fair agreement, which creates the opportunity of quite significant investments in Ukraine.”
The agreement was signed after months of tense negotiations and is essential for Kiev's efforts to repair relationships with Donald Trump and the White House.
The agreement provides for the access of the United States to some of the natural resources of Ukraine – including rare minerals, oil and natural gas – but without Ukraine yielding the right of ownership of them. In contrast, the two states will set up a common investment fund for reconstruction, powered and administered equally, through which industrial and infrastructure projects will be financed.
According to the BBC, which saw a project of the agreement, but not the final text, the United States will not request the reimbursement of military aid previously given to Ukraine, an important concession after Donald Trump had suggested that Kiev should return $ 350 billion.
At the same time, the project seen by the BBC clearly mentions the large -scale invasion of Russia and prohibits the involvement of entities that supported the Russian war machine in the process of reconstruction of Ukraine.
The document also includes a clause by which the US recognizes the European aspirations of Ukraine and undertakes not to block any adjustments of the agreement that could become necessary in the context of accession to the European Union. At the same time, although it does not contain clear security guarantees, the agreement is presented as a condition for continuing US military support.
The Ukrainian government claims that the profits generated in the first decade of the fund will be fully reinvested in the economy of Ukraine, but this provision does not appear explicitly in the version of the agreement consulted by the BBC.
What critical minerals does Ukraine have
