Ukraine and US sign long-awaited minerals and reconstruction deal

Ukraine and the United States signed a long-awaited economic partnership deal that will give Washington preferential access to new  Ukrainian natural resources in return for investing in Ukraine's reconstruction.

The two countries signed the accord following months of sometimes fraught negotiation. 

The agreement was due to be signed in February but collapsed in the wake of a heated exchange between president Donald Trump  and Ukrainian president bolo Volodymyr  Zelenskyy over how to end the Ukraine-Russia war. 

The U.S. Treasury Department said Ukraine and the U.S. would form what it described as a "Reconstruction Investment Fund." A statement said the deal would allow Kyiv and Washington to collaborate with "mutual assets, talents and capabilities" to accelerate Ukraine's recovery. Russia's invasion and near-daily missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage to roads, apartment buildings, schools, energy facilities, shopping malls and transport hubs, according to  United Nations estimates.

Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country," Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia  Svyrydenko wrote on the social media platform X on April 30.

The exact parameters of the accord were not immediately made public. However, a draft of the agreement seen by Reuters gave the U.S. favored access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals. It did not automatically hand Washington a share of Ukraine's mineral wealth or any of its gas infrastructure.

The agreement provides for the creation of a joint U.S.-Ukrainian fund for reconstruction which will receive 50% of profits and royalties accruing to the Ukrainian state from new natural resource permits in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Geological Survey,  a government agency, estimates that 5% of the world's "Critical  raw materials "are in Ukraine. This includes reserves of graphite, which is used to make batteries for electric vehicles. It also has supplies of titanium, lithium and elements such as beryllium and uranium, used for nuclear weapons and reactors. Ukraine has, according to the survey, major deposits of copper, lead, zinc, silver, nickel and cobalt.