The White House said Wednesday night that it had signed an “economic partnership” with Ukraine that, after weeks of volatile negotiations, will give Washington access to some of the war-torn nation's critical minerals and natural resources.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the agreement, established as the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, will allow Washington to “invest alongside Ukraine” to unlock the country's lucrative assets, accelerate its economic recovery and provide the repayment that President Donald Trump has demanded for U.S. military aid.
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine,” Bessent said in a statement.
“President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity,” he added. “No state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's deputy prime minister and economy minister, said on X that “it is the Ukrainian state that determines what and where to extract” and that “subsoil remains under Ukrainian ownership.”
Ukraine and the United States will jointly manage and maintain co-ownership of the investment fund, with neither side holding a dominant vote, Svyrydenko said. It will be financed by new Ukrainian oil, gas and critical mineral licenses, with 50% of all revenue from the licenses going toward the fund.
“The fund will then invest in extraction projects for critical materials, oil, and gas — as well as in related infrastructure and processing. Specific investment projects will be selected jointly by Ukraine and the US. Importantly, the Fund may invest exclusively in Ukraine,” she said on X.
Svyrydenko suggested in her post that the United States will also contribute to the fund, though she did not elaborate on how much, and added that contributions to the fund will not be taxed in either jurisdiction.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sought to spin the deal as a loss for Kyiv, saying in a post on Telegram that “Trump has finally broken the Kiev regime into paying for American aid with minerals.”
“Now they will have to pay for military supplies with the national wealth of a disappearing country,” added Medvedev, who is also the deputy chair of Russia’s security council.
The quantity and value of Ukraine’s rare earth elements remain unclear, partly because up-to-date geological surveys need to be carried out. Experts say that maps for Ukraine are up to 30 years old and that, while Trump has referred to Ukraine's mineral wealth as being $500 billion, the value of the country's rare-earth minerals is closer to $12 billion.
“Rare earth is called rare for a reason, and they have a lot," Trump said at a Cabinet meeting earlier Wednesday, "and we made a deal where our money is secure, where we can start digging.”
A few weeks ago, the chances of the Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy administrations signing such a deal looked slim. When the Ukrainian president visited Washington in February to discuss and possibly sign the agreement, long-standing personal tensions with Trump exploded into the open in an extraordinary public argument also involving Vice President JD Vance.
Trump suggested Wednesday that the pair’s relationship had improved since then, characterizing the meeting as “beautiful” and expressing confidence that Zelenskyy “wants to make a deal” to end the war.”
Trump said Wednesday that the agreement would serve as an avenue for the United States to recoup funds it has provided to Ukraine throughout its war with Russia, a figure the State Department has placed at $66.5 billion in terms of military assistance.
Since beginning his second term just more than 100 days ago, Trump has repeatedly insisted that the United States be repaid for at least part of the aid that Washington has sent to Ukraine to help it fight Russia's three-year-long invasion.
Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz said the deal “is good for the American taxpayer that is recouping the billions of dollars that we’ve put into supporting Ukraine. It’s good for Ukraine and helping it grow and helping it grow the pie in terms of its development and reconstruction, and it’s good for its security.”
It is unclear how much of the money will go toward repaying the United States. Svyrydenko said in her post that the agreement “includes no provisions regarding any Ukrainian debt obligations to the United States.”
Despite accusations of treating Moscow more leniently than Kyiv in protracted peace talks with both parties, Trump's ire has recently been directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he criticized for carrying out widespread strikes on Kyiv despite U.S. officials' ongoing ceasefire efforts.
While Putin on Monday announced a temporary ceasefire due to begin next week, there are few signs that he is planning a more long-term cessation in military activity.
Russian strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa overnight Wednesday killed two people and injured 15 more, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said in a post Thursday on Telegram.
Even so, the minerals deal is a step in the right direction as regards the chances of a more sustainable peace, Waltz said Thursday. “Both sides have to want peace. Both sides have to want to stop the fighting,” he said. “And we think there is still a deal to be had.”
