The US and Ukraine have signed an “economic partnership agreement” that will give Washington access to Kyiv’s critical earth minerals in exchange for establishing an investment fund in Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hailed the agreement, saying that it “signals clearly to Russian leadership that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term…It’s time for this cruel and senseless war to end.”
He added that the US International Development Finance Corporation will work closely with the government of Ukraine to establish the investment fund quickly.
The deal will see them collaborate to ensure that “mutual assets, talents, and capabilities” can accelerate Kyiv’s recovery, according to Bessent.
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko was in Washington to sign on behalf of the Ukrainian government. Among the terms of the agreement are “full ownership and control” staying with Ukraine, she posted to X on Wednesday.
“All resources on our territory and in territorial waters belong to Ukraine,” she said, adding: “It is the Ukrainian state that determines what and where to extract. Subsoil remains under Ukrainian ownership — this is clearly established in the Agreement.”
Speaking Wednesday in a call with NewsNation, Trump said he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their weekend meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral that “it’s a very good thing” if he signed the deal because “Russia is much bigger and much stronger.”
Trump said he made the deal to “protect” Washington’s contribution to the Ukrainian war effort.
“We made a deal today where we get, you know, much more in theory, than the $350 billion but I wanted to be protected,” Trump told NewsNation. “I didn’t want to be out there and look foolish.”
The details of the agreement have not been made public. However, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Sunday that the deal “will not include assistance provided before its signing.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Shmyhal described the deal as “a strategic agreement on the establishment of an investment partnership fund.”
“It is truly an equal and beneficial international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine between the US and Ukrainian governments,” he added.
The initial agreement was due to be signed in February but fell apart following a heated exchange between US President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart.
