(C) Common Dreams
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Ukraine minerals deal: What we know so far [1]
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Date: 2025-03
The preliminary agreement, published by Ukrainian media, external before the Trump-Zelensky meeting, envisages an "investment fund" will be set up for Ukraine's reconstruction.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Kyiv and Washington would manage the fund on "equal terms".
According to the deal, Ukraine will contribute 50% of future proceeds from state-owned mineral resources, oil and gas to the fund, and the fund will then invest "to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine".
Meanwhile, the agreement says the US government will, subject to US law, "maintain a long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine".
The US will own the maximum amount of the fund allowed under US law, the agreement says.
In the days before the deal was supposed to be signed, disagreement over its terms formed part of a deepening rift between Trump and Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president rejected an initial request from the US for $500bn (£395bn) in mineral wealth, but this demand appears to have been dropped.
"The US administration started with a deal that challenged Ukraine's sovereignty, then pushed an exploitative one that would bankrupt the country," Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former minister and head of Kyiv school of economics, told the BBC.
"Now, they've shifted to a reasonable deal with co-ownership and no direct claims on past aid. That could actually benefit Ukraine."
Trump has repeatedly claimed the US has given Ukraine between $300bn (£237bn) and $350bn (£276bn) in aid, and that he wanted to "get that money back" through a deal.
But German think tank the Kiel Institute estimates the US has sent $119bn in aid to Ukraine.
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[1] Url:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn527pz54neo
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