What we know so far

After months of controversial negotiations, Washington and Kyiv signed a long -awaited deal with the natural resources of Ukraine.

Details are still displayed via the agreement, but both sides have confirmed that they set up an investment fund for the search for minerals and how the income is shared.

In an explanation, the United States said that the agreement “to Russia” signaled that the Trump government “is obliged to a peace process that focuses on free, sovereign and prospering Ukraine.

A little more than two months after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Zelensky in the White House, there is a public screaming match that feared that the United States could withdraw its support for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Minister of Economic Affairs Yulia Svyrydenko flew into negotiations on Wednesday after an obvious breakthrough to sign the deal with the US Finance Minister Scott Bessent.

After Svyrydenko had joined Bessent in a signing ceremony, he listed his provisions on social media.

When it was published on X, the deal took a reconstruction investment fund to attract western investments in Ukrainian projects in minerals, oil and gas.

She says that the resources will remain the property of Ukraine, and Kyiv will choose where the extract carries out.

The partnership will be the same on a 50/50 basis, and adds that the agreement does not contain any debt obligation to the United States.

The United States will play a role in the extraction of investments and technologies for projects in Ukraine.

As part of the deal, the USA Kyiv will provide new help, which can include air defense systems, for example.

She says that the income and the contributions of the fund are not taxed by any country.

Svyrydenko says that the deal still has to be ratified by the Ukrainian legislators.

The agreement recognizes the contributions that Ukraine has done on global security, and thanks everyone who has worked on it.

It is unclear whether the business contains an explicit security guarantee from the United States, which Zelensky has pushed hard during the entire negotiations.

In a statement by the US Ministry of Finance, it says: “No state or no person who financed or delivered the Russian war machine should benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

For his part, Trump said that the deal was the repayment of the money that the USA has previously spent on the war.

“Biden gave them $ 350 billion,” said Trump in a call to a town hall in the Newsnation Network. He added: “We made a deal in which we theoretically get a lot more than the $ 350 billion.”

Trump has claimed that the United States spent around 350 billion US dollars (£ 263 billion) for Ukraine aid. However, a BBC review analysis showed that the actual amount is much lower.

When asked whether the presence of the United States in Ukraine could inhibit Russia's movement in the region, he said “it could”.

Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the “critical raw materials” of the world are in Ukraine.

This includes around 19 million tons of proven reserves of graphite, which, according to the state agency of the Ukrainian Geological Survey, makes the nation “one of the five leading countries” for the care of the mineral. Graphite is used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

Ukraine also has significant Titan and Lithium deposits. It is said that it has significant amounts of the world's rare earth metals – a group of 17 elements that are used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other products in the modern world – but these claims are controversial.

In addition, some of the country's mineral deposits were confiscated by Russia. According to Svyrydenko, resources worth 350 billion USD (277 billion GBP) still remain in occupied areas.

There are also warnings that a deal that enables the US access to the huge mineral assets of Ukraine cannot happen if the country concerns its problem with non -exploded mines.

A quarter of the land mass of Ukraine is estimated to be contaminated with land mines, which mainly focuses on the east of the country who was affected by the war.

Another problem is that it will take some time for someone to see essential advantages of the business.

“These resources are not in a port or warehouse; they have to be developed,” said Tymofiy Mylovanov, former minister and head of the Kyiv School of Economics, BBC.

Russia has not yet commented on the deal, but at the beginning of this year Vladimir Putin told state television that he was ready to “offer” American partners in joint projects resources, including mining in the “new areas” Russia ” – an indication of parts of Eastern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russia since its complete invasion.

Putin said a potential US Ukraine deal with rare minerals is not a problem, and Russia “I undoubtedly have more resources of this kind than Ukraine”.

“As far as the new areas are concerned, it is the same. We are willing to win foreign partners for the so -called new ones in our historical areas that have returned to the Russian Federation,” he added.