KYIV — The United States and Ukraine have created a new reconstruction and investment fund that will give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s reserves of critical minerals and natural resources.
The deal is also intended to give Ukraine tacit security guarantees, so the country can protect itself against future Russian aggression, and also help Ukraine rebuild and develop after defending itself from more than three years of Russia’s full-scale war.
Writing on Facebook, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who helped negotiate the deal, said in the agreement the U.S. notes its desire for long-term peace in Ukraine “and the contribution Ukraine has made to global security by abandoning its nuclear arsenal.”In a statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the deal a “historic economic partnership” and said “the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war.”
Speaking to Ukraine’s ICTV network ahead of the signing, Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal said the investment fund would be a 50-50 partnership with the U.S. and would assist Ukraine’s reconstruction and development.
Ukraine would determine where and what to extract and “does not mention any debt obligations of Ukraine to the United States.” (President Trump suggested in the past that the deal be used to pay the U.S. back for aid already given Ukraine. Volodymyr Landa, a senior economist at the Centre for Economic Strategy in Kyiv, has followed the minerals deal closely for months.
“Ideally,” he says, “the agreement could restore constructive relations between our two countries by defining the format of further US military and financial support to Ukraine.”
The deal is a victory of sorts for Ukraine. In February, the Trump administration had pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign an agreement that gave Ukraine very little and would have used profits to recoup aid the US has already approved for the country.
Zelenskyy refused to sign that agreement, saying it would leave generations of Ukrainians in debt. On February 28, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berated Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, leaving the deal in limbo.
But both leaders had an opportunity to talk face to face when they attended Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome on Saturday. Zelenskyy described it as a “good meeting” in a social media post. White House communications director Steven Cheung told reporters that both leaders “had a very productive discussion” and said more details about the meeting would follow.
The deal must be approved by Ukraine’s parliament.
NPR’s Hanna Palamarenko contributed to this report from Kyiv.
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