The Trump administration is looking to renegotiate its proposed minerals deal with Ukraine which, if agreed, would grant the U.S. expanded access to the Eastern European resources, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
Washington wants to broaden the terms of the deal to include other assets, most notably a nuclear power plant that is currently under Russian control, the FT reported, citing Ukrainian officials. It’s also looking to add more specific provisions on American ownership of a joint investment fund.
These changes would, the sources said, essentially require a renegotiation of the unsigned minerals deal that fell apart last month. Ukrainian officials told FT they are concerned about Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government being pressured into unfavourable terms, especially after Washington paused arms deliveries and intelligence sharing with Kyiv earlier this month.
Leaders’ talks
The FT report comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said that a minerals deal will be signed “shortly” following his talks this week with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. The pledge was made following his signing of an executive order to increase U.S. production of critical minerals. In addition to Ukraine, Trump said that his government is looking at rare earths and minerals in other countries.
During a phone call this week, Trump and Zelenskyy reportedly discussed Ukraine’s energy supply and nuclear plants, the FT said, citing both the secretary of state Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Zelenskyy told reporters during an online briefing on Wednesday that they discussed just one nuclear facility: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest. Located 650 km southeast of Kyiv on the Dnipro River, the facility has been under Russian military control since March 2022.
Be the first to comment on "US seeks new Ukraine minerals terms: Financial Times"