Ukraine Signs Final Trump-Brokered Minerals Deal, Giving US Preferential Access To Resources

Update(1740): After some last-minute hiccups which threatened to derail it, the US and Ukraine have finally signed the much-anticipated and controversial minerals deal.

"The deal will grant the US privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine's natural resources including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas," the breaking Bloomberg note says.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko signed it late in the day Wednesday in Washington, after the US side demanded that all aspects on the table be agreed to by Kiev. Below are some known details of the landmark agreement via Axios:

• The government-to-government agreement would establish a joint fund, with each country contributing 50% of the financing and future U.S. military assistance to Ukraine counting as a contribution to the fund.
• The fund will be governed jointly and will have three U.S. members and three Ukrainian members on its board.
• The money in the fund will be used for investments in the extraction of Ukraine's rare earth minerals, oil and gas. The revenue will be split 50/50.
• Kachka said the agreement gives the U.S. preferential access to investments in any operator that extracts rare earths in Ukraine and the first right of refusal for such investments.

So did Zelensky finally say "thank you" as previously requested by the Trump administration? 

Now the US-Ukraine deal is all about oil, natural gas and a bit of aluminum. And the critical minerals? Rare earths? https://t.co/vTrVZiu0W7

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) April 30, 2025

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Update(1045ET): Another minerals deal headline that wasn't... not for the first time, a Ukrainian delegation's plane may have been literally rerouted mid-air amid Wednesday reports that the Trump-backed deal was to be signed in Washington within 'hours'. Financial Times reports:

Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, has flown to Washington to sign the deal with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, said three Ukrainian officials. But problems arose as Svyrydenko’s plane headed to Washington, and Bessent’s team told her she should “be ready to sign all agreements, or go back home”, said three people familiar with the matter. 

Apparently the Zelensky government was not ready to sign onto all that the Trump administration required. This even after the US reportedly dropped conditions related to Ukraine paying back debt for prior US military or financial assistance

"The US and Ukraine ran into last-minute hurdles on Wednesday as they were on the verge of signing a framework minerals deal, when a dispute over what had been agreed in marathon overnight negotiations cast doubt on the deal being finalized," FT writes.

"The Americans want the Ukrainians to sign both the framework deal and a detailed fund agreement that would complete the full minerals deal on Wednesday, said two Ukrainian officials."

This seems to be the same story on repeat for months: "One person familiar with the US’s thinking said on Wednesday that negotiations had not concluded because Ukraine had sought to revisit terms agreed at the weekend," FT continues.

President Trump's reaction is going to be interesting, given he's already repeatedly blasted Zelensky for being 'late' on signing the deal. Washington could be ready at this point to cut him and the Ukrainian cause lose, after previously briefly halting arms transfers and intelligence-sharing.

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After several false starts and timeline projections which didn't pan out, Ukraine is imminently ready to sign the mineral resources deal with the US, Bloomberg has quoted a source close to negotiations as saying.

"The draft agreement, which envisages creating a joint fund to manage Ukraine’s investment projects, has been finalized and may be signed as soon as Wednesday, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are private," the report says, noting that Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko is en route Washington for the signing.

A source in Ukrainian President Zelensky's office has separately told the Kyiv Independent that it will be signed by Wednesday evening. A draft document says the deal seeks to create conditions to "increase investment in mining, energy, and related technology in Ukraine."

Crucially,  the agreement excludes any conditions which say it is related to Ukraine's debt for prior US military or financial assistance. Kiev and many of its European allies had balked at that prior controversial proposal, which had centered on Trump's insistence that Ukraine pay back the hundreds of billions provided by the American taxpayer after over three years of war.

Bloomberg details, "In another breakthrough, the US has agreed that only future military assistance it may provide to Ukraine following the signing of the deal would count toward its contribution to the fund, according to the document."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal first unveiled Sunday that the Trump administration had dropped this requirement of paying back past debt.

The document "strengthens the strategic partnership between the Parties for the long-term reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine, in response to the large-scale destruction caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion" - but many specifics regarding rare earth mineral access remain unclear as of yet.

Washington and Kiev have until now spent months dancing around a deal that would allow the US access to Ukraine's mineral deposits, which was originally proposed by Zelensky as part of his five-point "Victory Plan" unveiled last October to secure US support. 

Many of Kiev's supporters called it insultingly lopsided, and tantamount to a resource grab by the US, with Ukrainian lawmakers at one point calling an earlier revision to the mineral agreement a "horror" that offered no security guarantees from Washington.

Trump was really ramping up the pressure personally on Zelensky just last week...

An initial version of the deal sought to grant the Untied States access to all existing and future mineral deposits across Ukraine, along with oil and gas throughout the country. It would still have to be ratified by Ukrainian parliament after it is signed, theoretically at least and according to Ukrainian law.