Ukraine, US sign minerals deal, tying Trump to Kiev

The United States and Ukraine on Wednesday signed a minerals deal after a two-month delay, in what US President Donald Trump's administration called a new form of US commitment to Kiev after the end of military aid.

Ukraine said it secured key interests after protracted negotiations, including full sovereignty over its own rare earths, which are vital for new technologies and largely untapped.

Trump had initially demanded rights to Ukraine's mineral wealth as compensation for the billions of dollars in US weapons sent under former president Joe Biden.

After initial hesitation, Ukraine has accepted a minerals accord as a way to secure long-term investment by the United States, as Trump tries to drastically scale back US security commitments around the world.

Announcing the signing of the deal in Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it showed "both sides' commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine."

"This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term," Bessent said.

In Kiev, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on national television that the agreement was "good, equal and beneficial."

In a post on Telegram, Shmygal said that the two countries would establish a Reconstruction Investment Fund with each side having 50 percent voting rights.

"Ukraine retains full control over its subsoil, infrastructure and natural resources," he said.

Meeting a key concern for Kiev, he said Ukraine would not be asked to pay back any "debt" for the billions of dollars in US weapons and other support since the war started in February 2022.

"The fund's profits will be reinvested exclusively in Ukraine," he said.

Trump had originally sought US$500 billion in mineral wealth – around four times what the United States has contributed to Ukraine since the war.

Trump has balked at offering security guarantees to Ukraine and has rejected its aspiration to join NATO.

But Trump said on Wednesday that a US presence on the ground would benefit Ukraine.

"The American presence will, I think, keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we're doing the digging," Trump said at the cabinet meeting.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday threatened that the Trump administration would give up on mediation on the conflict – which Trump had vowed during the campaign to end on his first day in office – unless the two sides come forward with "concrete proposals."

Trump has pressed for a settlement in which Ukraine would give up some territory seized by Russia, which has rejected US-backed overtures for a ceasefire of at least 30 days.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out any formal concession to Russia of Crimea, the peninsula seized in 2014.

But Zelensky has taken care to voice support for Trump's diplomacy after a disastrous February 28 White House meeting where Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated him for allegedly being ungrateful for US assistance.

Zelensky had been due to sign the minerals agreement at the White House but was abruptly shown the door after the stunning on-camera feud.

Ukraine holds some five percent of the world's mineral resources and rare earths, according to various estimates.

Notably, Ukraine has around 20 percent of the world's graphite, an essential material for electric batteries, according to France's Bureau of Geological and Mining Research.