WASHINGTON - The United States and Ukraine on Wednesday signed a minerals deal after a two-month delay, in what President Donald Trump's administration called a new form of US commitment to Kyiv 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 Russia invaded just over three years ago.
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.
"And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine."
The Treasury statement notably mentioned Russia's "full-scale invasion" of Ukraine -- diverging from the Trump administration's usual formulation of a "conflict" for which Kyiv bears a large degree of responsibility.
In Kyiv, 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 Kyiv, he said Ukraine would not be asked to pay back any "debt" for the billions of dollars in US weapons and other support since Russia invaded in February 2022.
"The fund's profits will be reinvested exclusively in Ukraine," he said.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Facebook that the deal would finance mineral and oil and gas projects as well as "related infrastructure or processing."
Trump had originally sought $500-billion in mineral wealth -- around four times what the United States has contributed to Ukraine since the war.