They met a few months ago to finalize an agreement and finally the interview had cut short. This time, the mineral agreement was signed this Wednesday, May 31, between Americans and Ukrainians.
What to remember:
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On May 30 in Washington, the United States and Ukraine signed an economic agreement creating a common fund for Ukrainian reconstruction and American access to natural resources.
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The agreement, revised after tensions, provides for mining and energy projects under Ukrainian control; He must still be ratified by the Parliament in kyiv.
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Trump sees it as a lever of peace and a message to Moscow; No security commitment is included, despite the requests from Zelensky.
The United States of Donald Trump and Ukraine signed a vast economic agreement on Wednesday May 30 in Washington on Wednesday May 30 in the reconstruction of this country ravaged by the war and giving the Americans access to Ukrainian natural resources.
This agreement comes in parallel with multiple diplomatic negotiations in progress to find an outcome to the conflict, three years after its trigger by Russia.
“I am happy to announce the signature today of the historic economic partnership agreement” With Ukraine, the US finance minister said Scott Bessent, in a video message. “With the United States, we create this fund which will attract global investments in our country”, For her part, the Ukrainian Minister of the Economy, welcomed Ioulia Svyrydenko, who made the trip to Washington to sign the document.
The agreement with Washington will finance “Movers, oil and gas extraction projects”said the Ukrainian minister on Facebook. But Ukraine “retains full ownership and control of these resources” including the basement, and it will be “The Ukrainian state that determines where and what to extract”she said.
According to the US Treasury, this agreement “Recognizes the important financial and material aid that the American people have provided to the defense of Ukraine since the large -scale invasion of Russia”, An expression very rarely used by Washington since the return to power of Donald Trump.
“It is a signal for Russian leaders”
During the interview with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral, “I told him it was a very good thing” If this agreement was signed, “Because Russia is much greater, much stronger”said Donald Trump on Wednesday evening on the Newsnation channel.
Donald Trump “wants the two parties to sit at the table, now, showing that the United States has an economic interest in Ukraine”underlined the American Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Fox News.
“It is a signal for Russian leaders. It is also a signal for the American people that we have a chance to participate, to obtain compensation” For the funding and weapons provided to Ukraine, he continued. The United States provided, under the previous government of Joe Biden, tens of billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine.
The draft agreement has been at the heart of tensions between kyiv and Washington, the support of which is crucial for Ukraine for weeks.
A previous version of this text should have been signed during the visit of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House at the end of February, but his unprecedented altercation with his American counterpart, under the cameras, had precipitated his departure and canceled the signature of the agreement.
A new version, offered by Washington in March, had been deemed very unfavorable by Ukrainian and media deputies. Over the negotiations, this document could be transformed into a more acceptable version for kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials. An American Congress Democrat, Gregory Meeks, however denounced a “extortion” De Donald Trump.
A “beautiful fair international agreement”
“It is really a great fair international agreement between the American and Ukrainian governments concerning common investments in the development and reconstruction of Ukraine”had congratulated the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal on national television before the announcement of the text.
“None debt, no help” granted before signing “is not part of this agreement”, had assured Denys Chmygal. The document must still be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament after its signature. It does not seem to include US security guarantees against Russia, however requested by Ukraine, a point on which Volodymyr Zelensky insisted.
“This agreement clearly shows Russia that the Trump administration is engaged in a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine in the long term”, writes the secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent in the press release.
The text sets up a “Investment fund to invest in reconstruction” of Ukraine, which will be funded and managed equally by Ukrainians and Americans. The quantity of mining riches contained in the Ukrainian soil remains unclear, most of these resources being unexploited, difficult to extract or de facto under Russian control, because they are in territories occupied by the Russian army.
The latter pulled a drone in a residential area in Odessa, in southern Ukraine, killing two people and injuring five others, the governor of the region on Telegram said early Thursday. Simultaneously, explosions were heard in a district of the city of Soumy and anti -alerts triggered, among others, in the regions of kyiv, Kharkiv, Cherniguiv, Soumy, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporijjia.
