After weeks of stormy negotiations between the two countries, the Ukrainian parliament ratified, Thursday, May 8, the agreement concluded with the United States on the exploitation of minerals in the country. According to deputies, 338 parliamentarians voted in favor of this text, the required minimum being 226. This document concerns the extraction of 57 types of natural resources, including many minerals, oil and gas in Ukraine, which has been facing the Russian invasion for more than three years. However, it does not include security guarantees for kyiv.
While kyiv hopes that the agreement will allow us to open the way for new American military aid, Volodymyr Zelensky has already declared that he opened a “New chapter” In relations between kyiv and Washington. “Currently, the agreement is a solid basis for security cooperation and, in the long term, it offers Ukraine and the United States the opportunity to expand mutually beneficial economic collaboration”wrote on the Ukrainian president, in a message published on his social networks on Thursday.
Earlier, on X, the Minister of the Ukrainian economy, Ioulia Svyrydenko, had announced the ratification by the Ukrainian parliament of a “Historical economic partnership agreement”. “This agreement offers the possibility of benefiting from new military aid (…) from the American administration “assured Mr.me Svyrydenko. “The agreement does not mention any debt, but only new investments. And it is very important that these investments are made in Ukraine ”she was still congratulated.
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No security guarantees for kyiv
Donald Trump’s administration had announced his intention to quickly end the war between Ukraine and Russia and his relations were warmed spectacularly with Moscow, raising the abandonment of the pursuit of the crucial American support in kyiv.
The bilateral agreement had been signed in late April after weeks of tensions between kyiv and Washington, who had culminated during a heated exchange between Presidents Trump and Zelensky in the oval office. Contrary to what the American president wanted to initially want, the document does not plan to count, as Ukraine’s debt to the United States, the aid granted by his predecessor, Joe Biden, since 2022.
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It does not have security guarantees but offers “An opportunity to put pressure on Russia because it shows that the United States is ready to protect its partnership and interest. These are not only my feelings, these are the words of the White House ”estimated the Minister of the Ukrainian economy.
The text, however, provides, on the other hand, that the new American military aid can be recognized as a contribution to a Ukrain-American investment fund, the Minister recalled. This fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, ravaged by more than three years of war, will be funded and managed equally by both parties. The Ukrainian contribution will be made up of 50 % of the royalties drawn from new licenses issued for the exploitation of natural resources, according to kyiv.
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Donald Trump had congratulated himself on the ratification of the agreement by the Ukrainian parliament, which occurred earlier on Thursday, adding that he was going to speak “In a short time, a little later”avec Volodymyr Zelensky.
