Ukraine says new deal is not linked to any past \u201cdebt\u201d as US officials stressed that accord signalled US support
\n KYIV
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed a new minerals agreement with the United States, calling it a \u201ctruly equal\u201d partnership that offers shared benefits to both sides.
\nHis comments came just hours after Russian missile strikes killed two people and wounded 15 others in response to the deal signed on Wednesday, which aims to jointly develop Ukraine\u2019s critical mineral resources.
\nThe agreement, which has taken months to negotiate, would see the United States and Kyiv jointly develop and invest in Ukraine\u2019s critical mineral resources.
\nUS President Donald Trump initially described the arrangement as \u201cmoney back\u201d for the wartime aid Ukraine received under his predecessor Joe Biden.
\nUkraine said the new agreement is not linked to any past \u201cdebt\u201d however. And US officials stressed that the accord signalled US support for Ukraine.
\n\u201cThis agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,\u201d US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Washington.
\nThe agreement \u201cchanged significantly\u201d during negotiations, Zelensky said in his daily address.
\n\u201cNow it is a truly equal agreement that creates an opportunity for quite significant investment in Ukraine.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is no debt in the deal, and a fund \u2014 a recovery fund \u2014 will be created that will invest in Ukraine and earn money here,\u201d he added.
\nKyiv and Washington planned to sign the agreement in February, but a White House clash between Trump and Zelensky derailed the talks.
\nUkraine hopes the deal will now pave the way for the United States to give security guarantees as it seeks to safeguard against future Russian attacks following Moscow\u2019s three-year invasion.
\nThe agreement still needs to be ratified by Ukraine\u2019s parliament.
\n\u2018Be quiet and negotiate\u2019
\nUnder the deal, Ukraine and the United States will establish a joint Reconstruction Investment Fund.
\nProfits from the agreement will be invested exclusively in Ukraine for the first 10 years, after which profits \u201cmay be distributed between the partners,\u201d Kyiv said.
\nThe new agreement does not give any specific US security commitments, but Washington argues boosting its business interests in Ukraine will help deter Russia.
\nMoscow has kept up its attacks on Ukraine unabated, despite Trump\u2019s efforts to broker a ceasefire.
\nAn overnight Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed two people and wounded more than a dozen others, authorities said.
\n\u201cWe need further pressure on Russia to force it to be quiet and to negotiate. The more effective the sanctions are, the more incentives Russia will have to end the war,\u201d Zelensky said on Telegram following the attack.
\nFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP on Thursday, after Washington talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that the European Union is preparing a 17th round of sanctions against Russia, describing President Vladimir Putin as the \u201csole obstacle\u201d to peace in Ukraine.
\nA bipartisan group of US senators led by Republican Lindsay Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal also last month proposed legislation that would impose sanctions on countries friendly to Moscow if it disrupts efforts to end the war.
\nRussia rejected a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States and Ukraine in March, demanding a halt in Western military aid for Kyiv.
\nThe United States warned that this week would be \u201ccritical\u201d in determining whether it would walk away from efforts to broker an end to the three-year war.
\nPutin has declared a surprise three-day truce from May 8\u201310, coinciding with Moscow\u2019s large-scale celebrations for the 80th World War II Victory Day celebrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukraine says new deal is not linked to any past \u201cdebt\u201d as US officials stressed that accord signalled US support KYIV Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed a new minerals agreement with the United States, calling it a \u201ctruly equal\u201d partnership that offers shared benefits to both sides. His comments came just hours after Russian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-476094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n