Bloomberg: US and Ukraine sign Resources Deal after fraught negotiations

The US and Ukraine reached a deal over access to the country’s natural resources, Bloomberg reports.

The deal will grant the US privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas. It’s been seen as critical to fostering Trump’s goodwill as his administration pushes to end the war.

The signing ceremony on Wednesday concluded weeks of contentious negotiations and pulled the two countries back from a rift. Zelenskiy had come to Washington in February to sign the resources deal but went away empty-handed after he got into a testy back-and-forth with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office as the cameras rolled.

The accord was reached as Trump marked the first 100 days of his current term and is under pressure to secure victories as polls have shown an erosion of his favorability, driven largely by angst over his economic policies. He’s also been frustrated in delivering on promises to bring quick solutions to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Under the terms of the deal, the US would get first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be jointly managed by both nations. The deal is intended in part to reimburse the US for future military assistance to Ukraine. The fund will be financed by 50% of the revenues from new licenses in projects relating to critical materials, oil and gas.

Washington also acknowledged Kyiv’s intentions for the deal to avoid any conflict with its plans to join the European Union — long seen as a red line for Ukraine in the talks.

Many questions remain about the extent of future US support, including whether Trump will send more of the weapons and ammunition that Ukraine has come to rely on in the fight against Russia. The deal offers no direct security guarantees by the US.

White House officials have said Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with both Ukraine and Russia for so far failing to conclude a peace deal — which he promised to conclude in his first day in office.

Trump has threatened to walk away if there’s no progress in those ceasefire negotiations, raising concerns among Ukraine’s allies about the extent to which Kyiv may be blamed for talks falling apart. The resources deal appears to put Zelenskiy and Ukraine back in Trump’s good graces, at least for now.

“We made a deal where our money is secure, where we can start digging and doing what we have to do,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting at the White House earlier Wednesday. “It’s also good for them because you’ll have an American presence at the site, and the American presence will keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we’re doing the digging.”

…It should be noted that, firstly, the deal offers no direct security guarantees by the US. This is precisely the guarantee that Kyiv demanded. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent says the signing of the “minerals deal” shows there is “no daylight” between the US and Ukraine, “this is a total economic partnership.” No question about any ‘security’…

Secondly, how this transaction with the US would be carried out if Ukraine transferred its resources to Britain in accordance with the 100-year Treaty, which was signed in January 2025? So, Trump is taking Ukraine's resources away from London. Very nice...

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