Ukraine Minerals Deal on the Table but Security Guarantees Are Left Undefined

President Zelensky could be at Washington as early as Friday to sign a minerals agreement with America, but the security exchange that is supposed to accompany the deal is seemingly absent.Speaking at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Trump said the purported minerals-for-security deal that has been in negotiations for the last two weeks has “all been worked out.”“We’ve been able to make a deal where we’re going to get our money back and we’re going to get a lot of money in the future and I think that’s appropriate because we have taxpayers that shouldn’t be footing the bill,” said Mr. Trump, who put the price tag of American support for Ukraine’s war with Russia at $350 billion.Mr. Trump said the deal will include a cessation of hostilities with Russia.“Most importantly, by far we are going to make a deal with Russia and Ukraine to stop killing people.,” he said. “We will consider that a very important thing and a big accomplishment because it was going nowhere until this administration came in, having not spoken to President Putin in two years.” Mr. Zelensky confirmed that plans are being drawn up for him to travel to Washington at the end of the week. However, a copy of the minerals agreement obtained by the Kyiv Independent newspaper makes no mention of eliminating the Russian threat. It does broadly speak to developing “concrete steps to establish lasting peace,” and states that America “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees,” particularly as it relates to protecting American investments. In an address Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky said one of the key conditions to diplomacy is to ensure that Ukraine positions are protected “under any circumstances.”“Guarantees of peace and security – this is the key to ensuring that Russia will no longer destroy the lives of other nations. I will meet with President Trump. For me and for all of us in the world, it is crucial that America’s assistance is not stopped. Strength is essential on the path to peace,” he said.Russia’s forces are said to be in the mineral-rich portion of Ukraine’s territory so extracting resources will require an end to bloodshed. An additional challenge will be the accounting of all of Ukraine’s mineral and energy assets, which has not been done since the Soviet era, according to the S&P Global Commodity Insights, citing the Ukrainian Geological Survey. The valuation of Ukraine’s mineral wealth and the technology to extract the elements are also lacking. This could require extensive additional American investment to modernize Ukraine’s infrastructure. The language in the agreement does not give a raw dollar figure for the deal, but says Ukraine will contribute 50 percent of “all revenues earned from the future monetization of all relevant Ukrainian government-owned natural resource assets” to a bilateral fund that will be used to invest in projects to extract minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas, and other materials as well as infrastructure, ports, and state-owned enterprises.” The United States in turn will “maintain a long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine.”

Ukraine Minerals Deal on the Table but Security Guarantees Are Left Undefined

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