Ukraine and US fail to sign minerals agreement

Pravda Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump did not sign the minerals agreement.

Source: Senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich on X (Twitter)

Details: Earlier, Trump had announced that he would sign an agreement on rare earth minerals with Zelenskyy on 28 February.

During the joint press conference between Trump and Zelenskyy, an argument broke out between the two presidents.

Afterwards, Zelenskyy left the White House ahead of schedule after Trump said the Ukrainian president was not ready for peace.

Heinrich reported that the agreement was not signed.

This story is developing, we’ll bring you the latest updates as they happen.

Background:

On Tuesday, 25 February, it was reported that Ukraine and the US had finalised the terms of a bilateral agreement on the extraction of Ukrainian rare earth minerals.
On 13 February, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kyiv to discuss economic cooperation. At the time, Zelenskyy stated that the US had presented Ukraine with an initial draft of the “partnership agreement”, which includes investments in Ukraine’s mineral resources in exchange for future assistance.
Media reports indicated the Trump administration had proposed that Ukraine grant the US a 50% stake in the country’s rare-earth minerals, but Zelenskyy refused to sign the document.
On 15 February, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine was not rejecting the minerals agreement proposed by US President Donald Trump but that the document was not yet ready for signing.
The previous version of the agreement proposed the creation of a commercial fund in which the US would have 100% control, while Ukraine would allocate funds to it.
Zelenskyy had previously stated that he would not accept an agreement that would leave Ukraine owing US$500 billion to the US. He also noted that the presence of American businesses in Ukraine alone would not guarantee security.

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