US asked for 50% of Ukraine’s minerals—Zelenskyy declined
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declined a proposal from a U.S. congressional delegation to sign a memorandum that would have given the United States a 50% stake in all future mineral reserves in Ukraine, The Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin reported on X on Feb. 14,
"Zelenskyy politely declined to sign it," Rogin added.
Earlier reports indicated that during a 90-minute meeting with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, Zelenskyy expressed concern over a U.S. proposal for investments in Ukraine’s mineral resources.
According to Reuters, citing two Ukrainian sources, Ukraine submitted its own proposals for a bilateral minerals agreement to the United States on Feb. 14. The U.S. side requested time until 6:00 p.m. Kyiv time to review the proposals before Zelenskyy’s meeting with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference.
Zelenskyy’s meeting with Vance and minerals deal—what’s known so far
Zelenskyy’s meeting with Vance has since taken place in Munich.
Media reports indicated that the meeting was rescheduled to a later time. According to European Pravda, the delay was likely due to the U.S. needing more time to work on the draft memorandum of partnership that Ukraine had revised and submitted to Washington.
The decision to postpone the meeting was reportedly made at the last minute.
On Feb. 11, former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Ukraine had "essentially agreed" to transfer rare earth minerals to the United States as compensation for military aid provided by Washington.
A day later, on Feb. 12, the U.S. submitted a preliminary draft agreement on mineral resource cooperation to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said following a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
"We talked about minerals," Zelenskyy said. "I know our team received the first draft of this partnership document between our countries. I really want our team to work on this document. We received it today, and we will do everything so our teams can quickly reach an agreement and sign it"
That same day, CNN reported that Zelenskyy had declined to sign the rare earth minerals agreement presented by Bessent.
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