The United States and Ukraine continue to negotiate a raw material agreement – and new demands from Washington are concerned with Ukrainian MPs. They report designs that would give the USA access to all raw materials.
More than six weeks have passed since the dispute in the White House. US President Donald Trump canceled the signature under an already agreed raw material agreement with Ukraine and forced his Ukrainian counterpart Wolodymyr Selenskyj to premature departure. Both sides state that they are still interested in an agreement, but the details that penetrate the public about the negotiations are not very optimistic.
Above all, the demands of the US administration – as far as they become known – literally caused outrage in Ukraine. Apparently, these do not only refer to a framework agreement that should be signed in Washington at the end of February. They are already looking at how US companies Ukrainian soil treasures, including so-called rare earths, exploits, exploits and which parts of the Ukrainian economy should be under US control.
A pipeline – and all raw materials
Most recently, the Reuters news agency reported that the USA also called for control over a gas pipeline that used to promote Russian gas through Ukraine to the European Union. According to Reuters, this should be transferred to the state US development agency “International Development Finance Corporation” (IDFC). Ukraine had expired the contract to pass through Russian gas through this pipeline at the end of last year.
The main source of details from the negotiations are Ukrainian parliamentary members who apparently came into the possession of a draft contract, as well as US media. Jaroslaw Schelesnjak, MP of the Liberal Opposition Party Holos (in German “Voice”), reported in his channel at the Telegram news service, the USA now wanted to access all raw materials in Ukraine.
To date, only those who would promote US companies in Ukraine in the future had been mentioned. The United States should therefore also have developed occurrence, including minerals, but also occurrence of oil, gas and iron ore.
Fund with a majority
According to the documents, the United States would also play a dominant role in the administration. A fund is founded for the joint companies led by the development agency IDFC, according to the New York Times. The US side should provide three out of five members on the fund's Board of Directors.
Schelesnjak assesses the financial component of the draft contract as “unfavorable for us”. All funds of the fund are to be converted to US dollars and kept outside of Ukraine.
In addition, the profits that the funds made should first benefit the United States until the sum of the previous US military aid has been achieved, according to the New York Times. Only then will Ukraine come into play.
So that's not all: If the fund cannot achieve the expected profits, the Ukrainian state must compensate for this from other income.
The rules of the EU in view
According to most Ukrainian observers, an agreement in the form is senseless for Ukraine. With his last proposal, Trump exceeded “almost all red lines that were previously agreed”, commented on the influential Internet management Ewropejska Prawda. Other commentators even spoke of the USA apparently wanted to make Ukraine their economic colony.
The Ukrainian government has neither confirmed nor denied the rosed details about the last US proposal. President Wolodymyr Selenskyj only made it clear that he would not respond to the US claims. Above all, he was not ready to repay the US military aid from the past few years without conditions.
In addition, Selenskyj said that an agreement with the United States should not contradict the rules of the European Union who wants to join Ukraine. In doing so, he referred to the demand that the United States should have a veto law about future investment decisions in the field of mineral resources in Ukraine.
Security guarantees are no longer planned
According to the Ukrinform news agency, Selenskyj made a key role in a background discussion with journalists US Finance Minister Scott Bessent for the discrepancies. Selenskyj stated that he wanted to dictate Ukraine when visiting Kiev.
“I defend what belongs to Ukraine,” said the President, according to the Ukrinform. A agreement must be an advantage for both sides. However, Selenskyj admitted that the negotiations on military security guarantees were no longer spoken.
Newer Draft contract hand over
However, Ukraine has not yet given up an agreement with the United States. Justice Minister Olga StefanSyna said on Ukrainian television that the country handed over its own contract draft to the US dealers last week. You cannot reveal any details. “But in itself it is a good sign that there are consultations again,” said the minister. She assumes that the negotiations would last longer – “until we find an agreement”.
The chances of the new discussions were significantly more pessimistic. The negotiating environment was “very antagonistic”, said a source towards Reuters in Washington.
