Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko stated that the signing of an agreement with the U.S. regarding mineral resources this week is unlikely, but Kyiv is working to reach an agreement as soon as possible. He made this announcement on Thursday to Reuters.
This is reported by Kyiv24
“There has been progress, and our teams are now working very closely together. There are still some issues we are discussing”
According to the minister, the Ukrainian side is making every effort to quickly conclude negotiations and sign the agreement. At the same time, he did not specify any timelines for when this might happen.
Discussions with American Partners
On April 23, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Serhiy Marchenko met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen, during which they discussed the upcoming agreement. According to the U.S. Treasury press service, Bessen emphasized the need for a swift conclusion of technical negotiations and the signing of an economic partnership agreement between the countries.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hope for the signing of the agreement on April 24. However, according to sources familiar with the draft document, the United States insists on expanding the agreement to include all of Ukraine’s natural resources, including oil, gas, and key energy assets.
Context and Possible Changes to the Agreement
According to Bloomberg, Ukraine plans to make changes to the draft agreement, particularly regarding increasing investments from the U.S. Earlier, the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported that the U.S. insists on concluding a broader agreement that would cover not only mineral resources but also all energy resources of the country.
According to FT, this agreement does not offer Ukraine security guarantees from the U.S. This aligns with Zelensky’s position, as the previous draft also did not contain such guarantees. Trump has actively promoted this agreement since the beginning of his second term, but its signing was postponed following a dispute during a meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office.