The Financial Times reported today, Friday, that Ukrainian officials were that the administration of US President Donald Trump is seeking to set new items regarding the United States’ access to biomedes and energy origins in Ukraine, which increases its economic demands from Kiev, at a time when it is pushing for a peace agreement with Russia.
Washington wants Kiev to agree to detailed items on ownership and management of a joint investment fund, with the agreement expanding to include other economic assets such as Ukrainian nuclear power plants, according to Ukrainian officials.
Trump said on Thursday that the United States is seeking to sign agreements on extracting rare ground minerals and other resources around the world, but Ukraine is a special priority.
“We are doing a good job regarding Ukraine and Russia, and one of the steps we are doing is to sign an agreement soon on rare minerals with Ukraine,” he added, but he did not mention other details.
Ukrainian concerns
Ukrainian officials expressed concern about under pressure to accept unsuccessful conditions within a broader agreement, especially after Washington temporarily suspended the delivery of weapons and the participation of intelligence information with Kiev earlier this month.
During a call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zellinski this week, they discussed “Electricity supplies in Ukraine and nuclear power plants,” according to the summary of the call issued by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Michael Walz.
The summary pointed out that Trump said that the United States “can be very useful in managing these stations by its expertise in the electricity and utilities sector,” adding that the American ownership of these assets provides “the best protection” of the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Zelinski explained during a press briefing that he discussed with Trump only one nuclear station, the Zaparujia Nuclear Energy Station, the largest in Europe.
The station is located on the Dnibro River, 650 km southeast of Kiev, and it is under Russian military control since March 2022 just weeks after the comprehensive Russian invasion, and all its six reactors are currently in a “cold closing” mode.
The Trump administration claims that US investment in Ukraine is sufficient guarantee to prevent Russia from launching a new invasion after any ceasefire.
Ukraine and the United States had reached a framework agreement on February 25 on the joint development of mineral resources, including oil and gas.
However, the agreement was a modified version of the Trump administration’s original proposal, as the signal was deleted to possible revenue worth $ 500 billion from mineral extraction, and the current metal projects that funded the Ukraine treasury were excluded.
A new clause has also been included that the United States “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain the necessary security guarantees to make permanent peace.”
Zelinski was seeking an explicit American security guarantee in exchange for allowing the participation of Ukrainian natural resources profits.
However, the agreement has not yet been signed, as the two parties are in complex negotiations related to broader economic and security matters.
“We are ready to sign, it will be strange to ignore this agreement,” said a senior Ukrainian official close to Zelinski.
Ukraine has not yet received new American conditions, according to high -ranking Ukrainian officials participating in the negotiations, but one of them said, “I realize that they are working on a greater agreement.”
These negotiations have sparked deep concern inside Ukraine, as Ukrainian parliamentarian, opposition Ena Sounson, commented, “How long has the handover of a strategic sector to a foreign country is a guarantee of security? It seems more like a more protection.”
The efforts to conclude the agreement stumbled after a meeting at the White House between Trump and Zelinski at the end of last month, witnessing a verbal altercation between them.
