US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that Washington is prepared to sign a long-anticipated minerals agreement with Ukraine, pending final approval from Kiev.

"Our side is ready to sign. The Ukrainians decided last night to make some last-minute changes," Bessent told a cabinet meeting led by President Donald Trump. "We're sure that they will reconsider that, and we are ready to sign this afternoon if they are."

The minerals deal, viewed as a cornerstone of Trump's approach to Ukraine, ties future US investment to access to the country's vast mineral reserves, critical for technologies like electric vehicles and advanced weapons systems. Trump has repeatedly insisted that rights to Ukraine's natural resources should be part of the return for over $100 billion in military assistance provided since the start of the war.

Kiev appears to have accepted the agreement as a way to lock in American involvement, especially as Trump moves to reduce US security obligations globally.

Prime Minister Denys Shmygal confirmed on Ukrainian television that the deal is expected to be finalized imminently. "This is truly a good, equal, and beneficial international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine," he said.

Uneasy partnership

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A senior official from the Ukrainian presidency, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the agreement will establish a 50/50 investment fund and will not be treated as repayment for previous aid. "It ensures the equality of the parties. An investment fund will be created to invest in reconstruction. It is envisaged that there will be contributions from us and the United States," the source said.

Although Trump has rejected Ukraine's NATO ambitions and has shown little interest in providing long-term security guarantees, he has suggested that a US presence at mining sites would serve as a deterrent. "The American presence will, I think, keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we're doing the digging," Trump said.

Read more: Zelensky calls for 'fair' peace without 'rewards' for Putin

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the US may abandon its mediation role in the war if both sides fail to present "concrete proposals." Despite pledging to end the war on his first day in office, Trump has made little headway toward achieving a ceasefire.

Reports suggest that Trump has floated the idea of a peace settlement involving Ukrainian territorial concessions, an outcome President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out, especially with regard to Crimea. Nonetheless, Kiev has sought to maintain open channels with Washington, particularly after a tense February 28 meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastised Zelensky for what they called a lack of gratitude.

Conditional support

Zelensky had originally been scheduled to sign the minerals agreement during that visit, but left without doing so following the public confrontation. Trump initially demanded access to $500 billion worth of mineral assets, an amount four times larger than the total US aid to Ukraine since 2022.

Ukraine is estimated to possess around 5% of the world's mineral and rare earth reserves, including some of the largest lithium and graphite deposits in Europe. However, many of these sites remain untapped, and a significant portion of them lie in Russian-occupied territory.

With Russian forces controlling roughly 20% of Ukraine after more than three years of fighting, the minerals deal is emerging as a central pillar of Kiev's strategy to secure postwar investment, even as traditional Western support appears increasingly conditional.

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