The current U.S. proposal regarding Ukraine's critical minerals seeks 50% of revenues from Ukraine's natural resources while offering no security guarantees in return, according to a draft of the agreement seen by the New York Times (NYT).
The U.S. and Ukraine have been working intensively over the past few days to hammer out the details of a revised version of the agreement. Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine's parliament, said Kyiv aims to conclude the agreement on Feb. 24, the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.
The terms of the revised draft are virtually the same as those of an earlier version rejected by President Volodymyr Zelensky, the NYT reported, citing a draft of the agreement dated Feb. 21. In some cases, the U.S. demands are even more stringent.
The agreement demands 50% of revenues from Ukraine's natural resources, including critical minerals, oil, and gas, as well as stakes in ports and other key infrastructure through a joint investment fund.
The new version says that the U.S. would hold a 100% financial interest in this fund, and that Ukraine should contribute to the fund until it reaches $500 billion.
This amount vastly exceeds Ukraine's actual resource revenues, which totaled $1.1 billion in 2024, and is over four times the value of U.S. aid to Kyiv.
That $500 billion figure was not listed in the original proposal presented to Zelensky by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Feb. 12. U.S. President Donald Trump has cited the number in public comments, claiming on Feb. 10 that Ukraine had "essentially agreed" to a $500 billion resource deal.
When Zelensky then refused to sign the proposed agreement on the grounds that it offered no security guarantees, Trump lashed out at the Ukrainian president, echoing Kremlin talking points by calling him an "unelected dictator."
A visit from Trump's Special Envoy on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, appeared to ease tensions and revive negotiations on the resource deal. U.S. and Ukrainian officials have reportedly been working through the night to hammer out an agreement.
Trump said on Feb. 21 that the U.S. and Ukraine were "pretty close" to reaching a deal.
The new document provides no specific security guarantees, according to the NYT. It instead says the U.S. will provide long-term economic development support for Ukraine.
Trump said in early February that he wanted to strike a deal with Ukraine involving access to rare earth minerals in exchange for continued aid — a change in U.S. foreign policy that turned support for Ukraine's defense and sovereignty into a business transaction.
Ukraine said it was open to such a deal and has stressed the need for concrete security guarantees. A former senior Ukrainian official called the first U.S. proposal "a colonial agreement" and said Zelensky could not sign the document on those terms.
Reuters reported on Feb. 21 that the U.S. has threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to Starlink internet terminals it it does not sign the agreement — a claim SpaceX CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk has denied.
Olena Goncharova
