US pushes for expansive new deal to control Ukraine’s minerals and energy
The US is pushing for a sweeping new deal to control Ukraine’s critical minerals and energy assets, while offering Kyiv no security guarantees in return, in an aggressive expansion of its previous demands.
The new draft deal sent to Kyiv on Sunday and seen by the Financial Times goes well beyond an initial joint economic accord hammered out last month, as part of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and recoup billions of dollars’ worth of military assistance.
Senior Ukrainian officials said the proposal could undermine their nation’s sovereignty, route profits abroad and deepen its dependence on Washington.
The draft deal marks a dramatic escalation of the efforts to seize control of Ukraine’s lucrative natural resources as it presses to bring the conflict to an end.
It would apply to all mineral resources, including oil and gas, and major energy assets across the entire Ukrainian territory.
Washington is demanding that Ukraine and the US set up a supervisory board to oversee a joint investment fund to split the income from Ukraine’s oil, gas and mineral projects between the two countries.
The US would appoint three of the five board members, giving Washington full veto power over the fund.
The draft also says that “the contributions of the United States following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022” would be “deemed as contributions to the partnership”.
US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday he believed the deal could be signed as soon as next week.
But three senior Ukrainian officials told the FT that was unlikely to happen. One said the new US draft proposal was “unfair”, while another likened it to “robbery”.
A third official said a team of legal advisers had been brought in to help the government examine the document as it prepared a counter-offer.
Ukrainians have expressed frustration at the increasing pressure from Trump to compromise to secure a ceasefire and lasting peace, even as the Kremlin shows no sign of stopping its invasion.
In Paris on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the US was “constantly” changing the terms of the agreement. But he added that he did not want Washington to think Kyiv was against the deal.
The Trump administration’s new proposal would supersede the previous framework agreement on jointly developing Ukraine’s mineral resources agreed last month by Kyiv and Washington.
That deal, which would have established a fund into which Ukraine contributed 50 per cent of future profits from mineral resources, was never signed after a disastrous Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy.
Under the new proposal, projects covered by the fund would include those carried out by the Ukrainian government itself, as well as by companies approved by Kyiv or state-owned organisations.
The deal also covers infrastructure connected to the exploitation of natural resources, such as roads, railways, pipelines, ports and processing plants.
Funds generated under the latest proposal would be converted directly into foreign currency and routed abroad, and Ukraine would be liable for compensation in the event of delays or disputes.
The US would receive royalties from the fund before Ukraine, at a 4 per cent premium, and would retain priority rights on infrastructure projects as well as veto power over third-party sales of resources.
While the deal does not include provisions for US ownership of Ukraine’s nuclear power infrastructure — a controversial idea floated last week by Trump — Ukrainian officials remain wary that nuclear assets could still be on the table in future negotiations.
One official familiar with the matter said the nuclear issue had been raised in earlier discussions but was deliberately excluded from this iteration of the proposal.
The US state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Treasury spokesperson said of the expanded offer: “The United States remains committed to the quick conclusion of this vital agreement, and to securing a lasting peace for both Ukraine and Russia.”
