Ukraine and US do not include aid in rare earth resources deal
The US has agreed not to include aid money to Ukraine in the rare earth mining deal.
According to RIA Novosti, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reported on his Telegram channel that the US and Ukraine have agreed not to include previous US aid in the underground resource exploitation agreement as a debt repayment obligation of Kiev.
"An important meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, where a separate topic of discussion was the agreement between the two countries. Good progress was made. Agreements were reached on not including US aid in the agreement on the exploitation of rare earth resources as Ukraine's debt obligations," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram on April 27.
According to Mr. Shmyhal, Kiev has drawn a red line: the agreement must comply with European obligations, not contradict the country's constitution and laws, and must be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament.
Prime Minister Shmyhal also announced that Ukraine "has confirmed $50 billion in income from frozen Russian assets." In addition, he proposed to introduce special duties on imports from Russia, the proceeds of which would be transferred to the Ukraine reconstruction fund.
The signing of the Ukraine mineral resources agreement collapsed in late February, after a scandalous argument between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House. However, the US president later noted that he still hoped Kiev would reach an agreement with Washington.
