KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine is poised to sign a landmark mineral resources agreement with the United States in Washington on Wednesday, according to two senior Ukrainian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko is currently in Washington for the final coordination of the agreement’s technical details, the sources said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Trump administration, which has pressed for the agreement to be signed, also was ready to ink the deal.
Trump has said that he wants Ukraine’s rare earth elements as a condition of further support in its more than three-year war with Russia.
Ukraine has deposits of titanium, which is used for making aircraft wings and other aerospace manufacturing. It also has lithium, key to several current battery technologies, and uranium, used for nuclear power, medical equipment and weapons. On top of that, it has graphite and manganese, both used in batteries for electric vehicles.
Talks had stalled earlier this year after a tense Oval Office meeting in February between the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders.
For Ukraine, the deal is seen as possibly key in getting future military aid from the U.S.
The Ukrainian Cabinet is expected to approve the agreement’s text before the Washington meeting, after which it will be signed by an authorized government representative.
The deal will then require ratification in the Ukrainian parliament before it can take effect.
According to one of the Ukrainian officials, multiple documents are involved — including a main agreement and at least two technical accords outlining the structure and operations of the joint fund.
The official said that the Ukrainian side is generally satisfied with how the agreement has evolved following negotiations between both teams.
The other senior official expressed hope that there would be no further changes from Washington’s side.
Ukraine has introduced new provisions to the agreement, aiming to address earlier concerns that the initial U.S. draft, presented in March, disproportionately favored American interests. Negotiations between the two sides have continued steadily since then.
One industry official close to the discussions said that more “details and not just declarations” were added to the text.
The development came amid rocky progress in Washington’s push to stop the war.
In Moscow, a senior Kremlin official said Wednesday that clinching a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war “is far too complex to be done quickly,” as the U.S. labors to bring momentum to peace efforts and expresses frustration over the slow progress.
Meanwhile, a nighttime Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv wounded at least 45 civilians, officials said. The United Nations reported that the number of Ukrainian civilian casualties in the more than three-year war has surged in recent weeks amid Washington’s attempts to broker a peace agreement.
