Exclusive: Ukraine gets new US deal on mineral resources
Ukraine received a new version of the agreement from the USA regarding the United States' access to Ukrainian mineral resources. At the same time, Ukraine has agreed with "other partners" to gain expanded access to their intelligence data, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Friday.
What do you need to know?
- New agreement: Ukraine obtained a new version of the agreement with the USA on access to Ukrainian mineral resources, as announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- Access to data: Ukraine has secured expanded access to intelligence data from European partners.
- Political context: Previously, Donald Trump accused Zelensky of breaching an agreement related to shares in revenues from rare earth metals.
- Earlier talks between the leaders of the USA and Ukraine ended in a dispute, and the agreement was not signed.
Rare earth metals in Ukraine: USA sends a new agreement
The President of Ukraine announced that the new agreement concerning the United States' use of rare earth metals in Ukraine arrived in Kyiv on Friday.
Volodymyr Zelensky also highlighted that Ukraine has reached an agreement with European partners, granting it expanded access to their intelligence data.
It should be noted that last Monday, Donald Trump, during an interview with journalists after a Cabinet meeting, indicated that the United States had reached a deal with Ukraine about rare earth minerals.
The US president said at the time that the United States anticipates signing an agreement with Ukraine regarding access to key minerals and natural resources, as reported by Reuters and the Kyiv Independent portal.
The agreement mentioned by Trump arrived in Kyiv on Friday.
Conflict over rare earth metals: Trump accuses Zelensky
At the end of February, Trump accused Zelensky of breaching an agreement to grant the United States a 50% share in revenues from rare earth metals as compensation for assistance provided so far.
He publicly threatened that the agreement should be reinstated, or "the situation would not please Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky." Trump once again called for elections in a country under martial law and labeled Zelensky a "dictator" who dragged the US into a "war that could not be won."
Rare earth metals, also known as rare earth elements, are a group of 17 chemical elements, which include scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.
