Ukraine’s deal to give the US sweeping rights to natural resources projects is advancing as both sides launch operations of a fund that the Trump administration demanded in return for further support for the war-torn country, Ukraine’s economy minister said.
“The fund is progressing very nicely,” Ukrainian Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev told Bloomberg TV Friday while on a trip to the US.
Washington and Kyiv reached a deal in May that would grant the US privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources, including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas. The administration of President Donald Trump has cast the agreement as a way to ensure US interests in the country as it presses for an agreement to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As part of the deal, both sides agreed to set up an investment fund, with the US getting the first claim on profits transferred into it.
Sobolev said a US delegation is set to visit Ukraine in September to decide which companies will benefit from the first investments of the US-Ukraine minerals fund.
Ukraine will also put up more licenses for auction so that US or other companies could mine minerals and receive investments from the fund, Sobolev added. That includes an announcement this week to open up bids for mining a big lithium deposit.
“This is one of the areas that we think would be interesting for US companies for the fund to invest in them,” Sobolev said.
Sobolev, as well as Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, met with Nasdaq executives on Friday to discuss Ukrainian reconstruction as well as the first ever listing of a Ukrainian company — telecoms firm KyivStar — on the exchange.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and other officials from Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs were also in the US to meet with Trump administration officials, include presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, to discuss the next steps on peace negotiations with Russia.
“Probably everyone sees right now that Russia is not ready to negotiate,” Sobolev said. “Ukraine is ready to negotiate and we’re ready for peace.”
After a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to yield a peace agreement, Trump has threatened to step up pressure on Moscow. This week, the US imposed higher tariffs on India, a key Kremlin customer, for its purchases of Russian oil.
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