Kyiv has given the US for review a draft of an American-led proposal that would give Washington access to Ukrainian natural resources in exchange for continued US support, a Ukrainian official said Friday.
The comments came just hours before Zelensky was due to meet with US Vice President JD Vance in Germany to lay out Ukraine’s case before a new US administration eager to quickly end the nearly three-year war.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kyiv this week to deliver a first draft of an accord, which Zelensky said Kyiv would study with the aim of finalising at the ongoing Munich Security Conference.
“Ukraine handed over the document,” a member of Kyiv’s delegation at the Munich Security Conference told reporters, adding the US side had requested time to look over the document.
US President Donald Trump, long critical of the money sent to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia, earlier this month suggested that he wanted an agreement to access Ukraine’s rare earth material as a condition to sustain support.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week said he expected to reach a deal for Ukraine’s mineral wealth that will in part compensate the United States for money that has been sent on weapons to defend against Russia.
Zelensky had floated the possibility of deepening Ukraine’s economic ties with its Western partners in a so-called victory plan announced in December, citing his country’s reserves of valuable mineral resources.
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