Cabinet publishes Ukraine-US agreement on natural resources partnership

The 12-page agreement outlines key political commitments, including:

• Ukraine’s sovereignty over natural resources within its territory,
• no impact on Ukraine’s property ownership or privatization rules,
• alignment with Ukraine’s EU accession obligations and agreements with international financial institutions or creditors.

The deal creates a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, into which Ukraine will contribute revenues from new licenses and royalties for mineral extraction.

The agreement references U.S. military aid, noting, “If [the U.S. government] delivers new military assistance the Government of Ukraine in any form (including the donation of weapons systems, ammunition, technology, or training), the U.S. capital contribution will be deemed increased by the assessed value of such military assistance.”

Covered resources include Ukraine’s deposits of aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, cerium, cesium, chromium, cobalt, copper, dysprosium, erbium, europium, fluorine, fluorspar, gadolinium, gallium, germanium, gold, graphite, hafnium, holmium, indium, iridium, lanthanum, lithium, lutetium, magnesium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, potassium, praseodymium, rhodium, rubidium, ruthenium, samarium, scandium, tantalum, tellurium, terbium, thulium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, zirconium, oil, and natural gas (including liquefied natural gas).

European Pravda reported that the bilateral agreement sets political parameters for cooperation, but key details, including politically significant ones, will be outlined in a forthcoming “technical agreement” not yet ready for signing.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said two additional technical agreements—one on the fund’s creation and another on its financing and operations—must follow the “main” agreement.