Ukraine says aiming to wrap up mineral deal talks within a week

By Anastasiia Malenko and Christian Lowe

KYIV (Reuters) - Kyiv said on Friday it aims to complete talks by the end of next week about a deal with Washington on jointly exploiting Ukrainian mineral resources, an agreement Ukrainian officials hope will go some way to firming up softening U.S. support for them in their war with Russia.

Though the terms of the eventual deal are not finalised, Washington has signalled it expects to have privileged access to Ukraine's natural resources by way of repayment for U.S. military support for the country over the past three years.

Late on Thursday, the U.S. and Ukrainian governments signed a memorandum of intent, signalling their intent to finalise the minerals deal.

The memorandum represented a step towards repairing ties between Kyiv and Washington that appeared to be hanging by a thread in February, when an Oval Office meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned into a shouting match.

According to the text of the memorandum, published by the Ukrainian government on Friday, the aim of both sides is to complete discussions on the final deal by April 26, and to sign it soon after.

The memorandum said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will travel to Washington at the start of next week to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and work on the deal together.

"We are happy to announce the signing with our American partners," Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister and economy minister, said on social media on Thursday, referring to the memorandum of intent.

She said the document "testifies to the constructive joint work of our teams and the intention to finalise and conclude an agreement that will be beneficial to both our peoples."

According to the text of the memorandum, it paves the way for an economic partnership deal and the setting up of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The text did not give any details about the terms of the eventual deal, including what access the United States would have, and how much revenue it would stand to gain.

In Washington, Trump told reporters: "We have a minerals deal, which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday."

Trump has been critical of the billions of dollars of aid that his predecessor, Joe Biden, gave to Ukraine, saying it was a bad deal for the United States. He has also indicated he wants closer ties with Moscow, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"We're still working on the details," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, seated beside Trump in the Oval Office, adding that the signing could come by next Friday.

The White House did not respond to a request for further details on the timing and contents of the agreement.

PRIZED RESOURCES

A draft of the minerals deal that was under discussion earlier this month would give the U.S. privileged access to Ukraine's mineral deposits and require Kyiv to place in a joint investment fund all income from the exploitation of natural resources by Ukrainian state and private firms, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

The draft deal included mineral deposits in Ukraine and also infrastructure for the transit of natural gas, the source said.

The proposed deal, however, would not provide U.S. security guarantees to Ukraine - a top priority of Kyiv's - for its fight against Russian forces occupying some 20% of its territory.

Ukraine has sizable deposits of natural resources, including rare earths that are prized for use in electronics. It has deposits of graphite, lithium, titanium and uranium, among other minerals.

The path to a deal on minerals has been bumpy. A previous iteration of the deal was ready for signing in February, when Zelenskiy came to the White House to meet Trump.

That though was shelved after their meeting turned acrimonious - and Washington also briefly paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, which is vital in its effort to resist the Russian invasion.

Later, Kyiv launched an effort to salvage the relationship, and began talking to U.S. officials again about cooperation on natural resources.

(Additional reporting by Yulia Dysa in Kyiv, Angelo Amante and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)