Minerals deal with Ukraine may be signed next week - US Special Envoy
Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy (photo: Getty Images)
Official Washington expects an agreement with Kyiv on US access to minerals and rare earth metals in Ukraine to be signed next week, stated US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff on CNN.
Speaking to host Jake Tapper, the American official repeated US President Donald Trump's statement that the United States provided assistance to Ukraine during the Joe Biden administration for free.
He added that Russia's war against Ukraine also poses a threat to Europe, but that European governments allegedly provided less assistance to the Ukrainian side than the United States did.
In this context, Witkoff spoke about the Trump administration's intentions to reimburse the funds spent to support Ukraine as it resists Russian aggression. To do this, Washington, in particular, wants to sign an agreement with Kyiv on rare-earth metals
"I expect the deal to be signed this week," - Mr. Witkof said in a conversation with the host.
The issue of Washington-Kyiv agreement on Ukrainian rare-earth metals
Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kyiv to present a draft agreement with Ukraine on rare-earth metals. However, the Ukrainian side did not sign the agreement and sent it back for revision. The reason, in particular, was that the agreement did not mention security guarantees for Ukraine, which was pointed out by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Against this background, American officials began to express dissatisfaction. In particular, US presidential adviser Michael Waltz said he was "disappointed" with Donald Trump.
On February 20, Axios wrote that the Trump administration had handed Ukraine an improved version of the rare-earth metals agreement.
Yesterday, Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk said that starting next week, the Cabinet of Ministers will begin serious work on concluding an agreement on minerals and security guarantees with the Trump administration.
On February 22, US President Trump threatened Ukraine with consequences if Kyiv does not sign an agreement with Washington to give the United States access to Ukrainian minerals. In this case, the head of the White House predicts that Ukraine will have "a lot of problems."
The US president expressed hope that "we will sign an agreement with Ukraine for $400-500 billion very soon."
