Republicans split on Ukraine minerals deal - The Hill

Some senators welcome the upcoming agreement and consider it a potential victory, while others call for stronger guarantees of Ukraine's sovereignty. At the same time, some warn against any security guarantees from Washington, as this could allegedly drag the country into a future war.

Senator Thom Tillis, said that strong security guarantees from the United States will be important for attracting American private investment in mining.

“It’s going to be critical to our credibility about this being an enterprise that companies from the United States or Europe or wherever be allowed to participate in. They have to have those security guarantees,” the senator said.

At the same time, he warned that a complicating factor is that some of the mineral resources are located in the temporarily occupied territories.

Senator Rand Paul, in turn, opposes any security agreements with Ukraine, as he supports ending the war.

"I think the president’s doing a good job pushing towards an end to the war. The sooner, the better. The sooner we can stop the carnage, the better. I’m not for promising that we’re going to protect the world, or promising that we’re going to defend Ukraine,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Chris Murphy called the agreement meaningless, as it does not require any real commitments from either the US or Ukraine.

Minerals agreement

As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted earlier, the upcoming deal could be a great success or it could go quietly.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bennett said that the minerals agreement is ready and waiting to be signed.

Read more about the upcoming deal in RBC-Ukraine's article.