Ukraine to start work on rare earth deal with US next week – Parliament head
Photo: Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
From the beginning of next week, the Ukrainian government will start working in earnest to conclude an agreement on mineral resources and security guarantees with the administration of US President Donald Trump, the speaker of the parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk told NHK.
Stefanchuk said that the Ukrainian government would start the work of an expert group on Monday to sign an agreement on rare earths with the United States.
He said that Ukraine was ready to work with partners on the country's mineral resources, but wanted to receive specific security guarantees, pointing out that rights and interests must be accompanied by them.
The speaker also notes that his country intends to have constructive discussions and seeks to hold a summit with the United States as soon as possible.
He also recalled that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had proposed that the United States jointly develop Ukrainian mineral resources as part of his victory plan last September.
Agreement on rare earth metals
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently visited Kyiv to present a draft agreement with Ukraine on rare earth metals.
President Zelenskyy suggested that the agreement could be signed in a few days at the Munich Security Conference, but this has not happened yet.
Against this background, American officials have begun to express dissatisfaction. US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz said Donald Trump was disappointed with Zelenskyy.
For his part, the head of the Ukrainian state said that the agreement did not mention security guarantees for Ukraine, but only that the United States wanted to gain control over 50% of certain resources.
On February 20, Axios reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump handed Ukraine an improved version of the rare earth metals agreement.
