USA urges Ukraine to 'tone down' and sign rare earth deal

According to Waltz, American officials were disappointed after Ukraine refused to sign the rare earth resources deal at the Munich Security Conference.

"We presented the Ukrainians an incredible and historic opportunity to have the United States of America co-invest with Ukraine, invest in its economy, invest in its natural resources and really become a partner in Ukraine's future in a way that's sustainable, but also would be, I think, the best security guarantee they could ever hope for, much more than another pallet of ammunition," he stated.

He also added that the agreement would have allowed American taxpayers to recover hundreds of billions of dollars.

"As the Vice President said, bad-mouthing in the press for all the administration has done and all the US has done for Ukraine, it's unacceptable. They need to tone it down, take a hard look and sign the deal," Waltz added.

Agreement on rare earth metals

Last week, the US proposed that Ukraine sign an agreement on rare earth metals. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent came to Kyiv with this initiative. The Ukrainian authorities assumed that the agreement could be signed a few days after Bessent's visit, at the Munich Security Conference.

However, on February 14, the first day of the conference, RBC-Ukraine's sources said that Ukraine had offered the US a revised version of the agreement. As a result, it wasn't signed at the Munich conference.

The full content of the document remains unknown. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized yesterday that the agreement contained no provisions on security guarantees for Ukraine.

Also, according to the President, the agreement stipulates that Ukraine would have to give 50% “of everything listed in it.”