Zelenskyy proposes $30B US arms agreement tied to minerals deal
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (president.gov.ua)
US assistance for 2025 and 2026 will amount to $15 billion each year. Thanks to the minerals deal, if approved, the funds planned for next year could be received as early as this year, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with journalists.
"There are $15 billion for 2025, according to the decisions made by Congress a year ago. It’s a $15 billion package for 2025, and weapons for that amount. There is also another $15 billion, which they had split for 2026. The question is whether these funds actually reach you or not. And it's a large amount — $30 billion," he said.
According to the president, the key issue is whether the newly created fund can make it possible to move the $15 billion planned for 2026 forward to 2025.
"For example, in the second half of the year, we could receive weapons worth $30 billion for 2025 and 2026 — but receive them now," Zelenskyy said.
According to him, this $30 billion would be the US contribution to the Reconstruction Investment Fund.
"And Ukraine will then repay its half into this fund gradually — that is the agreement," the president noted.
US–Ukraine minerals deal
On May 1, Ukraine and the United States signed an economic cooperation agreement, commonly referred to as the "minerals deal." The document was signed by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury.
Under the agreement, a 50-50 Reconstruction Investment Fund has been created. The Ukrainian-American fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction could become operational within a month to a month and a half following its ratification by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament - ed.).
Ukraine will not begin contributing its share to the Investment Fund under the minerals deal with the US until 2030.
