Zelenskyy reveals status of minerals deal with US
Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine and the United States are set to sign a framework agreement on minerals. The next step will involve drafting a detailed agreement, which will be submitted for ratification by parliament, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting with journalists.
The President explained that there is now a framework agreement on minerals, after which both countries will prepare a deeper agreement.
He added that the next step will be to develop a detailed agreement with specific figures and percentages, which will then be submitted to the Ukrainian Parliament for ratification.
"There is a framework agreement, and then we will work on a deeper agreement with figures and percentages, which will go to the Ukrainian Parliament for ratification. This plan has not changed, and the sequence of actions remains the same. First, the framework agreement is signed, and then we define the teams that will work on the detailed second agreement. It will be submitted for ratification in the Ukrainian Parliament," Zelenskyy explained.
Agreement between Ukraine and the US
Ukraine and the United States have been working on a minerals deal for some time now. Under this deal, the US will be able to extract rare earth materials from Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine wants the deal to include security guarantees. However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has noted that the US will not consider the minerals deal as a security guarantee for Ukraine.
For more information on what rare earths are and how the idea for the agreement came about, read the material by RBC-Ukraine.
On Tuesday, March 11, a meeting between Ukrainian and US delegations took place in Saudi Arabia. The talks were held in Jeddah and lasted for eight hours.
According to RBC-Ukraine sources, Ukraine proposed signing the minerals deal during the meeting in Jeddah, but the US side decided to take a pause.
For more details on the talks in Saudi Arabia and the agreements reached between Ukraine and the US, refer to our material.
