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Ukraine and the United States have signed a deal on the joint development of the country’s metal resources through a “reconstruction investment fund”.

the dealOn February 25 and was first obtained by the Vinancial Times times, much less than the initial proposal of Washington.

A previous signal was dropped to $ 500 billion of revenue from mineral extraction. There is no explicit guarantee of the United States for Ukrainian security, which Kiev wanted to share profits from its valuable natural resources.

While the Ukrainian negotiators managed Lower From the deal and respond to some of the most famous conditions claimed by the Trump administration, many decisive details have not been determined.

Where will the revenues go from the extraction of Ukrainian minerals?

Kyiv and Washington will create a “joint investment fund” in it Ukraine It will pay 50 percent of all revenues gained from the “future liquefaction” of the Ukrainian government’s natural resources.

In theory, the fund will invest in reconstruction in Ukraine after war and economic development, and perhaps in all sectors and not only natural resources.

Does the United States have the fund and control it?

It will be jointly owned by American and Ukrainian governments, however, decisively, more details on ownership and judgment will be removed at a later stage in the “Fund Convention”. In the opening attempt, the United States pushed the ownership of 100 percent and full decision -making rights.

Instead, the deal says that “the maximum ownership of the fund’s ownership” that the United States maintains and the “decision -making authority” will be “to the permissible limit under American laws.” This may be because American agencies may face restrictions on their participation in such a box.

For example, if the US Development Finance Company is running the US interest in this fund, in light of the current legislation, its stock investments will be 30 percent of any project.

The United States nor Ukraine will be able to sell any share of the fund without the approval of the other.

Will revenue in Ukraine be invested or pushed to the United States?

This is also mysterious and will be determined in the Fund Convention.

The deal says that the fund will collect and re -invest in revenues “at least annually in Ukraine to enhance the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine.”

However, it does not stipulate that all revenues are re -investing and adds that the subsequent fund agreement “will provide future distributions.”

What are the Ukrainian resources covered by the agreement?

Ukraine has large deposits of critical minerals, including lithium, graphite, cobalt, Titanium and some rare land. It also has oil, gas and coal reserves. All are covered with the agreement – as long as it is owned by “directly or indirectly” by the Ukrainian government – as well as the logistical services associated with it.

However, deposits that already contribute to government treasures to taxes, exterminals, or licensing fees are not covered by the deal. This would exclude the current operations of Ukraneva and Natvagez, state -owned oil and gas companies, which may be the most extracted industries in Ukraine.

The deposits of Ukraine were also not subject to exploration or great development – the operations that take years even in the shadow of stable states. There is also a lack of data about the quality of reserves, which is crucial information for investors before adhering to millions of new mines. A large percentage of deposits lies in the lands controlled by the Russian forces.

The exploitation of critical minerals in Ukraine requires vast investments. The fund, in theory, can fund some of these, but it will start from scratch unless the United States actually puts money. It also takes years until the projects will lead to taxable profits.

Did Ukraine obtained security guarantees it requested?

US President Donald Trump described the metal deal as a way to obtain a “recovery” for former US aid to Ukraine. He gathered around wide profits from the plan, from $ 350 billion to $ 500 billion. Looking at the difficulties of marketing these sediments, it is possible that they will result from a small part of it.

The Trump administration has argued that the mere presence of American economic interests in Ukraine would be sufficient to prevent Russian military aggression in the future. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded clearer guarantees for future American military assistance and security in the deal. He did not get them.

He said on Wednesday: “It does not contain all the security guarantees that Ukraine wants, but I wanted at least one sentence indicating the guarantees – which are present.”

The senior Ukrainian officials involved in the negotiations told FT that they were subjected to tremendous pressure from the Trump administration to finalize the agreement.

They hope that when Zelenskyy and Trump at the White House signed on Friday, it can open the door to more detailed talks on military aid and more guarantees as part of the US president pushing to end the Russia war.

Additional reports by Joseph Cotrell