Foreign Minister: Ukraine has developed its own vision of the text of the agreement with the US on subsoil

Ukraine has developed its position in the context of the agreement with the US on subsoil. The same applies to the text of the document.

This was stated by the Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha, in a comment to Ukrinform.

According to him, Ukraine is finalizing the composition of the negotiating team, which will soon travel to Washington to discuss the text of the agreement proposed by the United States. The delegation will include a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier, he noted that the Ukrainian delegation would travel to the US with a team of lawyers. Today, he clarified that they would choose one of the leading law firms to accompany the negotiation process on behalf of the Ukrainian team.

Sibiga emphasized that the agreement should be mutually beneficial for the two countries and not contradict Ukraineʼs European integration course.

What preceded

The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought a pilot draft of a minerals agreement to Ukraine on February 12. Washington hoped that Kyiv would sign it immediately. However, President Zelensky said that he had banned the signing of the agreement because it would not be able to protect Ukraine’s interests — there is no connection to investments, profits, and security guarantees. After that, it began to be finalized.

The final agreement was supposed to be signed on February 28, during Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs visit to the White House. However, then Donald Trump and the President of Ukraine had a fight — the Ukrainian delegation left the White House early. The document was not signed. After that, the Ukrainian side, in particular Volodymyr Zelensky, signaled that Ukraine was ready to sign the document.

CBS News later reported that Trump was pushing for a “bigger, better deal” with Ukraine on rare earths. Other media outlets also reported the new US demands, but there was no official confirmation.

On March 14, Justice Minister Olha Stefanishyna said that Ukraine and the United States have completed negotiations on an agreement on rare earth minerals — the text of the document is ready.

But the United States is now proposing a new deal on Ukrainian minerals without offering security guarantees in return. The Financial Times, which reviewed the draft agreement, wrote on March 27 that Washington is aggressively expanding its demands.

The agreement currently being proposed by the United States covers not only minerals but all mineral resources, including oil and gas, throughout Ukraine. The agreement also covers infrastructure related to the exploitation of natural resources: roads, railways, pipelines, ports, and processing plants.

Kyiv believes this could undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, divert profits abroad, and deepen the country’s dependence on the United States. Kyiv will ask to change the deal, demanding in return increased American investment. The US President Donald Trump has already threatened Zelensky with “big problems” if he abandons the subsoil deal.

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