The US softened its demands on Ukraine to return financial aid. This happened during negotiations on a subsoil agreement.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
After a round of talks in Washington last week, the Trump administration reduced its estimate of aid provided to Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion from $300 billion to about $100 billion. Ukraine itself had said more than $90 billion.
The White House is demanding that Kyiv agree to share profits from future Ukrainian investment projects, particularly in minerals and infrastructure. Washington still sees this as compensation for tens of billions of dollars in weapons and other aid provided to the country during the war.
Ukraine is pushing for better terms and refusing to recognize the American aid as debt. The Trump administration is not yet ready to promise future investments in the fund, which is Kyiv’s main demand.
The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on April 15 that Kyiv had submitted a counter-offer and negotiations were ongoing:
"We are very, very close. The deal could be signed this week," he says.
What is known about the subsoil agreement?
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, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had banned the agreement from being signed because it would not protect Ukraineʼs interests — it had no connection to investments, profits, or security guarantees. After that, it began to be finalized.
The final agreement was supposed to be signed on February 28, during Zelenskyʼs visit to the White House. However, then US President Donald Trump and the President of Ukraine had a falling out — the Ukrainian delegation left the White House early. The document was not signed. However, both sides stated that negotiations on the agreement were ongoing.
The United States is now proposing a new deal on Ukrainian minerals, as well as oil and gas, without offering security guarantees in return. The Financial Times, which has seen the draft agreement, says Washington is aggressively expanding its demands. Kyiv believes this could undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, divert profits abroad and deepen the country’s dependence on the United States.
However, 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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