The agreement between the governments of the US and Ukraine on subsoil leaves a number of important provisions of bilateral cooperation unspecified and fixes primarily basic, political parameters.
This is reported by "European Truth", whose journalists have reviewed the text of the document.
According to media reports, Ukraine and the United States have decided to split the agreement into several components again. The bilateral agreement, signed on Wednesday in Washington, sets the political parameters of cooperation between the two governments on mineral development, mineral sales, as well as American assistance, including military assistance, that Ukraine will receive in the future.
However, many details, including those of political significance, will be spelled out in a “technical agreement”, which is not yet ready for signing. The agreement signed on Wednesday is set out on just 12 pages. For comparison, the previous draft that the US gave to Ukraine in March, set out in the same font, contains more than 90 pages.
The parameters of the signed agreement correspond to most of the key theses that Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the day before.
In particular, the agreement does indeed describe in detail the guarantees that it will not contradict Ukraineʼs agreements with the EU and Ukraineʼs aspiration for accession, and in the event of such a contradiction in the accession agreement with the European Union, the provisions of the agreement with the US must be revised.
In addition, the document does not subordinate Ukraine to the American legal system — disputes are resolved on a parity basis, on the basis of consultations.
The text also does not provide for a "first-mover advantage" for US companies in obtaining licenses to extract mineral resources in Ukraine, but American companies must have access to auctions or negotiations to purchase such minerals on terms no worse than other buyers.
The agreement specifies a list of minerals whose extraction it applies to. This concerns Ukrainian production of aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, cerium, cesium, chromium, cobalt, copper, dysprosium, erbium, europium, fluorine, fluorspar, gadolinium, gallium, germanium, gold, graphite, hafnium, holmium, indium, iridium, lanthanum, lithium, lutetium, magnesium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, potassium, praseodymium, rhodium, rubidium, ruthenium, samarium, scandium, tantalum, tellurium, terbium, thulium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, zirconium, oil, natural gas, and these are only new deposits for which Ukraine will issue licenses after entry into force of the agreement. This list may be expanded only by agreement of the parties.
The agreement does not regulate mining and revenues from the extraction of other minerals. Nor does it apply to revenues from Ukrainian infrastructure, as initially proposed by the United States.
Ukraine will invest revenues from the sale of licenses and rent payments from the extraction of these minerals into the joint fund, but has the right to transfer funds there. The US contribution will include, in particular, new weapons supplies for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
At the same time, the document does not mention the principles of fund management, as well as the US commitment not to withdraw income from the fund for 10 years, but to reinvest 100% of the funds in the reconstruction of Ukraine. These positions should be spelled out in the next agreement, the text of which is being prepared.
What is known about the US-Ukraine 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. 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 finalized agreement was supposed to be signed on February 28, during Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs visit to the White House. However, Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president had a falling out, and the Ukrainian delegation left the White House early.
Finally, on April 17, Ukraine and the United States signed a memorandum, which confirms the intention to finalize and conclude an agreement on subsoil.
And on the night of May 1, Ukraine and the United States signed an agreement on subsoil, that is, on the creation of the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. According to the document, the United States must contribute funds to the Fund, in particular, this may be new assistance — for example, air defense systems. Ukraine transfers 50% of the income from new rents under new licenses for new areas to the Fund. The Fund will invest in Ukrainian projects — mining, oil and gas, as well as in related infrastructure or processing.
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