 "US President Donald Trump shouts at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during their interaction with the press at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 28, 2025. Reuters File")
The United States has sharply reduced its estimate of the cost of assistance provided to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, cutting the figure from $300 billion to around $100 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The revised accounting comes as Donald Trump intensifies efforts to broker a settlement to the war. As part of that initiative, the US president is pushing for a bilateral minerals agreement with Kyiv.
Trump views the proposed deal as a pathway to recoup a portion of the billions spent on military support for Ukraine. This, despite the fact that the aid was not initially structured as a loan.
What does the proposal say?
Details of the latest US proposal, floated last month by the Trump administration, point to a significant expansion of earlier discussions. Under the terms being considered, Ukraine would channel revenues from the extraction of natural resources— including by private and state-owned enterprises— into a joint investment fund with the US. However, the arrangement does not include any provisions for future American security guarantees.
The minerals sector has become increasingly central to Ukraine’s economic strategy, with rare earths and other critical materials viewed as a potential engine for postwar recovery.
For Washington, such a deal could offer a long-term strategic foothold in the region’s resource landscape while softening criticism over the scale of wartime spending.
Minerals deal moving fast
Negotiations between Kyiv and Washington over a proposed agreement granting the United States preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources are advancing rapidly, AFP cited an official familiar with the discussions as saying on Wednesday (April 16).
Newer drafts of the accord appeared not to recognise US aid as a debt owed by Ukraine, the source said. This comment is in line with the report by Bloomberg News.
With inputs from agencies