 "Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. File image/Reuters")
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Kyiv will not sign a minerals deal with the US if it threatens its plans to join the European Union. The president confirmed that Ukraine has received a new version of the deal from the US on March 28.
His statement came after it emerged on March 27 that a new draft version of the deal, first reported by the Financial Times, would grant the US unprecedented control over Ukraine’s natural resources through a joint investment fund.
The report triggered speculation in Ukrainian media that the new deal may sabotage Kyiv’s ambitions to join the EU given the severe restrictions on Ukraine’s economic sovereignty.
Zelenskyy has now moved to allay those concerns, insisting that any deal threatening Ukraine’s EU membership would not be accepted.
“The Constitution of Ukraine makes it clear that our course is towards the EU,” Zelenskyy was quoted as saying by The Kyiv Independent.
“Nothing that could threaten Ukraine’s accession to the EU can be accepted,” he added.
Zelenskyy’s condition
Zelenskyy made clear that the minerals deal with the US will be signed only when there are “no relevant legislative threats”. He added that Kyiv’s lawyers would have a look at all the versions of the deal and then give their assessment.
“There are a lot of things (in the new version of the deal) that had not been discussed before. And there are also some things that the parties had previously rejected,” said Zelenskyy.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWashington initially planned to sign the agreement on February 28, but the process was delayed due to a heated dispute between US President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy at the White House.
On March 25, Zelensky confirmed that the US had proposed a “major” minerals deal based on a previous framework agreement but did not provide a timeline for signing. A day earlier, Trump stated that he expected the deal to be finalised “soon.”
The initial version of the agreement proposed creating a fund where Ukraine would contribute 50 per cent of the proceeds from the future extraction of state-owned resources, including oil, gas, and logistics infrastructure.