Zelensky “set a condition” for signing a mining agreement with Trump!
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in his latest comments on a mining deal with the United States that he will not sign it if it jeopardizes Kyiv’s accession to the European Union, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Zelensky’s comments came after details of a new mining deal between Kyiv and Washington were published. The Financial Times reported in May that the latest version of the deal, proposed by the United States, includes provisions that would allow Washington to gain unprecedented control over Ukraine’s natural resources through a joint investment fund.
The Ukrainian newspaper Yevropeiska Pravda reported that the deal’s severe restrictions, which would undermine Ukraine’s economic independence, could conflict with Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
Zelensky said: “The Ukrainian constitution has made it clear that our path is towards joining the European Union.” Anything that could jeopardize Ukraine’s accession to the European Union is unacceptable.
According to him, Ukraine officially received a new version of the mining agreement from the United States on March 28.
The Ukrainian president added: “In the new version of the agreement, there are many issues that have not been discussed before. There are also other issues that the parties have not accepted before.”
Kyiv and Washington were supposed to sign the agreement on February 28, but a heated argument and verbal skirmish between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump and his deputy in the White House, J.D. Vance, postponed the signing of the agreement.
Zelensky confirmed on March 25 that the United States had offered a “big” mining agreement within the framework of previous agreements but did not give a specific date for its signing. Trump, however, said he expected the agreement to be signed “soon.”
The initial version of the agreement established a fund from which Ukraine would receive 50 percent of the proceeds from the extraction of natural resources, including oil, gas, and logistics infrastructure.
The version previously approved by Kyiv did not include security guarantees but stipulated that “the fund would be reinvested at least annually to ensure the security and prosperity of Ukraine.”