The minerals deal is now official and legally binding for Ukraine as on Thursday Ukraine’s parliament voted in favor of ratifying the controversial resources agreement with the United States. This was a final key step in its adoption.
The Zelensky government is hoping this will more firmly secure future military assistance from Washington. The vote was unanimous: 338 Ukrainian lawmakers approved of ratifying it, and none opposed.
“The Ukrainian Parliament has ratified the historic Economic Partnership Agreement between Ukraine and the United States,” First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced on X.
“This document is not merely a legal construct — it is the foundation of a new model of interaction with a key strategic partner,” Svyrydenko added.
Critics have warned that this could be a big resource grab by the United States, but since it’s signing was accomplished in Washington last month, Trump administration rhetoric toward Kiev has softened. For example, Trump is no longer demanding that Ukraine quickly move toward holding new presidential and parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, Moon of Alabama has highlighted that there’s still a fight on as well as confusion over some suppressed details of the deal, citing Strana, which reported (machine translation)…
The opposition already accuses the authorities of concealing the main points about the deal. The fact is that the agreement on the creation of the fund, signed last week and already made public, is being submitted for ratification, and there are very few specifics in it. This is essentially a framework agreement. For all the main points in the text of the agreement, there are references to another document – the Limited Partnership Agreement. There is also a third document – the Foundation’s charter.
A number of deputies claim that all three documents have actually been signed (or agreed upon). But they showed only one-the least important and most abstract of them, from which it is not even clear what the Foundation will do in general.
The government denies this, saying that only one document has been signed, and the rest will still be discussed.
Trump has indicated the US could just walk away from efforts to mediate peace, if neither side is a willing partner. The White House has not said whether this means it would halt arms for Ukraine’s military, or intelligence-sharing.
But the minerals deal means the US is indeed very likely to continue arming Kiev. After all, the White House now has more of an interest in protecting US ‘investment’ now and into the future.
Still, it is a very long-haul agreement: “Two supplements would spell out the details and would be published at a later date, officials have said about the deal which might not see a payoff for a decade or longer,” France24 notes.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 05/09/2025 – 02:45
