Washington DC, 26 February 2025
Ukraine has agreed to give the U.S. a portion of the revenue from its mineral resources, officials said. The agreement came under heavy pressure from the Trump administration.
It’s unclear what Ukraine will gain from the deal, the final details of which are not yet public. But draft agreements reviewed by The Times did not include explicit security guarantees to deter Russian aggression, as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had insisted upon.
President Trump had suggested that the U.S. need not give up anything in exchange for the mineral revenue. He described it as “payback” for past U.S. aid to Ukraine during its war against Russia.
My colleague Amanda Taub spoke to foreign policy experts, who said they could not recall a previous time in which the U.S., or any other country, had extracted cash or resources from its own allies during a time of war.
What’s at stake: Ukraine has a bounty of titanium, lithium and other minerals, as this map shows.
Read the full story: New York Times