Ukraine will only sign a framework agreement on giving Washington access to Ukrainian raw materials, with an actual contract to follow at a later date, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.
“It’s too early to talk about money, because this is a framework agreement,” Zelensky was quoted as saying by the news agency Interfax-Ukraine in Kiev.
Finalizing a contract would be “more difficult and serious, because the next contract will be about the fund,” Zelensky said.
Later, on Ukrainian television, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said while a “de facto final version has been drawn up,” his country requires security guarantees from Washington before signing a deal.
“We will not consider signing an agreement without security guarantees,” Shmyhal said.
Media reports said the current agreement does not include US security guarantees for Ukraine, but would give Washington access to raw materials in the embattled country as compensation for helping Ukraine to fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion, which was launched three years ago.
The Trump administration is particularly interested in rare earth metals, as well as oil and natural gas deposits.
US President Donald Trump has said the agreement would be signed during Zelensky’s visit to Washington on Friday.
But Zelensky said that no such trip has been agreed yet.
The business relationship and the financial aspects of the agreement would still have to be precisely regulated in a possible contract, the Ukrainian president said.
“And this next contract must first be ratified in the Ukrainian parliament,” he added.