KYIV — Ukrainian lawmakers voted Thursday to ratify a controversial economic partnership with the U.S. that gives America access to profit from the Eastern European country’s vast mineral resources.
After a tense debate that included criticism from the opposition, 338 MPs out of 400 officially voted to establish the American-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund that will be filled equally by both sides via a series of opaque means, but including mining and energy profits.
Representatives for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump signed the minerals deal last week, after months of tense negotiations that included a spectacular Oval Office blowup between the two leaders.
The agreement will see the U.S. develop and profit from Ukraine’s mineral wealth, which includes elements vital to manufacturing modern technologies, while contributing to a reconstruction fund to help the country after three years of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion.
Relations between Ukraine and the U.S., which has backed Kyiv’s defensive effort against the Kremlin’s aggression to the tune of billions of dollars in military aid, have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House in January.
In addition to the public argument with Zelenskyy, he briefly cut off American assistance to Ukraine, and has — along with his top allies like billionaire adviser Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance — promoted Russian narratives about the conflict.
Ukraine hopes that ratification of the minerals and investment deal will usher in a new era of harmonious Trump-Kyiv relations.
In addition to the main agreement, the sides still have to sign two technical deals on a limited partnership, defining the general managers of the fund, and who will decide what to use the cash proceeds for — and when.
But MPs in Kyiv complained that the Ukrainian government refused to reveal the two technical agreements, which are mentioned often in the main deal.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko’s spokesperson said the secrecy was because “the deals are not ready yet.” At a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday, Svyrydenko also explained that those two agreements will be strictly commercial pacts that will have to be signed by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and Ukraine’s Public-Private Partnership Agency.
Before ratification, Ukraine’s parliament opposition insisted on amendments to the deal.
MPs added a paragraph, clarifying that the agreement would cover all Ukrainian territory including the parts currently occupied by Russian forces, said Iryna Gerashchenko, an MP from the opposition European Solidarity faction.
Later, she said that the lawmakers added another paragraph noting that ratifying the main economic agreement does not mean lawmakers will automatically approve another the two technical side deals that they have not yet been shown.
For two days before the ratification, Ukrainian MPs studied the deal in the foreign relations, EU integration and economic security committees, with the U.S. Charge d’Affairs Julie S. Davis present at the meetings for the first time.
She stressed that Trump envisioned the partnership showing both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.
Initially, Ukraine wanted Washington to provide security guarantees and new aid in exchange for critical minerals. But the U.S. didn’t offer that, and instead demanded Kyiv pay back all the money that was agreed as aid, while getting preferential access and essentially control over most of Ukraine’s natural resources.
After a tense debate, both parties agreed on no debt for Kyiv, the promise of an equal partnership and even new weapons sales for Kyiv — but still no clear security guarantees from the United States, even as Putin’s war grinds on.
“Trump believed [the deal] would create more leverage for him with the Russian leadership when it was time to go to them. The idea was to start with Ukraine, sign the deal that shows the U.S. is still there. It would be a symbol to the American public, skeptical of more financial commitments, that it was possible to have a shared prosperity with Ukraine. In essence, it would be a tacit security guarantee as an economic partnership,” Scott Bessent, U.S. treasury secretary, said at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday.
“Sometimes after the blowup, you end up with a better deal … I think it is a win-win. What it is not is ‘sign here and it is a loan-to-own. You’re going to default on the debt, we’re going to own all your minerals.’ This is an economic partnership. They put assets, we put in capital from DFC (U.S. International Development and Finance Corporation), it’s 50/50. It’s equity, not debt,” Bessent added.
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