Washington: Ukraine pushes to conclude a long-awaited mineral case with the United States, even if the tensions between President Trump and President Zelensky slowed down progress.
The Minister of Finance, Serhii Marchenko, said that Ukrainian officials worked hard to quickly sign the agreement, despite some problems and unresolved delays following a stormy exchange between the two leaders earlier this year.
Marchenko and other Ukrainian officials met on Wednesday the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss the agreement and current questions on the Russian assets and detained by the West since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.
The two countries signed a memorandum a week ago as a first step towards the dropout of an agreement on the expansion of economic cooperation, in particular by the development of mineral resources in Ukraine, which has proven to be elusive.
President Donald Trump has promoted the agreement since the start of his second term in January. The two parties were to sign an agreement on natural resources in February, but it was delayed – and has since been revised – after an oval office meeting between Trump and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned into a cries match.
Trump said last week, he expected the agreement to be signed on Thursday, but Marchenko said he was not expecting a signature this week, although he and senior Ukrainian officials, including Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, be in Washington for spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
“There has been progress and now our teams are working in close collaboration,” said Marchenko after an event organized by the Ukrainian embassy. “There are still questions we discuss,” he said, without giving details.
“We are working as quickly as possible to sign the agreement,” he told Reuters later in the day, although he did not offer any specific calendar to finalize an agreement.
He said the talks continued despite Russia’s attacks on kyiv overnight, saying that the two problems were not linked.
The Treasury confirmed the meeting on Thursday with Ukrainian officials and underlined the need to sign the economic partnership between the two countries as soon as possible.
Trump puts pressure for a compact which gives the United States a privileged access to natural resources and critical minerals of Ukraine, which he supervises as reimbursement for military aid provided by former president Joe Biden.
Washington said he would withdraw efforts to negotiate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, unless there are signs of clear progress soon.
Marchenko also said that Bessent wanted the question of frozen Russian assets – which, according to kyiv, should be given to Ukraine to cover damage and loss of war – to be included in broader discussions.