The Trump administration is seeking new terms for US access to critical mineral and energy assets in Ukraine, broadening the economic concessions it wants from Kyiv.<\/p>\n
According to two Ukrainian officials who spoke to the Financial Times<\/em> (FT), Washington wants Kyiv to agree to more detailed provisions on who owns and controls the joint investment fund, as well as a broader scope that includes US ownership of other economic assets, such as Ukraine\u2019s nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n This amounts to reopening negotiations on the mineral agreement, which has not yet been signed. Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump said the US wants to sign agreements on rare earth elements and minerals worldwide, but that Ukraine is a particular focus.<\/p>\n “We\u2019re doing very well with Ukraine and Russia, and one of the things that we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re going to be signing a deal with Ukraine having to do with rare earths very shortly,” Trump said, but he did not provide further details.<\/p>\n Ukrainian officials said they were concerned about being forced into unfavorable terms in a broader agreement, especially after Washington temporarily suspended arms shipments and intelligence sharing with Kyiv earlier this month.<\/p>\n According to statements by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Trump and Zelensky discussed Ukraine\u2019s electricity supply and nuclear power plants during their phone call this week.<\/p>\n “President Trump indicated that the US, with its expertise in electricity and utilities, could be very helpful in operating these plants,” the summary stated, arguing that US ownership offered the “best protection” for Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n During an online briefing with reporters on Wednesday, Zelensky told the FT that he had only discussed one nuclear facility with Trump: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe.<\/p>\n The facility, located on the Dnipro River 650 km southeast of Kyiv, has been under the control of the Russian military since March 2022, and its six reactors are currently in “cold shutdown” mode.<\/p>\n Two senior Ukrainian officials involved in the negotiations with the US regarding Ukraine\u2019s mineral resources said that the Trump administration has not yet presented Kyiv with new terms.<\/p>\n “But I understand that they are working on a larger deal,” said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, like the others, due to the sensitivity of the discussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Trump administration is seeking new terms for US access to critical mineral and energy assets in Ukraine, broadening the economic concessions it wants from Kyiv. According to two Ukrainian officials who spoke to the Financial Times (FT), Washington wants Kyiv to agree to more detailed provisions on who owns and controls the joint investment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[8258,3002,8259,8253,6457,7226,8255,3583,3584,8252,1237,8254,7122,683,3874,822,821,8257,8256,802],"class_list":["post-8524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","tag-arms-shipments","tag-critical-minerals","tag-dnipro-river","tag-economic-concessions","tag-energy-infrastructure","tag-intelligence-sharing","tag-joint-investment-fund","tag-marco-rubio","tag-mike-waltz","tag-mineral-deal","tag-negotiations","tag-nuclear-power-plants","tag-rare-earth-elements","tag-russia","tag-trump-administration","tag-ukraine","tag-us","tag-us-ownership","tag-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant","tag-zelensky"],"yoast_head":"\n