Despite U.S. insistence, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign a draft agreement to hand over half of his country’s rare earth minerals to American companies in exchange for military support, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
“The deal was not signed yet. Sides are discussing the details,” said a Ukrainian official familiar with the negotiations who was granted anonymity to discuss ongoing talks. “Lawyers are working on it. In their draft, the U.S. has described a very complicated way how they want to get 50 percent [of Ukraine’s rare earths].”
The official added that the U.S. scheme “might not work” as it could fall afoul of Ukrainian law.
“So the Ukrainian side passed their draft version to [the U.S. side]. And they are working on it. While Ukrainians are working on American proposals,” the official said.
A person familiar with negotiations told POLITICO: “The Americans were not happy with the Ukrainian proposals.”
Another problem with the U.S. draft is that it reportedly has no real security guarantees for Ukraine except for the possible deployment of U.S. troops to protect the minerals if there’s a deal with Russia to end the war.
Posted by John3262005
1 Comment
It’s just a poison pill meant as an excuse as to why we’re withdrawing our support.