Kathmandu. Long-running and complex talks between Kiev and Washington on a deal to give the US priority access to Ukrainian natural resources are moving quickly, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Ukraine and the United States had planned to sign a deal to extract Ukraine’s strategically important minerals until a televised clash between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky threw the deal into doubt.
“The talks are moving very quickly,” an official close to the talks told AFP in Kiev. Trump wants the deal as compensation for aid to Ukraine provided by his predecessor Joe Biden. The deal will give the United States royalties on profits from Ukrainian mineral resources and rare earths.
The new draft of the agreement does not appear to recognize the US aid as a debt to Ukraine, the source told AFP. That assessment echoed an earlier report by Bloomberg News. Bloomberg reported that Washington has been easing demands that Kiev return the aid since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, who is in Argentina, said on Monday that the deal could be signed as soon as “this week.”
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