The new agreement with the United States refers to all minerals on the territory of Ukraine without security guarantees
The United States handed over to Ukraine a new draft agreement on the use of minerals, which should be reviewed and ratified by the Verkhovna Rada in the near future. The document covers the entire range of natural resources on the territory of Ukraine — from oil and gas to new and already explored deposits. At the same time, there is no mention of security guarantees for Ukraine in the document, informs People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
According to him, the presented project is not yet final, contains many legal nuances and needs serious revision. In particular, the management provides for the participation of five people, three of whom are US representatives with full veto power.
Mining is allowed for both public and private companies, and the funds obtained in the process can be converted into currency and taken abroad. If the receipt of funds is delayed from the Ukrainian side, additional payments are provided.
Zheleznyak pointed out that the US contribution to the agreement includes aid given to Ukraine from 2022, and the royalties they receive are 4% and come immediately after Ukraine. The document is indefinite, and changes to it can only be made with the agreement of the American side. The US also gets priority access to all new infrastructure projects and has the right to veto the sale of Ukrainian resources to other countries.
At the same time, according to Zheleznyak, there is a complete lack of any mention of security guarantees for Ukraine in the draft agreement — there is not even a hint of them.
“I hope that the Ukrainian side will demand and achieve significant changes to it. But the text that I saw is a downright horror. It is no longer just a memorandum, it is a clear agreement, and it is clearly not in our favor.”, – emphasized the deputy.
It will be recalled that the administration of Donald Trump insists on new conditions for US access to strategic resources and energy assets in Ukraine within the framework of expanding economic pressure on Kyiv, which accompanies negotiations on a possible peace agreement with Russia.
