On Tuesday the United States and Ukraine agreed to a natural resource assets deal which will repay the U.S. for the billions of dollars it had given Ukraine to fight their war against Russia. It does not require the U.S. to provide Ukraine with any security guarantees, to the dismay of Ukrainian Dictator Vladimir Zelensky and his failed ‘victory plan‘. The dictator is expected to travel to Washington D.C. on Friday to sign the agreement.
“The final version of the agreement, dated Feb. 24, establishes a fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50 percent of proceeds from the ‘future monetization’ of state-owned mineral resources, including oil, gas, and related logistics. The fund will invest in projects within Ukraine,” the Kiev Independent said Tuesday evening. “The deal excludes resources that already contribute to Ukraine’s state budget, meaning it will not cover operations by Naftogaz and Ukrnafta, the country’s largest oil and gas producers. The agreement does not include security guarantees from the U.S., which Kiev had initially insisted on.”
While the deal does not include security guarantees from the U.S. to Ukraine, President Donald Trump did say that weapons shipments to Ukraine could “go forward for awhile, maybe until we have a deal with Russia,” according to the Kiev Independent.
The agreed upon deal does away with the previous $500 billion U.S. claim over Ukraine’s natural resources, instead just seeking half of the proceeds from the state-owned resources.
“This first document will be followed by a Fund Agreement, which will further define the terms of the Reconstruction Investment Fund, created by the U.S. and Ukraine. That document will require ratification by Ukraine’s parliament,” the Kiev Independent said.
Fascinatingly, the deal lauds Ukraine for previously giving up its nuclear weapons, likely due to President Trump seeking global nuclear arms reduction. Dictator Zelensky had repeatedly expressed his desire for nuclear weapons and is upset he doesn’t have them.
While the U.S. is establishing beneficial economic relations with Ukraine via the minerals deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with Breitbart that the U.S. could reestablish economic relations with Russia following the signing of a peace plan. These relations could help reverse the trend of hostile relations which have driven Russia into China’s arms, according to Rubio.
“The big story of the 21st century is going to be U.S.-Chinese relations,” Rubio said. “If Russia becomes a permanent junior partner to China in the long term, now you’re talking about two nuclear powers aligned against the United States, and even ten years from now or five years from now, if this trend continues, we could find ourselves in a situation where whether Russia wants to improve its relations with the U.S. or not, they can’t because they’ve become completely dependent on the Chinese because we have cut them off. I don’t know if that’s a good outcome for us. What’s a better outcome for us is to have a relationship,” Rubio said.
To this end, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced another round of talks between Moscow and Washington on Wednesday. These talks will focus on operations of their respective embassies.
