CNN —
Ukraine managed to obtain some more favorable terms before signing the long -awaited mineral agreement on Wednesday.
The agreement on natural resources was finally reached this Wednesday night, after weeks of tense negotiations that at times they became sour and temporarily arrested Washington’s help to Ukraine.
Kyiv finally convinced the president of the United States Donald Trump to leave some of his key demands, but failed to make US security guarantees part of the agreement.
Ukrainian officials promoted the final agreement as an egalitarian association between Kyiv and Washington, a notable change with respect to some of the previous drafts that were described by the leader of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky, as if the United States asked him to “sell my country”.
The signed agreement, seen by CNN, seems to be more favorable for Ukraine than some of the previous versions.
Essentially, it does not require that Kyiv reimbursed the help he has already received, a key concession of Trump, which for a long time has submitted the agreement as a way that Ukraine “pays” to the United States.
Washington initially demanded a participation of US $ 500,000 million in the so -called rare earths and other Ukraine minerals in exchange for the aid he had already provided to Kyiv. When Zelensky rejected that idea, Trump called him “dictator.”
On the other hand, the agreement signed on Wednesday says that the future US military assistance to Ukraine will have as part of the US investment in an investment fund for joint reconstruction that will be used to invest in the natural resources of Ukraine.
The agreement grants preferential rights to the United States, but not exclusive, for the extraction of minerals in Ukraine and establishes that Kyiv will have the last word on what and where it is extracted. Ukraine will also retain the property of the subsoil.
“All resources in our territory and in our territorial waters belong to Ukraine. It is the Ukrainian state who decides where and what to extract,” said Ukraine Economy Minister Yulia Svydenko, who signed the agreement on behalf of her country.
In a victory for Ukraine, the agreement also adopts a forceful language about war with Russia. He points to Moscow as the aggressor in the conflict, differing from some of Trump’s previous false statements about Ukraine and Zelensky as responsible for the war.
The agreement also explains in detail the objective of the same: “A peaceful, sovereign and resilient Ukraine,” a notable step back of what Trump said earlier this year: “Ukraine could be Russia someday.”
It also leaves the door open to a possible future accession of Ukraine to the European Union, and states that the investment must be made in accordance with the obligations of Ukraine as a candidate state to the EU. He adds that, if Ukraine joined the block in the future, this agreement would renegotiate “in good faith.”
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But the terms of the agreement also show that the United States has achieved a series of advantages.
The United States Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besent, described him as a “historical economic association” and said in a statement that “sends a clear sign to Russia that the Trump government is committed to a peace process focused on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine in the long term.”
Ukraine has abandoned its key demand that the United States provides security guarantees as part of this agreement. It was this demand that finally led to the noisy meeting between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office in February.
Trump then refused to offer security guarantees, saying that he wanted Ukraine to sign the first agreement and talk about guarantees later.
At that time, Zelensky refused, but Ukrainian officials since then believe that US investment and the presence of US companies in Ukraine will make Washington more interested in Ukraine’s security.
Experts agree. Liam Peach and Hamad Hussain, Economics Economists, wrote in an analysis note this Thursday that the agreement “offers some security that the Trump government does not plan to abandon Ukraine completely” because it establishes US economic interests in Ukraine.
The agreement seen by CNN also specifies that the profits and other payments made as part of the treatment will be tax free and will not be subject to any tax or tariff by Ukraine.
It also says that if a conflict arises between the drafting of the Agreement and the legislation of Ukraine, the agreement will have a legal precedent.
