Draft of minerals deal features vague reference to Ukrainian security

Inside the Irshansk titanium mine in Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, June 12, 2024. Officials in Ukraine and the Trump administration say they are close to a deal that would give the United States revenues from Ukraine’s minerals and other natural resources, including titanium, lithium, oil, natural gas and rare earth elements. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)

By Andrew E. Kramer and Constant Méheut

A draft of an agreement calling for Ukraine to hand over to the United States revenue from natural resources includes new language referring to security guarantees, a provision Ukraine had pressed for vigorously in negotiations.

But the reference is vague and does not signal any specific U.S. commitment to safeguarding Ukraine’s security.

A copy of the agreement obtained Wednesday by The New York Times included a sentence stating that the United States “supports Ukraine’s effort to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.” Previous drafts did not have the phrase on security guarantees.

It was not clear whether the draft, dated Tuesday, was a final version.

A Ukrainian official briefed on the draft, and several people in Ukraine with knowledge of the talks, confirmed that wording on security had been included in the document. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.

The agreement is seen as opening the door to possible continued backing from the United States under the Trump administration, either as aid for the war effort or as enforcement of any ceasefire. Officials in the United States and Ukraine said Tuesday that a version had been accepted by both sides.

At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, President Donald Trump said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine will visit Washington on Friday to sign the deal.

Zelenskyy, speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday, said that including mention of security guarantees had been a priority for him in negotiations and was necessary for Ukraine to call the deal successful.

“I really wanted the appearance of at least the phrase ‘security guarantee for Ukraine,’” in the document, Zelenskyy said. The phrase, he said, “appeared in point 10 and it is important that it is there.”

He said he was pleased the deal was not framed as repayment for past assistance. It was important, he said, that in the agreement Ukrainians were not presented as “debtors.”

The draft obtained by the Times showed Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, and Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s economy minister, as the initial signatories.

Earlier Wednesday, Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, spoke about the new phrase about security guarantees in terms suggesting that the United States had not acceded to the request for its inclusion. Shmyhal said that neither Zelenskyy nor other officials in the Ukrainian government would sign the deal if the phrase were omitted, calling it an “integral element” to the agreement on minerals.

Zelenskyy had proposed a deal granting the United States access to mineral wealth last fall as a contingency in case Trump won the election. But the Ukrainian leader balked at the terms presented earlier this month after Trump took office.

Zelenskyy had pushed hard that a commitment to Ukraine’s security be detailed in the document. In exchange, Ukraine would contribute half of future natural resource earnings to an American-controlled fund.

The Trump administration resisted that request. Officials in Washington argued that security guarantees were implied in Washington’s holding a financial interest in Ukrainian metal ores, minerals, oil and natural gas, and that such an agreement would provide an incentive to prevent Russian occupation of the resources.