Zelenskyy: Ukraine is not "debtor" in minerals deal with US

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that the new agreement on mineral resource use with the United States does not contain any provisions regarding Ukraine’s "debt" to the US.

Zelenskyy stated that his main priority in preparing the agreement on mineral resources with the US was ensuring that "we are not debtors".

"Despite what is being reported in the media, the agreement does not include any US$500 billion debt, nor US$350 billion, nor US$100 billion. That would be unfair, in my opinion," Zelenskyy said in comments to Ukrainian journalists. 

The president added that the latest draft of the agreement does not contain a provision requiring Ukraine to reimburse US assistance on a "two-to-one" basis.

"From what I have been told, the 'two-to-one' clause – meaning that for every US dollar, we would have to pay two – is not there, thank God. I believe that would have been an unreasonable clause, so it has been removed. I view this positively," he added.

Earlier on 26 February, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed that Ukraine would review the preliminary investment agreement on minerals with the US.

Shmyhal also stated that following the signing of this framework agreement, another deal would be developed to establish a joint US-Ukraine investment fund for Ukraine's reconstruction.

Read the full text of the "Minerals Deal", agreed by Ukraine and the United States.