Ukraine's Deputy PM: agreement with US on minerals completed, Ukraine is ready to sign it

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, has said that the framework agreement with the United States on mineral resources has been completed, and Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time.

As reported by Interfax-Ukraine, Stefanishyna reiterated Ukraine's readiness to sign the minerals agreement with the US at any time and noted that negotiations on the text of the agreement had been completed.

"The agreement is ready; there are no changes to the text. The negotiations are closed," she said on the sidelines of the Forbes Exporters Summit in Kyiv.

She said that the US side has not decided when and under what conditions they want to sign it at this stage.

"Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time," she assured.

Following talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Tuesday 11 March, the presidents of the United States and Ukraine agreed on developing Ukraine's critical mineral resources.

The failure to sign the minerals deal with Ukraine lies behind the worsening relations between Kyiv and Washington.

On 12 March, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was ready to sign a framework agreement with the US on rare earth metals.