New military aid to Ukraine may be part of US contribution to minerasl fund - Shmyhal
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that new military aid to Ukraine from the United States could be part of Washington's contribution to the investment fund, the creation of which is provided for in the subsoil agreement.
He said this during a telethon, Censor.NET reports with reference to the EP.
"This is an agreement on the establishment of an investment fund in Ukraine with a 50/50 split of both management shares and shares to be contributed by the parties. Accordingly, contributions will be made in cash. The U.S. side can also count new, let me emphasize, new military assistance to Ukraine as a contribution to this fund," Shmyhal explained.
When asked whether new military aid packages from the United States would be required as part of the contribution to the fund for it to start functioning, Shmyhal answered in the affirmative.
"You understood absolutely right. This means that the contributions to this fund can and should be monetary funds, both from the American partners and from Ukraine, but also new assistance that will be provided, allocated and provided to Ukraine after the signing of this agreement can be counted by the parties as a contribution to this fund," the minister said.
Another important aspect of this agreement is that the United States recognizes Ukraine's contribution to global security, emphasizing that this agreement recognizes Ukraine's role in global security, in particular, the Budapest Memorandum.
Ukraine retains full control over its natural resources, subsoil, and infrastructure - this is not a part or condition of the partnership fund.
"Ukraine will only make a contribution from licenses from the new mineral royalty, this will be our contribution, 50% of it will be given to this fund in cash," Shmyhal added.
What preceded it?
Earlier, after a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the Ukraine-U.S. agreement on minerals would not include U.S. aid provided to Ukraine before it was signed.
On April 25, US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine should "immediately sign" an agreement on rare earth metals with the US.
On April 17, Ukraine and the United States signed a memorandum as a first step toward reaching an agreement to expand economic cooperation, including the development of mineral resources in Ukraine, which has proven to be unattainable.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and the United States could sign a memorandum of intent to conclude a minerals agreement online as early as April 17.
In turn, US President Donald Trump said that a minerals agreement with Ukraine would be signed next Thursday (April 24).
