U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent brings rare earth partnership deal to Kyiv – Zelenskyy

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought a draft partnership agreement to Kyiv, proposing investments in Ukraine's mineral resources in exchange for further assistance, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced after meeting with Bessent.

According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine has received the "first draft of the partnership document between our countries."

Kyiv will now work to ensure that teams from both nations can quickly agree and sign the document.

The agreement could be signed during the Munich Security Conference this week, Zelenskyy added.

Natural resources in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories were not discussed with the U.S., Zelenskyy noted, suggesting that this topic "will be part of future discussions with [Donald] Trump."

The U.S. Treasury Secretary stated that the document is part of further guarantees from the United States to Ukraine and sends an "important signal to Russian leadership that we stand together" in economic cooperation with Ukraine.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump stated that Ukraine had "essentially agreed" to provide the U.S. with access to minerals worth $500 billion in exchange for military aid. Following this, it was revealed that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kyiv to discuss U.S. access to critical mineral resources.

In an interview with The Guardian, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is ready to discuss various options with the U.S. regarding the extraction of valuable resources, with the main condition being that the agreement must be mutually beneficial.