A breakthru for the US and Ukraine…..
But?
Will it be worth anything?
Putin won’t be happy and what will he do?
The Deal….
The deal will establish the “United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund,” which will allow the “two countries to work collaboratively and invest together to ensure that our mutual assets, talents, and capabilities can accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery,” Bessent said in a statement.
Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, said the deal “reflects the United States’ dedication to Ukraine’s security, recovery, and reconstruction. … The document we have today can ensure success for both our countries — Ukraine and the United States.”
The latest version of the deal, reviewed by The Washington Post, falls short of providing any concrete security guarantees to Ukraine, but it states that Kyiv and Washington agree it affirms a “long-term strategic alignment” between the two countries and U.S. “support for Ukraine’s security, prosperity, reconstruction, and integration into global economic frameworks.”
That language alone marks a win for Kyiv, which has been seeking any show of support from the U.S. since the relationship between the two countries turned rocky under President Donald Trump. Ukraine will seek significantly more tangible security guarantees under any future peace deal….
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Currently, foreign investors are reluctant to significantly scale up mineral projects in Ukraine for a number of reasons, including the war. Trump cannot force private U.S. firms to make expensive and potentially unprofitable investments….
The Value of the Ukraine deal?
Gaining access to Ukraine’s minerals could be a long-term bet, according to analysts.
Willy Shih, a Harvard economist who studies supply chains, said at the time of the Oval Office talks that developing a new mine “might take 10 years” or more….
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The Biden administration also considered access to resources a priority. But new projects are hard to make economically viable when Chinese production keeps prices low, said Alex Jacquez, a former White House official who worked on industrial policy.
“There are massive deposits of these shiny new critical minerals and rare earths that everyone is now focused on around the world,” Jacquez said. “There’s a reason there’s not a massive influx of new production outside of China.”
The most significant mapping of Ukraine’s mineral resources was performed in the Soviet era. Details of key mineral deposits, including titanium and lithium, have been classified since. “It’s a very outdated approach,” said Roman Opimakh, former director general of the Ukrainian Geological Survey.
Some experts noted that more than a decade ago, U.S. officials said Afghanistan was sitting on $1 trillion in minerals. Trump later expressed interest in these resources in his first term. But those minerals are still sitting there, untapped….
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