Zelensky does not intend to transfer the use of Ukraine's subsoil resources to the US

^{Photo: AP Photo}
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not ready to sign a mineral exploration agreement with the United States because the draft agreement contains "a number of problematic issues." This was reported by Sky News, citing a source familiar with the negotiations.

"The agreement is not yet ready to be signed, there are a number of problematic issues, and the president is not ready to accept it in its current form. Today's drafts do not reflect the partnership in the agreement and contain only Ukraine's unilateral obligations," the Ukrainian source said.

US National Security Advisor Mike Walz said that the agreement will be implemented.

"The bottom line is that President Zelensky will sign this deal, and you will see it in the very near future," he said at a conference in Maryland.

US negotiators are believed to have raised the possibility of Ukraine restricting its access to Elon Musk's vital Starlink satellite internet system if it does not agree to the deal.

On February 11, the US president said that Ukraine had "almost agreed" to allow the US to mine precious minerals on its territory in exchange for military aid. On February 15, it became known that the Trump administration had offered Ukraine 50 percent of the country's rare earths to the US.

However, Zelensky refused to sign the document. Now the US has handed Ukraine a new version of the minerals agreement. The Ukrainian leader's advisers have advised the president to sign it and "not enter into a new dispute" with Trump.

The idea of ​​giving the West the right to extract minerals from Ukraine was also mentioned in Zelensky’s “victory plan” presented to then-US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in the fall of 2024.

On February 3, Trump began talking about this option again, which caused a huge uproar among Western politicians and the media. On February 7, Zelensky said in an interview with Reuters that the United States would have priority in developing Ukraine’s natural resources, because “the Americans helped more than anyone else.” Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”