Ukraine and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding late on Thursday as a “step toward a joint economic partnership agreement,” according to Ukraine’s economy minister, bringing both sides closer to a minerals deal that has gone through multiple, contentious rounds of negotiations.
The agreement was thin on details. While it referred to the creation of a fund that would invest in reconstruction in Ukraine — which has been devastated by the war Russia has waged since a full-scale invasion in 2022 — it did not specify the source of such revenue.
There was no immediate comment from the White House. But the Ukrainian minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, who is also deputy prime minister, announced the agreement in a post on Facebook, after signing it on a video call with the U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who was in Washington. Ms. Svyrydenko said the agreement would “benefit both our peoples.”
Mr. Bessent, in his own comments on Thursday afternoon, did not mention he had signed the memorandum but said he expected a full deal next week.
Earlier drafts of a minerals deal had swiveled between what critics called a brazen extortion of Ukraine by the Trump administration and versions that included points sought by Ukraine, such as references to U.S. support for post-settlement security guarantees.
President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had been scheduled to preside over a signing at an elaborate White House ceremony in February. But negotiations between the United States and Ukraine stalled after a blowup weeks ago in front of TV cameras between the leaders in the Oval Office.
But Mr. Trump has said that he expects to sign a full minerals deal with Ukraine next week. The terms of that agreement would be similar to an earlier proposal that gave the United States a major stake in the country’s natural resources, Mr. Bessent has said.
Previous drafts of a deal have proposed the creation of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The fund would draw on revenue from Ukraine’s natural resources, such as from mining rare earth metals or oil and natural gas wells. The fund would reinvest in Ukrainian infrastructure and reconstruction — potentially steering reconstruction work, expected to be a multibillion-dollar business, to American companies.
Mr. Trump has said that he expects the United States to reap $500 billion from Ukraine’s natural resources in the deal and win access to deposits of rare earth metals. The country’s rare earth deposits are mostly undeveloped. Ukraine’s budget revenues from natural resources have been about $1 billion a year.
The U.S. president has described the deal as payback for military assistance that the Biden administration gave to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. While the deal and cease-fire talks were underway, Mr. Trump last month briefly halted the delivery of weapons and ammunition supplies to Kyiv as well as intelligence sharing with the Ukrainian Army.
Ukraine had little choice but to sign some version of the deal. In earlier rounds of talks, Kyiv had pressed to sign a memorandum of understanding first, in hopes of relieving some of the political pressure, and to sign a detailed agreement later.
The United States has been the single largest supplier of weapons to Kyiv in a war seen in Ukraine as a fight for the nation’s very survival. Russia has stamped out Ukrainian language and identity in Ukrainian areas it has occupied and kills civilians daily in missile and drone strikes.
While the agreement signed on Thursday referred to the creation of a fund that would invest in reconstruction in Ukraine, it did not specify the source of such revenue. Earlier drafts had called for redirecting half of the natural resource royalties from Ukraine’s budget to the fund. The memorandum also made no mention of the United States’ promising security support.
Ms. Svyrydenko said in her post that a final agreement would be ratified by Congress and the Ukrainian Parliament. “It is important that we reaffirm by our agreements the desire of the American people to invest together with the Ukrainian people in a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine,” she said.
Chris Cameron and Nathan Willis contributed reporting from Washington.
