Weeks after a tense and widely televised spat with Ukraineโs leader during a meeting expected to lead to a critical minerals deal, Donald Trump announced that the long-awaited agreement would be signed next week.
โWe have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday,โ the US president said during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday. โAnd I assume theyโre going to live up to the deal.โ
Shortly after Trumpโs remarks, Ukraineโs deputy prime minister and economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, posted on social media that the two countries had virtually signed a memorandum as a first step towards the agreement.
โWe are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a memorandum of intent, which paves the way for an economic partnership agreement and the establishment of the investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine,โ Svyrydenko wrote.
The joint US-Ukraine development deal grants American companies access to Ukraineโs vast mineral reserves and authorises them to take part in rebuilding the war-torn countryโs infrastructure.