Ukraine says it’s poised to sign a key mineral resources deal sought by the US

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement that would give the U.S. access to its valuable rare minerals in the hopes of ensuring continued American support for Kyiv in its grinding war with Russia, senior Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.

Ukraine's economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, was headed to Washington on Wednesday to help sew up technical aspects of the deal, according to two senior Ukrainian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

For Ukraine, the deal is seen as key to ensuring its access to future U.S. military aid.

“Truly, this is a strategic deal for the creation of an investment partner fund,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Ukrainian television.” This is truly an equal and good international deal on joint investment in the development and restoration of Ukraine between the governments of the United States and Ukraine.”

U.S. President Donald Trump indicated in February that he wanted access to Ukraine’s rare earth materials as a condition for continuing U.S. support in the war. But talks stalled after a tense Oval Office meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian leaders, and reaching an agreement has proven difficult and strained relations between Washington and Kyiv.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the Trump administration was also ready to finalize the deal Wednesday.

The U.S. is seeking access to more than 20 raw materials deemed strategically critical to its interests, including Ukraine's deposits of titanium, which is used for making aircraft wings and other aerospace manufacturing, and uranium, which is used for nuclear power, medical equipment and weapons. Ukraine also has lithium, a key ingredient in certain battery technologies, as well as graphite and manganese, which are both used in electric vehicle batteries.

Trump previously described a proposed minerals deal as reimbursement for the billions of dollars in aid that the U.S. has given to Ukraine.

After Ukraine felt that the initial U.S. draft disproportionately favored American interests, it introduced new provisions aimed at addressing those concerns.

According to Shmyhal, the latest version of the deal would establish an equal partnership between the two countries and last for 10 years. Financial contributions to a joint fund would be made in cash, and only new U.S. military aid would count toward the American share. Assistance provided before the agreement was signed would not be counted. Unlike an earlier draft, the deal would not conflict with Ukraine’s path toward European Union membership — a key provision for Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Cabinet was expected to approve the agreement’s text before it could be signed in Washington. The deal would then need to be ratified by the Ukrainian Parliament before it could take effect.

The negotiations come amid rocky progress in Washington's push to stop the war.

In Moscow, a senior Kremlin official said Wednesday that clinching a deal to end the war “is far too complex to be done quickly,” as the U.S. labors to bring momentum to peace efforts and expresses frustration over the slow progress.

Meanwhile, a nighttime Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv wounded at least 45 civilians, officials said. The United Nations reported that the number of Ukrainian civilian casualties has surged in recent weeks.

Putin wants answers before committing to a ceasefire

Russian President Vladimir Putin backs calls for a ceasefire before peace negotiations, “but before it’s done, it’s necessary to answer a few questions and sort out a few nuances,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Putin is also ready for direct talks with Ukraine without preconditions to seek a peace deal, he added.

“We realize that Washington wants to achieve quick progress, but we hope for understanding that the Ukrainian crisis settlement is far too complex to be done quickly,” Peskov said during his daily conference call with reporters.

Trump has expressed frustration over the slow pace of progress in negotiations aimed at stopping the war, which he claimed he could end within 24 hours of starting his second term. Western European leaders have accused Putin of stalling while his forces seek to grab more Ukrainian land. Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory since Moscow's forces launched a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Trump has chided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for steps that he said were “prolonging” the killing, and he has rebuked Putin for complicating negotiations with “very bad timing” in launching deadly strikes on Kyiv.

Trump has long dismissed the war as a waste of lives and American taxpayer money. Senior U.S. officials have warned that the administration could abandon the peace efforts if it sees no solution. That could spell an end to crucial military help for Ukraine and heavier economic sanctions on Russia.

US wants both sides to move faster

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday tried again to push both sides to move more quickly.

“We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce quoted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as telling her.

“How we proceed from here is a decision that belongs now to the president,” she told reporters, relating a conversation that she had with Rubio. “If there is no progress, we will step back as mediators in this process.”

Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt to Ukraine’s mobilization effort and Western arms supplies to Kyiv.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Wednesday that Ukraine had accepted an unconditional truce only because it was being pushed back on the battlefield, where the bigger Russian forces have the upper hand.

During a briefing in Rio de Janeiro, where he was attending a ministerial meeting of the BRICS grouping, Lavrov also suggested that Ukraine’s ceasefire promises weren't credible. Both sides have accused each other of breaking previous truces. Independent verification of the battlefield claims wasn't possible.

UN says Ukrainian civilian casualties are on the rise

Meanwhile, Ukrainian civilians have been killed or wounded in attacks every day this year, according to a U.N. report presented Tuesday in New York.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said in the report that in the first three months of this year, it had verified 2,641 civilian casualties in Ukraine. That was almost 900 more than during the same period last year.

Also, between April 1-24, civilian casualties in Ukraine were up 46% from the same weeks in 2024, it said.

The Ukrainian air force said that Russia fired 108 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine between Tuesday and Wednesday, predominantly at the cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv.

Also Wednesday, the Ukrainian Security Service claimed its drones struck the Murom Instrument Engineering Plant in Russia’s Vladimir region overnight, causing five explosions and a fire.

The plant located east of Moscow produces ammunition ignition devices, as well as components and products for the Russian Navy and military aviation, a source at the agency told Associated Press. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack.

The claim could not be independently verified.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine