Munich, Germany (AP) – The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskyy says he has instructed his ministers to not sign a proposed agreement to give the United States access to the rare earth minerals of Ukraine because the document was too focused on American interests.
The proposal, which was an important part of Zelenskyy's conversations with the American Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich -Security Conference on Friday, offered no specific security guarantees in return, according to a current and a former Senior Ukrainian officer who was familiar with the conversations.
The Zenskyy decision not to sign a deal, at least for the time being, was described as “short -sighted” by a senior civil servant of the White House.
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“I did not have the ministers signed a relevant agreement, because in my opinion it is not ready to protect us, our interest,” Zenskyy told The Associated Press in Munich on Saturday.
The proposal focused on how the US Kyiv's rare earth minerals “could use as compensation” for support that was already given to Ukraine by the BIDEN administration and as payment for future help, said the current and former senior Ukrainian officials anonymously, so that they are free could speak.
Ukraine has enormous reserves of critical minerals used in the space, defense and nuclear industry. The Trump government has indicated that it is interested in gaining access to them to reduce dependence on China, but Zenskyy said that every exploitation should be bound by safety guarantees for Ukraine that would deter the future Russian aggression.
“For me, the connection between a kind of security guarantees and some sort of investments is very important,” said the Ukrainian president.
Zenskyy did not respond to details about why he instructed his officials not to sign the document, which was given to the Ukrainian officials on Wednesday by the American Minister of Finance Scott Bassent during a visit to Kyiv.
“It is a colonial agreement and Zenskyy cannot sign it,” said the former high official.
Spokesperson Brian Hughes of the White House, Brian Hughes, has not explicitly confirmed the offer, but said in a statement that “President Zenskyy is short-sighted about the excellent opportunity that the Trump government has offered to Ukraine.”
The Trump government has become tired of sending extra American assistance to Ukraine and Hughes said that a minerals could allow American taxpayers to return money to Kiev, while the Ukrainian economy is growing.
Hughes added that the White House believes that “binding economic ties with the United States will be the best guarantee against future aggression and an integral part of permanent peace.” He added: “The US acknowledges this, the Russians acknowledge this and the Ukrainians must acknowledge this.”
American officials in discussions with their Ukrainian counterparts in Munich were commercially minded and largely concentrated on the details of exploring the minerals and how they can form a possible partnership to do that with Ukraine, the high official said.
The potential value of the deposits in Ukraine has not yet been discussed, with a lot of unexplored or close to the front line.
The American proposal apparently did not take into account how the deposits would be guaranteed in the case of continuous Russian aggression. The official suggested that the US had no 'ready answers', to that question and that one of their collection restaurants of discussions in Munich will be how a mineral extraction operation can be obtained in Ukraine in which people and infrastructure are involved.
Every deal must be in accordance with Ukrainian legislation and acceptable to the Ukrainian people, said the Senior Ukrainian officer.
“Sobail is one of the Ukrainians under the Constitution,” said Kseniiia Orynchak, founder of the National Association of Mining Industry of Ukraine, rather to the AP, which suggests that a deal would need popular support.
Zenskyy and Vance did not discuss the details of the American document during their meeting on Friday at the Munich safety conference, the high official said. That meeting was “very good” and “substantive”, where VANCE made it clear to the main goal of his and Trump, was to achieve a sustainable, sustainable peace, the high official said.
Zenskyy told Vance that real peace requires that Ukraine is in a “strong position” in starting negotiations, emphasized that American negotiators should come to Ukraine and that the US, Ukraine and Europe should be at the negotiating table for conversations with Russia.
But General Keith Kellogg, the special envoy of Trump for Ukraine and Russia, have all taken Europeans from all conversations in Ukraine-Russia, despite the request from Zenskyy.
“You can talk to the Ukrainians, the Russians and clearly the Americans at the table,” said Kellogg during an event organized by a Ukrainian tycoon at the safety conference of Munich. Under pressure or that meant that Europeans will not be admitted, he said, “I am a school of realism. I think that will not happen.”
Ukraine is now preparing a “counter proposal” that will be delivered in “the near future”, the official said.
“I think it is important that the vice president understood me that if we want to sign something, we must understand that it will work,” Zenskyy told the AP.
That means, he said, “It will bring money and safety.”
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Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington, DC and Volodymyr Yurchuk and Susie Blann in Kiev, Ukraine have contributed.
