U.S.-Ukraine economic agreement: Economic treaty signed for reconstruction and natural resource management
The agreement establishes a joint investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine, which includes provisions on the extraction of oil, gas, and critical minerals, and guarantees Ukrainian state ownership of these resources.
The United States and Ukraine signed an economic agreement seeking to accelerate Ukraine's recovery amid the armed conflict with Russia. The pact was formalized in Washington by Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The initiative, called the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, provides for joint investments focused on infrastructure and natural resources. It also establishes parameters of shared control and safeguards for Ukrainian sovereignty over subsurface ownership.
Conditions on resources and shared control
One of the central points of the agreement is joint participation in the management and ownership of the fund, with no majority vote by either nation. The fund will be financed primarily through Ukrainian licenses for the extraction of oil, gas, and critical minerals, 50% of the proceeds of which will be allocated to this reconstruction initiative.
Minister Svyrydenko emphasized that Ukraine will maintain sovereign control over its subsoil, and that the state will determine which resources are extracted and in which areas. She also confirmed that the United States will provide additional funding, although the specific amounts have not yet been publicly disclosed.
Restrictions on actors linked to Russia
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified that the agreement expressly excludes individuals or entities that have financed or collaborated with the Russian war machine, as part of the ethical and political criteria of the reconstruction plan. This clause seeks to reinforce the Western commitment to Ukraine's independence and economic recovery.
The White House frames this agreement as a strategic action to consolidate lasting peace in the region. According to Bessent, the Trump administration intends with this pact to demonstrate that the United States maintains its support for a free, sovereign, and economically viable Ukraine after the conflict.
