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Kyiv signed a raw materials deal with the EU just months before Russia invaded three years ago – but now the US is making access to the same mineral resources a condition for continued support to the battle-weary nation.
It is still unclear how much US president Donald Trump hopes to gain though the deal he is negotiating with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but the basic idea is clear.“I think it’s going to be great for Ukraine – we’re going to be at the site, and we’ll be digging,” he told reporters on the eve on the eve of the Ukrainian president’s visit. “We’ll be dig, dig, digging.”And Washington is not the only centre of power with eyes on Ukraine’s vast and largely untapped mineral wealth.As Euronews reported last April, access to rare earth metals and other elements essential to digital and clean tech, from lithium to copper, has been the focus of intense diplomacy by the European Commission – and Ukraine was the second to join a growing list of strategic partners, shortly before Russia invaded.Speaking to reporters on Wednesday (26 February) as he unveiled the EU’s new Clean Industrial Deal – a plan to revitalise Europe’s economy through investment in the energy transition – European Commission vice-president Stéphane Séjourné clarified that, contrary to some media reports, he had not offered Ukraine an alternative to Trump’s quid pro quo with Kyiv.“We already have an agreement with Ukraine on raw materials, and we concluded this well before the war, in 2021,” Séjourné said, describing it as a “win-win” deal for the EU and its eastern neighbour.What he told Ukrainian government officials during the Commission’s visit to Kyiv two days earlier to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion was that this deal needs to be implemented, he said.“We already have a certain number of projects that could be called European, some of which could be launched in March,” Séjourné said. “It’s on the basis of this accord that we can build both partnerships and concrete actions, one on graphite that could potentially represent as much as 10% of European consumption by 2030.”The following day (27 February), the eve of Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington where he is expected to sign an initial agreement with the US government, the EU executive was rather more reticent, neither confirming nor denying Séjourné’s bullish claims.“Really nothing to add at the moment,” a spokesperson said. “What we are expecting soon, is to have a first list of these strategic projects under the regulation, the assessment is ongoing – so stay tuned for more details in the in the coming weeks”.What the US wants from UkraineOn the ongoing talks between Trump and Zelenskyy, the Commission was silent.“We don’t provide a running commentary of all the exchanges we have with the Ukrainian counterparts,” the spokesperson said. “This is a deal being discussed between the Ukrainians and the US, and it relates to the Ukrainians and the US – it is not for us to enter into any comment about it.”As Zelenskyy headed for Washington to meet the man who last week called him a “dictator” but now cannot believe his own words, details about the incipient deal remained sketchy. One thing is clear: it is not only about rare earth metals.A leaked memorandum outlining the US-Ukraine deal calls for the setting up of a jointly controlled Reconstruction Investment Fund through which US investors will have access to “deposits of minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas, and other extractable materials, and other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets (such as liquified natural gas terminals and port infrastructure)”.Trump’s earlier demand for half a trillion dollars as supposed repayment of US military support appears to have been dropped, but there is no reference to the security guarantee that Zelenskyy has named as a condition for signing.Dutch MEP Thijs Reuten, who is the European Parliament’s shadow rapporteur on Ukraine and sits for the centre-left S&D group on the foreign affairs committee, was highly critical of Trumps strong-arm tactics in an interview with Euronews.“Ukraine understands that its relationship with Europe is a long-lasting partnership, not based on a Europe-First policy,” Reuten said.Again, stay tuned.
