Expert Breaks Down What US-Ukraine Minerals Deals Means For Negotiations With Russia

On "Forbes Newsroom" Tinatin Japaridze, an analyst for the Eurasia Group, spoke about the newly signed U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.

Transcript

00:00Another development we saw this week is the United States and Ukraine signed that long

00:05anticipated minerals deal. And we saw that really break down in that fiery meeting between Zelensky

00:11and Trump at the White House back in February. Both sides touted this as a victory. What does

00:16this deal do for the negotiations and the war at large? Well, it was a big deal. And obviously,

00:23two months after their infamous Oval Office debacle, the US and Ukraine announced, as we

00:30know, at this point on Wednesday, that they had finally struck this long awaited minerals deal.

00:35The agreement is most likely going to get ratified by the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada,

00:41very soon. So there's no reason for us to think that something is going to change on that front,

00:46which I do think that this is actually good news. But we should note that in terms of this deal,

00:53that's, you know, sort of a more balanced, you know, the terms that are more balanced in the

01:01initial US proposals, what we saw initially from the United States was seen by Ukraine as an unfair

01:08deal. Whereas this draft, the final draft has been assessed, including by the Ukrainian side,

01:16as something that is more fair and more balanced than what had been floated in the past. So essentially,

01:22the deal is going to establish a joint investment fund with equal US and Ukrainian ownership,

01:27and on developing Ukraine's rare earth minerals, which just for your viewers, these are essential

01:33for electric vehicle batteries, various consumer and military technologies, as well as oil and gas

01:40projects. So this is a big deal. Now, the deal is limited to the new mineral resources projects,

01:46by the way, and this is designed not to interfere with Ukraine's EU relation relationships, or member

01:53membership negotiations, which is very important for Kyiv. And this is something that they were trying to get.

01:59And it's also important to underscore that the US is actually shifting away from tying such economic

02:04agreements to repayment for past assistance, which as you recall, Brittany, you and I talked about this,

02:10I believe not long ago. And this suggests a more sort of an improved framework for future US-Ukraine

02:18relations going forward beyond just this deal. So it is a big deal. But by the same token, what the deal

02:25does not do is that it does not resolve the fundamental differences between Ukrainian and Russian

02:32perspectives on Ukraine's future. And as I said earlier, there will still continue to be a great deal

02:38of mistrust between them. And I'm very interested to see what the Kremlin has to say officially about

02:44this deal. So far, as of right now, as of Thursday afternoon, I have not seen any statements coming out

02:51of Moscow. It is quite late in Moscow at the moment. I think they're still very much digesting all of this.

02:57But at the end of the day, this deal and securing US involvement going forward is going to be a positive

03:04development for Kyiv and more broadly for Ukraine's defense efforts. I did read actually one of the

03:11opposition MPs in Ukraine who said earlier that, no, we weren't choosing between good and bad. We were

03:17choosing between bad and worse. And I do think that compared to what was floated earlier, this is a much

03:24better deal for Ukraine. And I do think it's a good deal for the United States, because let's face it,

03:30pragmatically speaking, the US gets quite a lot out of it.