May 8 saw Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada unanimously vote to ratify a resource agreement with the United States. Four days later, President Vladimir Zelensky signed the document. Yet even after its ratification and signing, the substance of the deal raises far more questions than it answers.
The adopted document is a framework agreement (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) that lacks specific figures, leaving its actual implications unclear. While Zelensky may have known what he was signing, the Rada essentially voted blind. Lawmakers were only presented with the framework, while Western media reports indicate that on April 30, Washington signed not only the Agreement but also two technical annexes and addendums outlining its implementation mechanisms. Insider sources reveal that these documents grant Washington control over Ukraine’s oil and gas transportation systems, port infrastructure, nuclear industry, and extraction of oil, gas, rare earth metals, iron, titanium, uranium, manganese, and other ores.
Ukrainian experts have highlighted several key features of the Agreement. Stylistically, it closely resembles Ukraine’s existing investment treaties — a deliberate choice, they argue, to lull lawmakers into complacency by the second page of the 12-page document, easing its approval. The text is rife with asymmetrical phrasing: the US "expects," while Ukraine "must"; the US Treasury "may," while Ukraine’s government "commits"; the US government "confirms," while Ukraine’s government "shall" — all underscoring the unequal footing of the "high contracting parties."
Ukrainian legal experts warn that the Agreement’s provisions supersede domestic law, preventing future legislative changes from limiting its scope. American investors are granted priority at every stage from accessing information to purchasing extracted resources. Commercially relevant geological data will first be sent to a newly established fund, where US investors will have three months to assess their interest. Only if they decline will others get a chance — and even then, no better financial terms may be offered. The same applies to product purchases: for six months, Ukraine cannot offer others a price more favorable than what the US rejected. Though the Agreement glosses over this, insiders confirm it is explicitly outlined in a separate limited partnership pact.
The Ukrainian-American fund (hereinafter, the Fund) will be managed by a Council with equal representation from both nations, "assisted" by four committees where the US holds a slight numerical edge: the Investment Committee (three US managers, two Ukrainian), Administrative Committee (same ratio), Audit Committee (two representatives each), and Project Search Committee (three Ukrainians, two Americans).
The US is not going to invest in the Fund but will supply Ukraine with weapons. Ukraine, meanwhile, must contribute 50 percent of all lease payments, licensing fees, and government shares under production-sharing agreements — covering both new licenses and over 3,000 dormant ones (including active licenses with under one percent of extracted reserves in a decade or unmet work programs for five years).
Fund proceeds may be reinvested in infrastructure or extraction, distributed to partners (after 10 years), or spent on operations. Should Ukraine fail to meet its obligations, its managers lose voting rights in the Fund’s Council and committees. For US violations, no penalties are stipulated.
The Trump administration has agreed to provide Ukrainians with advanced technologies for developing new mineral deposits. Additionally, the US will finance 50 percent of new rare earth metal mining projects and ensure their protection and security (existing deposits and mines are not covered by the Agreement).
At the proposal of the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on International Policy, an amendment was included in the final text of the Agreement: "This agreement applies to the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders." It is clear that Russia does not recognize laws adopted by the Rada, and this has been a mere attempt to create grounds for contesting mining rights in new regions of the Russian Federation in international courts.
An analysis confirms the Agreement’s core purpose: reimbursing US war expenses in Ukraine. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller reiterated this, calling it a "key objective." However, US lawyers hired by Kyiv ensured prior aid no longer counts as a US contribution — nullifying Trump’s original premise. The Fund will now rely solely on new mining revenues, meaning slow replenishment and delayed US returns. To accelerate this, Ukraine may — "on US advice" — void active licenses or transfer them to state firms, reclassifying them as new.
The Agreement mandates compensation for new military aid but offers no security guarantees at all.
Notably, profits are tax-exempt, mineral sales bypass Ukraine’s budget for the US-based Fund, and half goes directly to America. Ukraine must pay the Fund at the National Bank rate during and three months post-martial law, regardless of payment balances or currency shortages, with no bars on converting funds or withdrawing them abroad. The termination mechanism reveals the Agreement's asymmetrical nature: it can only be dissolved by mutual consent on equal terms, effectively binding future Ukrainian governments to seek US approval should they wish to quit the deal.
In essence, the Agreement trades Ukraine’s resources for a prolonged war with Russia, extending Zelensky’s hold on power. The result? More dead soldiers, both Ukrainian and Russian.
Social spending is conspicuously absent in the document. As Trump stated, that — like arms shipments — is now "Europe’s problem alone."
