Jane Lytvynenko
Appearances
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
So one of the biggest concessions the US has agreed to is for Ukraine to not repay past military assistance funds. This is something that Zelensky has said was a red line for him, but it's something that the Trump administration has insisted on. Instead, as far as we understand it, what the deal will include is future assistance funds that go into the American side of the fund here.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
And Ukrainian contributions will come from its mineral wealth. It seems like there's no explicit security guarantees from the U.S. side. But what the deal will allow for Ukraine to do is it will allow for Ukraine to purchase American weapons, which are much needed on the battlefield today. Long range weapons are much needed, as well as Patriot air defense systems.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
And so part of what this deal opens up is potential for new weapons deliveries from the U.S., which is something that the Ukrainian administration has been really worried about.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
Whether businesses will show up and when businesses will show up is still an open question. The Ukrainian side, there's even an open question in terms of what minerals it has and how many minerals it has. So this deal, as far as we know, is going to focus on new licenses, not existing licenses to mine minerals in Ukraine.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
Mineral mining is a really complex project, but Ukraine does have a lot of those crucial minerals that are key in the global markets right now to everything from making cell phones to making vehicles to making batteries. Will American companies move into Ukraine tomorrow? It's unlikely. But there is a reason why this was such a potentially lucrative deal for the U.S.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
And the reason for that is because the minerals are quite vast.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
Well, what this shows is the Ukrainian-American relationship has gone a long way from the blow up in the White House to now these positive words. And the meeting in the Vatican, it seems like there's been a real thaw in relations between the U.S. and Ukraine.
WSJ What’s News
U.S. Inks Long-Awaited Minerals Deal With Ukraine
Whether Russia will hear the message that Washington is trying to send, that now it's time for them to make a deal, is, of course, an open question. But the announcement of this deal is a diplomatic victory for Ukraine.