The United States and Ukraine signed an economic partnership agreement in Washington on April 30, 2025, establishing a joint reconstruction investment fund tied to future development of Ukrainian natural resources and other projects.
The agreement, signed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, followed months of negotiations that had become closely intertwined with the broader relationship between Washington and Kyiv.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund was designed to allow the two countries to invest together in Ukraine's economic recovery. Ukraine's government said the fund could finance projects involving natural resources as well as infrastructure, technology and other areas of reconstruction.
The final agreement was materially different from some of the proposals discussed earlier in the negotiations. Ukraine retained ownership of its natural resources, and the arrangement did not turn previously provided U.S. assistance into a debt owed by Kyiv.
What the agreement actually established
The agreement created a framework for a jointly governed investment fund rather than transferring ownership of Ukraine's mineral deposits to the United States.
Ukraine's Economy Ministry said at the time that the country would retain control over its subsoil resources and determine where and whether extraction takes place. Svyrydenko emphasized that Ukraine's natural resources remained Ukrainian property.
The agreement published by Ukraine's parliament established the legal framework for the American-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund. Ukrainian officials described its governance as an equal partnership between the two sides.
The arrangement also covers more than rare earth elements. Potential investments can involve critical minerals, oil and gas and associated infrastructure, making the frequently used description of the pact as simply a "rare earths deal" incomplete.
Importantly, the agreement itself did not provide Ukraine with a formal U.S. security guarantee. Ukrainian officials nevertheless argued during the negotiations that greater long-term American investment could deepen the United States' economic stake in Ukraine.
How months of difficult negotiations led to the signing
The resources agreement became a major issue in U.S.-Ukraine relations after President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. Trump repeatedly argued that the United States should obtain an economic return connected to its extensive support for Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Negotiations initially focused heavily on the value of previous American assistance and on what Ukraine would contribute to a future fund. Kyiv resisted provisions it believed could effectively treat past U.S. support as a Ukrainian financial liability.
The two governments had expected to sign an earlier version during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's February 2025 visit to Washington. That signing did not occur after a contentious Oval Office meeting between Zelensky, Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The dispute contributed to a sharp deterioration in relations. The Trump administration subsequently paused U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine before restoring them after later talks between the two governments.
Negotiators continued working on the economic agreement, eventually producing the version signed on April 30.
Ukraine retained control of its resources
A central Ukrainian concern throughout the negotiations was sovereignty over the country's mineral wealth.
Ukraine's government said the final arrangement preserved state ownership of resources and licenses and did not give Washington unilateral authority to decide what Ukraine extracts. The Ukrainian side also said the agreement was structured to remain compatible with the country's European Union integration commitments.
The pact therefore should not be understood as the United States taking ownership of Ukraine's minerals. Instead, it created an investment mechanism through which future revenues and investment could support projects in Ukraine under the agreed framework.
Ukraine's parliament subsequently ratified the agreement on May 8, 2025. The official Ukrainian legislative record states that it entered into force for Ukraine on May 23, 2025.
Why Ukraine's critical minerals matter
Ukraine has significant deposits of minerals used in advanced manufacturing, energy systems and defense technologies. Its resources include deposits associated with lithium, titanium, graphite and several rare earth elements, although the existence of geological resources does not mean that all of them can be quickly or economically developed.
Critical-mineral supply chains have become strategically important to the United States and other Western governments because China dominates the processing and production of many materials used in electronics, batteries, renewable-energy technologies and defense applications.
Developing Ukrainian deposits, however, requires extensive exploration, financing, infrastructure and processing capacity. Russia's continuing war against Ukraine also creates major security and investment risks, while some mineral resources are located in or near areas affected by the conflict.
The economic value of the agreement therefore depends on actual projects, investment decisions and commercially viable deposits rather than simply on estimates of the resources beneath Ukrainian territory.
What happened after the agreement
The April 2025 signing was the beginning of the investment mechanism rather than the completion of Ukraine's reconstruction program. The two governments subsequently moved to establish and operationalize the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.
In March 2026, the fund approved its first investment, an equity investment in Ukrainian emerging-technology company Sine Engineering, whose systems support resilient communications and navigation for unmanned aerial vehicles.
By June 2026, the joint board was continuing to develop the fund's investment infrastructure. The U.S. Treasury Department said the board had taken additional steps to operationalize the fund, including work related to political-risk insurance and an initial whitelist for critical-mineral offtake opportunities.
Those later developments clarified the practical significance of the 2025 agreement: it created a continuing U.S.-Ukrainian investment institution rather than an immediate transfer of mineral assets. Its long-term impact will depend on the projects the fund finances, the course of Russia's war against Ukraine, the ability to attract private capital and the commercial development of Ukraine's resources and infrastructure.
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