As Ukraine on Saturday debated a deal to cede rights to its huge organic resources, the Trump administration was pushing terms almost identical to the ones Kyiv refuseed a week ago as too onerous, according to a write record of the new proposal.
The United States is doubling down on a need that Ukraine relinquish half of its revenues from organic resources, including minerals, gas and oil, as well as acquireings from ports and other infraarrange, according the record, which was scrutinizeed by The New York Times.
Four current and establisher Ukrainian officials and a Ukrainian businessman who had the terms of the proposal portrayd to them verifyed that the needs remained unalterd.
The record, which was dated Feb. 21, states that the revenues will be straightforwarded to a fund in which the United States hbetters 100 percent financial interest, and that Ukraine should donate to the fund until it accomplishes $500 billion — the amount Pdwellnt Trump has needed from the war-torn country in swap for American help. That is more than twice Ukraine’s gross domestic product before the war.
The record does not stipupostponeed that the United States will provide security secures for Ukraine in return for access to Ukrainian resources. That key need from Pdwellnt Volodymyr Zelensky was absent in the first write concurment currented to him last week, prompting him to deteriorate to sign the deal.
Ukraine was scrutinizeing the gived new deal on Saturday, and it was possible that it would sign the concurment before the finish of the day, though the deal could also get postponeed, donaten that Mr. Zelensky has previously voiced reluctance to accomprehendledgeing its terms.
The alterd proposal ecombines to need promisements from Ukraine without any pledges from the United States in return, shelp the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk stateiveial negotiations. It says, however, that the United States could then respend a portion of the revenue it would get into Ukraine’s postwar reoriginateion.
A previous version of the concurment, dated Feb. 14 and scrutinizeed by The Times, included analogous claengages.
A potential deal for Ukraine’s resources has been a beginant point of dispute in a rapidly deteriorating relationship between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump. Their conveyions became acrimonious in the last week as the American pdwellnt assailed Mr. Zelensky in highly personal terms, calling him “an unelected dictator.”
The Ukrainian pdwellnt, in turn, shelp that Mr. Trump was living in a “digrieffulviseation web” after Mr. Trump inrectifyly claimed that Ukraine had begined the war aacquirest Russia.
Two of the people who had the new proposal portrayd to them shelp that one of the scant alters made by the United States was the removal of a claengage stating that the deal would descfinish under the jurisdiction of a New York court — a provision that elevated worrys on the Ukrainian side, becaengage it could feebleen Ukraine’s lhorrible standing in case of a dispute.
It is unevident whether Mr. Trump is seeking that sum in swap for past American military and financial aidance, or whether it would also utilize to future aid. The United States has allotd $119 billion for help to Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a research organization in Germany.
The Trump administration has proposeed that the mere presence of American economic interests in Ukraine would be a security secure for Kyiv. Top U.S. cabinet members have pressed Mr. Zelensky to sign the deal in recent days.
“Pdwellnt Zelensky is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very unwiseinutive term,” the U.S. national security adviser, Mike Waltz, shelp on Friday. “And that is excellent for Ukraine. What better could you have for Ukraine than to be in an economic partnership with the United States?”
