Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that any agreement with the US on mineral resources cannot hurt his country’s aspirations to join the European Union as Kyiv dispatches a team to Washington for talks this week, Bloomberg reports, UNN writes.
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"This is the number one red line that we bring to all our partners," Shmyhal said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Brussels on Thursday.
According to Shmyhal, Ukraine will send a special technical working group to Washington "no later than tomorrow" to negotiate an agreement governing post-war plans to exploit the country's mineral deposits and restore its infrastructure. Kyiv is seeking greater US investment as part of any deal amid concerns that granting Washington huge privileges could complicate its bid to join the EU, the publication writes.
"We will continue these consultations and look for the best solution," the Prime Minister said, adding that "the negotiations will take place next week."
So this agreement can’t hurt our European aspirations and can’t hurt our association agreement with European Union
"I think it will take some time, but we are working very intensively with the United States," he said. "Our technicians, our lawyers will go to the United States for very specific face-to-face negotiations," he said.
US President Donald Trump is pushing for Kyiv to reach an agreement on the distribution of future profits from Ukrainian mineral resources, which he sees as compensation for the tens of billions of dollars in aid provided to the country since Russia's full-scale invasion more than three years ago, the publication notes.
The deal, the publication writes, "may require Ukraine to give the US half of its future revenues from a significant part of its economy, but Kyiv is seeking better terms and refuses to recognise past US aid as debt."
As economic agreement talks approach, Ukraine has been subjected to almost daily Russian air strikes, casting doubt on Moscow's commitment to the terms of a partial ceasefire brokered by the US last month, the publication writes.
Shmyhal said there were "no clear signals" from Russia regarding the next stage of negotiations and expressed hope that the US administration would pressure the Kremlin to return to the negotiating table. Trump has expressed growing frustration that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is delaying talks to end the war, which he promised to hold within 100 days of taking office, the publication points out.
"We hope that our American partners will push them or introduce a sanctions policy much, much stronger, much tougher than the existing one," Shmyhal said.