Critical minerals deal: USA reduces estimate of aid provided to Kyiv

According to a U.S. Treasury Department representative, technical talks have been very productive, and the department expressed anticipation for a swift conclusion of the critical minerals agreement.

Following a recent round of negotiations in Washington last week, the administration of President Donald Trump reduced its estimate of the aid given to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion — from $300 billion to around $100 billion. This brings the figure closer to Ukraine’s own estimate, which puts U.S. assistance at over $90 billion.

Responding to a question about the talks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Ukraine had submitted a counterproposal over the weekend, and negotiations are still ongoing.

“We’re very, very close… The agreement could be signed as early as this week,” he said.

One source speaking to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity said that the technical negotiations held on Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12, were constructive. However, the source added that the U.S. still views the agreement as an opportunity to recoup some of its expenditures in Ukraine through profits from a fund — the size of which remains undetermined in the latest draft.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, the Trump administration is still reluctant to commit to future investments in the fund, which is a key interest for Kyiv in any such agreement, and has postponed discussions on the matter.

Instead, the White House continues to insist that U.S. wartime spending in Ukraine be considered Washington’s contribution to the fund.

Ukrainian negotiators, for their part, are actively trying to persuade their American counterparts to abandon this approach.

The agency notes that last week’s negotiations in Washington focused primarily on the technical details of the potential deal and did not involve any high-ranking government officials.

One of the participants mentioned that this week, legal teams would continue working remotely to finalize the draft agreement as quickly as possible.

Kyiv’s task for the next virtual meeting, expected later this week, will be to provide detailed information on specific projects that could be launched under the framework of the agreement.

Source: Bloomberg.

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