The Trump administration has told Congress that it intends to give the go-ahead for roughly $50 million of defense-related products to be exported to Ukraine through American industry sales direct to Kyiv, according to a new report.
Why It Matters
The U.S. and Ukraine on Wednesday inked a long-awaited deal to share profits generated by the sale of Ukraine’s mineral and energy reserves. It was an agreement thrown into jeopardy by rounds of tense talks, redrafts and the disastrous White House visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year.
What To Know
Trump’s team told lawmakers on Wednesday that the administration would approve at least $50 million in defense sales to Ukraine, the Kyiv Post reported.
This would be transferred under a process known as direct commercial sales (DCS); this is when the State Department grants a U.S. company permission to sell directly to a foreign buyer, rather than sales going through the Pentagon’s Foreign Military Sales program.
It is not clear how far $50 million would go toward Ukraine’s war effort. Zelensky last month offered to pay in the region of $15 billion for 10 of the in-demand but scarce Patriot air defense systems. Each Patriot battery comes with an estimated price tag of $1.5 billion, every interceptor missile costing several million dollars.
Between 2015 and 2023, the U.S. greenlit the permanent exports of more than $1.6 billion worth of defense equipment and services to Ukraine through direct commercial sales, including $232 million in ammunition, according to the State Department.
The reported arms sales could be related to a satisfaction among top Trump officials over the progress of the minerals deal, said Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee.
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said a joint U.S.-Ukrainian investment fund, established under the minerals deal to contribute to Ukraine’s reconstruction, would “attract global investment” to the country.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the signing of the deal “historic.”
Svyrydenko said control of the fund would be divided “50/50” between Washington and Kyiv, with Ukraine owning all resources on Ukrainian land and in the country’s territorial waters.
Ukraine is home to roughly 5 percent of the world’s critical minerals, such as titanium, lithium, uranium and copper. The country is known to have deposits of 25 of the 34 raw materials identified as critical by the European Union, the bloc has said.
Critical minerals are used in many different industries, from defense to energy and technology. Trade tensions with China, which mines and exports many of the world’s critical minerals, including rare earth deposits, will likely have made a mineral deal with Kyiv more attractive.
Svyrydenko said in February that roughly $350 billion worth of Ukraine’s critical minerals were now in Russian-held areas. Zelensky told Reuters earlier this year that Moscow controlled less than a fifth of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including approximately half of its rare earth deposits.
“Politically, it’s a good deal for us,” and a far better agreement for Kyiv than previous drafts, Merezhko told Newsweek.
But the deal doesn’t account for European countries—also significant military aid contributors to Ukraine—which may also seek access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, Merezhko said.
Trump has positioned the deal as an economic security guarantee for Ukraine in the midst of sluggish ceasefire negotiations, which Kyiv and its European backers say hinge on U.S.-provided security guarantees. The U.S. has been reluctant to provide a “backstop” to deter fresh Russian attacks after a ceasefire comes into force.
“Economic investment for resource extraction is not a security guarantee, even if traded for weapons; as a matter of fact, these commitments could just as well be honored by whoever controls Ukrainian territory,” Eric Golson, an associate professor of economics at the University of Surrey, U.K, told Newsweek.
“Ultimately, this is an agreement of geopolitical convenience, which reflects American weakness: the U.S. needs Ukrainian minerals to counteract the Chinese blockade; in exchange, Ukraine is desperate for a continued flow of weapons,” Golson said.
Kyiv will still control its state-owned companies, Svyrydenko said, adding the “agreement does not contain any mention of any debt obligations of Ukraine to the United States.”
The Trump administration had framed the deal as compensation for tens of billions of dollars’ worth of military aid the U.S. has sent to Ukraine after Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022. Kyiv pushed back against this characterization.
The Treasury said in its own statement that the deal recognized “the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defense of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion.”
The nod to Moscow’s responsibility for the invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago comes after Trump falsely accused Zelensky of starting Europe’s largest land conflict since World War II.
“To be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine,” Bessent said.
What People Are Saying
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday: “Thanks to President Trump’s tireless efforts to secure a lasting peace, I am glad to announce the signing of today’s historic economic partnership agreement between the United States and Ukraine establishing the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.”
What Happens Next
The deal will be put to Ukraine’s parliament for ratification.
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