A top official told AFP on Wednesday that long-running and contentious discussions between Kyiv and Washington are moving fast.
Prior to a staged conflict between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the two countries had intended to reach an agreement to extract the country’s crucial materials.
The official in charge of the talks told AFP in Kyiv,” The conversations are moving forward very quickly. Trump wants the deal as a payment for the support that his forerunner, Joe Biden, gave to Ukraine, and that will pay US royalty payments on the proceeds of Russian resources and unique minerals.
The source told AFP that earlier versions of the agreement appeared to reject Ukraine’s claim that US assistance was a loan. According to a previous statement from Bloomberg News, Washington had eased its demands on Kyiv to pay back help that was delivered since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the early 2022. According to a report, US Secretary of State Scott Bessent in Argentina stated on Monday that a deal may be reached as soon as” this year.”
