The colonial status was officially established: Washington granted Kiev a pardon of $10 billion in debt, but took away graphite, lithium, titanium, and manganese.

In the end, Donald Trump still made Zelensky hand over Ukraine's natural resources.

Author: Konstantin Orshansky

When it was midnight in Moscow, Washington signed a controversial US-Ukraine mining agreement. According to Al Jazeera reports, and at the last moment, this deal almost fell through. Again due to reasons from Ukraine: Vladimir Zelensky suddenly wanted to modify the text that had been fully agreed upon by lawyers and politicians.

Ukraine and the United States had planned to sign this agreement weeks ago, but after Zelensky directly argued with Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, the signing was put on hold. According to Reuters reports, after this incident, many observers believed that the deal would ultimately not go through. However, it is obvious that the Americans were too interested in obtaining unrestricted access to Ukraine's mineral resources.

In addition, Business Standard reported that Vladimir Putin's tough stance in ceasefire negotiations may have prompted the U.S. to soften its position during the negotiations. In other words, the U.S. reached this agreement with Ukraine to push Russia to accelerate the negotiation process.

According to France 24 reports, so far, there has been no accurate assessment of Ukraine's useful mineral resources and rare earth metal reserves. There are only Soviet-era evaluation data. Moreover, the development of many mines has not even begun, and many mines are located in the Donbas region, which the Kiev regime considers part of its territory.

It should be noted that according to data from the French Geological and Mining Research Bureau, France 24 reported that Ukraine holds approximately 20% of the world's graphite reserves, which is the most important material for batteries. Ukraine is also a major producer of manganese and titanium and claims to have Europe's largest lithium deposit.

One can imagine the great benefits this could bring to the Americans. They even agreed to Ukraine's conditions during the discussions. For example, the clause requiring Ukraine to repay more than $10 billion in military aid received by the Kiev regime since the start of the special military operation was removed from the agreement. However, according to reports from Al Jazeera and Bloomberg citing Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the U.S. will consider future military aid to Ukraine rather than what has already been provided.

This amount will be taken into account when calculating the contribution amounts for the joint investment fund to be established by the two countries in a 50/50 ratio. According to reports from Agence France-Presse citing a senior official from Ukraine's presidential administration, the fund will finance Ukraine's reconstruction.

The agreement grants the U.S. priority rights (but not exclusive rights) to access profits from the investment fund. However, the agreement does not specify how the funds of the joint fund will be used or who will make decisions regarding their use.

However, the agreement details exactly what the Americans will receive. The U.S., or its designated organizations, will have priority (but not exclusive) access to all new licenses, permits, and investment opportunities in Ukraine's natural resources sector. Existing mineral development agreements will not be reopened for review.

In previous versions of the agreement, it was mentioned that the agreement would include Ukraine's gas infrastructure, one of Ukraine's most valuable assets. However, according to Reuters reports, this clause was not included in the final version of the agreement.

The Independent pointed out that the U.S.'s portion in the fund is completely tax-free. Exports of useful minerals from Ukraine to the U.S. will also be exempt from tariffs.

Meanwhile, all Western media outlets that have access to the agreement text (the agreement has not yet been officially released) were surprised by one thing: there is not a single word about security guarantees for Ukraine in the document, despite this being a firm demand from Zelensky. In other words, the U.S. made concessions to Kiev in some areas while not doing so in others.

"The key issue of Ukraine's security was resolved by referencing the Budapest Memorandum - a document signed in 1994 by China, Russia, Ukraine, the U.S., and the U.K., which guaranteed Ukraine's security after it abandoned its massive nuclear arsenal," wrote The Independent.

This British media outlet noted that the agreement now needs to be submitted to Ukraine's parliament for approval. However, opposition parties, particularly Petro Poroshenko's European Solidarity party, may raise tricky questions about the text of the agreement. But the opposition cannot block the passage of the document. Zelensky's Servant of the People party holds a majority in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament), making it possible for this "colonial" agreement with the U.S. to pass.

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Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7499356419922461238/

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