US plans to expand minerals deal to include control over Ukrainian nuclear power plants — Financial Times

The administration of US President Donald Trump is seeking to propose new terms for a minerals deal with Ukraine, possibly including US control over Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

The Financial Times reports this, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials, Rubryka reports.

In addition to US control over the nuclear power plants, the new version of the deal wants to include detailed provisions on the ownership and control of a joint Ukrainian-American investment fund.

During a recent telephone conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US leader proposed transferring Ukrainian nuclear power plants under US control, according to a statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz following the conversation.

Trump said that the US "could be very useful" in managing the plants due to its experience in the power industry, and American ownership of them, he said, "would be the best protection of this infrastructure and support for the Ukrainian energy infrastructure."

Zelensky clarified during a conversation with reporters that he was not talking about all Ukrainian nuclear power plants, but only about the currently occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

According to two unnamed senior Ukrainian officials who participated in negotiations with the US on the minerals deal, Kyiv has not yet been presented with the new terms of the agreement, but one of them admitted that Washington seems to be working "on a larger deal."

The FT also quotes Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun, who on the social network X criticized the possible transfer of nuclear power plants to US control:

"Since when does handing over a strategic sector to a foreign state mean security? It sounds more like capture than protection."

Earlier CBS News wrote that Trump seeks to change the Ukrainian-American agreement on minerals, making it "bigger and better".

It was noted that the current version of the agreement is not final, and some of its parameters may change. All because Trump now seeks a "bigger and better deal".

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant also said on the CBS News program that the agreement with Ukraine is not currently on the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, they said that negotiations on the agreement have been completed, and the parties are waiting for the signing of the document.

The main provisions of the agreement on rare earth metals:

• The creation of an investment fund – Ukraine and the United States will manage the Ukraine Reconstruction Fund on an equal footing;
• Linkage to security guarantees – the agreement is part of the security architecture, including support for Ukraine's accession to NATO or alternative guarantees;
• Fund financing – 50% of Ukraine's income from mineral rents or licenses and dividends on infrastructure facilities will be directed to the fund;
• Joint contributions of the United States and Ukraine – funds will be invested in the recovery, economy and security of Ukraine;
• Recognition of Ukraine's contribution to international security – mention of abandoning the nuclear arsenal (reference to the Budapest Memorandum);
• Fund management – carried out jointly by the governments of Ukraine and the United States.

According to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine and the United States of America have actually worked out the final version of the agreement on rare earth minerals. As of today, this agreement is called the "Agreement on Establishing the Rules and Conditions of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine".

On February 28, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Donald Trump of the United States were unable to sign an agreement on subsoil.