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       WASHINGTON: The United States and Ukraine have signed a minerals deal after a two-month delay, in what President Donald Trump’s administration called a new form of US commitment to Kyiv after the end of military aid.

       Ukraine said it secured key interests after protracted negotiations, including full sovereignty over its own rare earths, which are vital for new technologies and largely untapped.

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       Trump had initially demanded rights to Ukraine’s mineral wealth as compensation for US weapons sent under former president Joe Biden after Russia invaded just over three years ago.

       After initial hesitation, Ukraine has accepted a minerals accord as a way to secure long-term investment by the United States, as Trump tries to drastically scale back US security commitments around the world.

       Announcing the deal in Washington on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it showed “both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine”. “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Bessent said.

       “And 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.”

       Trump had originally sought $500 billion in mineral wealth — around four times what the United States has contributed to Ukraine since the war.

       Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2025