Both the US and Ukraine have said they are broadly ready to sign a deal which would give American firms access to Ukraine’s minerals.”We are ready to sign this afternoon if they are,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday, adding that Ukraine “decided to make last minute changes” to the agreement.Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko was flying to Washington on Wednesday after an apparent breakthrough in negotiations.Earlier, BBC News saw a draft copy of the deal, which provides for the creation of a joint Ukrainian-US investment fund to search for minerals in Ukraine, and set outs how revenues would be split.On Wednesday afternoon a US source familiar with the talks criticised Ukraine for seeking to re-open some terms that had already been agreed upon over the weekend.Both US and Ukrainian teams worked through the night on Friday into Saturday to finalise the documents, as well as into the early morning on Wednesday, the source told the BBC.They added that the sticking points include governance of the fund, the transparency mechanism, and steps to ensure that all funds are fully traceable.Despite these last minute negotiations, the signing could still happen by the end of Wednesday if the US side believes that Ukraine is complying with already agreed upon terms, the source said.”Nothing’s been removed,” Bessent said when asked about any changes to the deal. “It’s the same agreement that we agreed to on the weekend. No changes on our side.”Technical documents were signed last week by representatives of both countries.In Kyiv, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine expected the deal to be signed within “the next 24 hours”.”This is truly a good, equal and beneficial international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine,” Shmyhal said.Sinc …
