# Why Ukraine hopes Trump minerals deal will win back US support

4 days ago

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent
Reporting from Kirovohrad region

Senior Ukrainian and US officials are meeting today in Saudi Arabia to discuss how the war in Ukraine ends.

The US says it's to agree on a "framework" for a ceasefire and eventual peace deal.

For Kyiv, it is also a chance to patch up its relationship with Washington and muscle in on a process it is yet to be involved in.

It will propose an aerial and naval ceasefire in an initial truce, as well as try to revive a critical mineral deal, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "will sign at any time".

The Ukrainian hope is that, with a renewed US buy-in, the pressure would be put back on Russia to compromise too.

> "Seventy percent of our critical minerals are still underground," explains Ihor Semko as he gives a tour of the Zavallya quarry - the largest graphite quarry in Europe - of which he is in charge.
>
> In the rural tranquillity of central Ukraine, this man-made canyon is the by-product of 61 years of mining. A lake is flanked by layers of browns: rust, clay and beige, with the gradual excavation of earth.
>
> "We currently have seven million tonnes of graphite ore left, which means 12 more years of work," says Ihor in a direct style you'd almost expect from the director of a graphite factory.
>
> But the heavy steel of the Soviet-era diggers lies dormant for 11 months of the year.
>
> The reason for this is that the plant is losing money as nervous investors pull out with the ongoing war.
>
> It's why Zelensky offered up his country's natural minerals as part of a possible ceasefire deal with the US.
>
> The proposal is thought to be a co-owned cash pot which would receive 50% of the profits from Ukraine's critical minerals, as well as oil and gas. The money would then be invested in the country's recovery.
>
> "If the Americans were to invest in a 50-50 partnership, it would be beneficial," says Ihor. "There would be new jobs, salaries for workers and income for the owners."
>
> "I think if it wasn't profitable for Ukraine, there would be no discussions about any agreements at all."

## Additional Reporting by Svitlana Libet and Pratiksha Ghildial

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