The United States and Ukraine has signed a Memorandum of Intent which marks as amajor step towards their economic partnership and the pending agreement on developing mineral resources in Ukraine, the deal that was promoted by US President Donald Trump.
According to reports, Trump said, "We have a minerals deal, which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday."
Only a few hours after the announcement of the signing, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the United States will stop trying to push for Russia-Ukraine peace deal within the next few days unless there are clear signs of progress. He said, "President Donald Trump was still interested in a deal but had many other priorities."
This comes weeks after the showdown during Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office. The world leaders were supposed to sign the deal but it did not happen.
Also Read | WATCH | Trump and Zelenskyy Face Off
Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister and economy minister took to X to announce that the memorandum had been signed.
Svyrydenko wrote, "We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine."
When Will The Deal Be Signed?
Reuters reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was sitting alongside Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday when he said "we're still working on the details" and that the signing could come by next Friday.
"It's substantially what we'd agreed on previously," he added, "When the president was here, we had a memorandum of understanding. We went straight to the big deal, and I think it's an 80-page agreement and that's what we'll be signing."
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said earlier that the two countries could sign the memorandum online later in the day.
"This is a memorandum of intent. And we have positive, constructive intentions," Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv.
He mentioned that the US has suggested the two countries first sign a memorandum as the final deal would require approval from the Ukrainian parliament.
What Did Marco Rubio Say?
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump might walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, reported Reuters.
"We're not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks. If it is we're in. If it's not, then we have other priorities to focus on as well," Rubio reportedly said.
US President Donald Trump announced that he had a long and highly productive phone call with Vladimir Putin on February 12, during which the two leaders agreed to begin negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Trump shared the details of the conversation on his Truth Social platform, stating that he and Putin had agreed to have their respective teams initiate negotiations immediately and had also invited each other to visit their capitals.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later mentioned that he had discussed a lasting, reliable peace with Trump. The calls between the leaders of the warring nations coincided with statements from both Trump and his defense secretary, who indicated that Ukraine라이브 바카라 NATO membership was unlikely—a sentiment that would be a significant blow to Kyiv.
