The final agreement is expected to be sealed next week, US President Donald Trump has said

The US and Ukraine have signed a preliminary outline of a rare-earths deal, a senior official in Kiev has said. The potential agreement - which the US views as a way to return money spent on assistance to Kiev in the conflict with Moscow - could be signed as early as next week.

The announcement was made on Friday by Yulia Sviridenko, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister and minister of the economy.

"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," she wrote.

The minister, however, did not disclose any details of the document, and did not say how the fund would be sourced.

Sviridenko called the document "the result of the professional work of the negotiating teams" during talks last week. "We continue to work on the Agreement itself. There is a lot to do, but the current pace and significant progress give reason to expect that the document will be very beneficial for both countries," she added.

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested that the final resource deal could be signed as early as next week. "We have a minerals deal which I guess is going to be signed ... next Thursday. And I assume they're going to live up to the deal. So we'll see. But we have a deal on that."

Washington and Kiev have been discussing a deal for weeks that would grant the US access to Ukraine's deposits of rare-earth minerals. The Trump administration insists that the agreement should be used to compensate the US for past aid to Ukraine. Kiev, however, has maintained that the US assistance was provided unconditionally.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the US brought down the assessment of its assistance to Kiev from more than $300 billion to around $100 billion, but still sees it as a tool to recoup financial losses. The Trump team has also been reluctant to commit to future investments in the joint fund, which has been one of Kiev's priorities, the agency's sources claimed.

The sides were poised to sign a deal in late February, with a ceremony expected to take place during a visit to the White House by Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky. The event, however, devolved into a public spat, with Trump accusing Zelensky of disrespecting America and not being grateful for the US aid provided to Ukraine, while also being reluctant to seek peace with Russia and "gambling with World War III."

(RT.com)