KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s parliament will hold a vote on May 8 to ratify a minerals deal signed with the United States earlier this week, a lawmaker said on Friday, while the prime minister suggested the agreement will help Kyiv with supplies of air defence systems.
Ukraine and the U.S. signed a deal on Wednesday that will give the United States preferential access to new investments in extraction of Ukraine’s natural resources, and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
According to the deal, new military aid, if provided by Washington to Kyiv, could be scored as the U.S. contribution to the joint fund being set up under the accord.
“This agreement will allow us to better defend our country here and now – to better protect our skies thanks to American air defence systems,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at the governmental meeting.
Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak published the date of the upcoming ratification vote on the Telegram messaging app.
The accord, heavily promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, is central to Kyiv’s efforts to mend ties with the White House, its main military backer in its war against the Russian invasion. The ties had frayed after Trump took office in January.
Zheleznyak also cited Shmyhal as telling parliament on Friday that two of the documents related to the deal covered its implementation and would not need to be ratified by lawmakers.
Ukraine’s cabinet registered a bill with parliament to ratify the minerals deal with the U.S. late on Thursday, according to the parliamentary database.
“We want to ratify it as soon as possible. So we plan to do it within the coming weeks,” First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko, additional reporting Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Gareth Jones)
