3 weeks ago
16
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Officials in Kyiv say the country cannot possibly accept the proposal and that new negotiations would be needed. But they have not rejected it outright, which would anger the White House.
March 28, 2025, 10:08 a.m. ET
More than a month after Washington and Kyiv first haggled over a deal to grant the United States a major stake in Ukraine’s mineral, oil and gas development projects, the two sides are back to square one in the negotiations.
Washington has sent Kyiv a new proposal that restates the sweeping financial demands from an initial draft agreement rejected by Ukraine, and adds new ones that could burden the country’s finances for years. Several Ukrainian lawmakers suggested that Ukraine could not possibly accept such a deal and that new negotiations would be needed.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Paris on Thursday that the new proposal required “detailed study” and suggested that a final agreement was still far-off. But he also said he did not want “to leave the U.S. with the feeling that Ukraine is against it in general.”
“We support cooperation with the U.S.,” Mr. Zelensky said. “We don’t want to send any signals that could lead the U.S. to stop aid to Ukraine.”
It was a clear attempt to avoid angering the White House, as he did last month after rejecting earlier proposals, which partly led the United States to temporarily cut off aid to Ukraine.
What Echoes the Earlier Proposals?
The new proposal reverts to President Trump’s initial demand that Ukraine repay the United States for the billions Kyiv has received in military and financial aid since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago, according to three current and former Ukrainian officials who reviewed the draft, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
