Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier denied on February 25, 2025, that the European Union had allegedly offered Kyiv its own deal on minerals.
There is no proposal,
Regnier stated, saying that since 2021, the European Union has had a collaboration on critical raw materials with Ukraine, standardised through the Memorandum of Understanding.
A day earlier, AFP reported that the European Union has offered Ukraine its own agreement on the country’s natural resources, representing it as “mutually beneficial” and a “win-win partnership.”
The European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, Stephane Sejourne allegedly stated he’d offered Ukraine an alternative to that offered by the U.S. while on a visit to Ukraine to observe the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Regnier verified that during his visit to Kyiv, Sejourne had a meeting with his Ukrainian counterparts. According to Regnier, Sejourne “reaffirmed the EU’s obligation to execute the Memorandum of Understanding,” but did not offer any new proposals.
As with all the EU critical raw materials partnerships that we have, this cooperation is not only about securing supply chains for the EU but also about fostering local value creation and capacity building in partner countries, ensuring mutual benefits,
Regnier expressed.
This is about cooperation with Ukraine and not about any sort of competition with the U.S.,
he also said.
What are the terms of the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal?
Talks on an agreement to entrench U.S. interests in Ukraine’s reserves are in progress, with the latest draft proposed by the US reportedly demanding $500 billion of Ukraine’s natural resources, including essential minerals, to recover US assistance to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has so far declined to inscribe the deal because it does not incorporate any security guarantees for Ukraine and because the $500 billion sum considerably outnumbers the $100 billion delivered under former President Joe Biden as a grant.
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier restated his push for a pact between the U.S. and Ukraine. He argued that it would support Kyiv’s economy while ensuring that the US “recoups the tens of billions of dollars and military equipment sent to Ukraine.”
During a session with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House, Trump expressed he may soon sit down with President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign the deal.
