Lithuanian FM calls Ukraine-US deal 'good sign', stresses Europe's role

VILNIUS - Ukraine's agreement with the United States on the terms of a minerals deal is a good sign, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says stressing the role of Europe.

"Both Ukraine and the US are interested in cooperation in one of the strategic sectors, i.e. the extraction and processing of natural resources, and this is in principle a good sign that both countries see that they could work together in the area and thus create preconditions for further cooperation," Lithuania's top diplomat told the public radio LRT on Wednesday.

Kyiv and Washington are expected to sign the deal as early as Friday. For his part, Kyiv hopes that Washington will provide it with security guarantees in the future.

"Ukraine had the bargaining power not to accept those provisions that appeared less acceptable, and here I think that Europe's role was important as we really assured our Ukrainian colleagues that they are not obliged to accept something that is alien to them, that would violate their national interest," Budrys said.

US President Donald Trump had demanded that Ukraine give access to its rare earth minerals to compensate for the billions of dollars of wartime aid it received under Joe Biden.

The deal would see the United States jointly develop Ukraine's mineral wealth, with revenues going to a newly created fund that would be "joint for Ukraine and America", a senior Ukrainian source told AFP on the condition of anonymity late Tuesday.

The source said the draft of the deal included a reference to "security", but did not explicitly set out the United States' commitments -- one of Kyiv's prior demands for an agreement.

Ukraine hopes the minerals deal will improve relations with the Trump administration, which have soured amid a war of words between Zelensky and Trump.

Trump changed US foreign policy after taking office last month by opening a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin while threatening Washington's traditional allies.

Budrys says the minerals agreement should not be considered a peace agreement, which includes all the important aspects, including rights as an injured party, reparations and funds for reconstruction.

"Let's not reconsider this as a peace agreement, because if we speak about a peace agreement, the answer is unequivocal, it's more than bad," the minister said.

The United States sided at the United Nations on Monday with Russia rather than its European allies, pushing a resolution that called for the war to end without condemning Moscow's invasion of its neighbor three years ago or insisting on Ukraine's territorial integrity.

A European-backed text got 93 votes for at the General Assembly and 18 votes against, with 65 abstentions. Washington sided with Moscow and Russian allies Belarus, North Korea and Sudan to vote against the text.

The resolution - which won far less support compared to previous ones on the war - strongly criticizes Russia, and emphasizes Ukraine's territorial integrity and the inviolability of its borders.

But Ukraine's European allies pushed to heavily reword the US text to say that the "full-scale invasion of Ukraine" had been carried out by Russia, meaning Washington ultimately did not vote in favor of its own text.

According to Budrys, the new US administration has introduced uncertainty and new interests.

"At the initial stage, it is not in line with everything we see, but last week's events show that we can adjust that position (...). Together with other EU countries and Ukraine, we have defended the resolution (...) and we have managed to correct the US resolution so that our friends, the US, remain on the right side of history," Budrys said.

According to the foreign minister, Monday's meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump on the occasion of the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows that Europe is engaged in the discussions on negotiations.

Speaking at the White House, Macron warned Trump that peace cannot mean the "surrender" of Ukraine and called for US support to any potential European troop deployment aimed at preserving a peace deal.

Budrys says one should not rush into decisions on peacekeepers until all the parameters are in place.

"There are too many unknowns today for Lithuania to be able to say that we are a participating state. But we need to know exactly what we are talking about, what we will have to do, where the forces will have to be deployed, what tasks they will have to carry out, and then we will be able to make up our minds and decide who we would be involved with," he said.