Ukraine’s parliament will vote on May 8 to ratify a minerals deal with the United States, a lawmaker confirmed on Friday, with two other related documents not requiring ratification.
Ukraine and the U.S. signed a deal on Wednesday that will give the United States preferential access to new investments in the extraction of Ukraine’s natural resources and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
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.
Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak published the date of the upcoming ratification vote on the Telegram messaging app.
He also cited Prime Minister Denys 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 to ratify the minerals deal with the U.S. late on Thursday, according to the parliamentary database.
Ukraine aims to ratify it within the next few weeks, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Thursday.
“We want to ratify it as soon as possible. So we plan to do it within the coming weeks,” she told an online briefing.
Zheleznyak said that the Prime Minister had told parliament that the two additional documents cover details of implementation and will not need a parliamentary vote to ratify them.
(With inputs from Reuters)
