Tom Balmforth, Yuliia Dysa and Trevor Hunnicutt

KYIV/WASHINGTON – Ukraine and the U.S. said on Wednesday they signed an agreement on a joint fund to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction, and a draft of the deal said it would give Washington preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals.

The two countries signed the accord in Washington after months of sometimes fraught negotiations, with uncertainty persisting until the last-moment with word of an eleventh-hour snag.

“In recognition of the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defense of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, this economic partnership positions our two countries to … accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the U.S. Treasury Department said.

A draft of the minerals agreement seen by Reuters gave the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals but did not automatically hand Washington a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth or any of its gas infrastructure.

It provided for creation of a joint U.S.-Ukrainian fund for reconstruction which will receive 50% of profits and royalties accruing to the Ukrainian state from new natural resources permits in Ukraine.