Ukraine says aiming to wrap up mineral deal talks within a week

KYIV, April 18 (Reuters) - Kyiv said on Friday it aims to complete talks by the end of next week about a deal with Washington on jointly exploiting Ukrainian mineral resources, an agreement Ukrainian officials hope will go some way to firming up softening U.S. support for them in their war with Russia.

Though the terms of the eventual deal are not finalised, Washington has signalled it expects to have privileged access to Ukraine's natural resources by way of repayment for U.S. military support for the country over the past three years.

Late on Thursday, the U.S. and Ukrainian governments signed a memorandum of intent, signalling their intent to finalise the minerals deal.

The memorandum represented a step towards repairing ties between Kyiv and Washington that appeared to be hanging by a thread in February, when an Oval Office meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned into a shouting match.

According to the text of the memorandum, published by the Ukrainian government on Friday, the aim of both sides is to complete discussions on the final deal by April 26, and to sign it soon after.

The memorandum said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will travel to Washington at the start of next week to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and work on the deal together.

"We are happy to announce the signing with our American partners," Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister and economy minister, said on social media on Thursday, referring to the memorandum of intent.

She said the document "testifies to the constructive joint work of our teams and the intention to finalise and conclude an ...
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