Ukraine to propose resources deal changes to US this week
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Ukraine is working on changes to a draft agreement with the United States over preferential access to Kyiv's natural resources, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday, after Donald Trump warned Kyiv not to reject his proposal.
The two countries had planned to sign a deal last month on extracting Ukraine's strategically important minerals, until a spectacular televised clash between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky derailed the agreement.
Trump on Sunday warned Zelensky he would have "big problems" if Kyiv rejected the latest US proposal, details of which have not been published by either side.
"We will try to pass on Ukrainian proposals sometime by the end of this week," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Monday.
They said talks had been held online with the US side on Friday and that the Ukrainian team would report to Zelensky "today or tomorrow".
"Then we will prepare our position and send it to" the United States, they added.
Asked whether Ukraine considered the United States' latest proposal to be a bad deal, they said: "It's not very clear yet, it's just the initial stage."
Trump wants the deal -- which is set to give the US royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals -- as compensation for military and financial aid given to Ukraine by his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The Ukrainian source said Trump's latest warning could have been a "misunderstanding", saying Trump was probably "commenting more about NATO".
Ukrainian officials have been hesitant to criticise Trump or the United States following last month's clash in the White House that saw Washington temporarily cut military aid and intelligence-sharing in the fallout.
The source also told AFP that Europe was interested in the agreement, following reports that some of its provisions could contravene Kyiv's commitments to the European Union, which it is seeking to join.
"The agreement must take into account our obligations in the context of association with the EU and Ukraine's movement towards the EU," the source said.