08-05-2025
Ukraine ratifies U.S. minerals deal as fighting continues despite ceasefire
KYIV — Ukraine's parliament overwhelmingly voted to ratify a U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal signed on April 30 in a show of support for a closer relationship with Washington, even as a Russian-declared ceasefire failed to halt fighting in Moscow's three-year-old war on Ukraine.
Of 347 Ukrainian lawmakers present, 338 voted to support the law, including some from opposition parties, and nine abstained. Ukraine hopes that the deal will secure long-term U.S. support for the country and lead to future U.S. security guarantees.
The ratification took place on the first day of Russia's three-day unilateral ceasefire, which President Vladimir Putin declared to coincide with celebrations marking the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.
Despite the Kremlin's declaration, Russian forces shelled two residential buildings and three homes in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, killing seven and injuring 28 on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said. Three women driving in the Kharkiv region were also injured when a Russian drone stuck their car, according to local authorities.
'Putin's 'Parade ceasefire' proves to be a farce,' Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media. The Ukrainian armed forces also reported over 700 violations across the front lines, he said, adding: 'We will not let Putin fool anyone when he does not even keep his own word.'
Russia's Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of violating the ceasefire 448 times. Ukraine never accepted the ceasefire.
Russia has intensified its attacks on civilian areas since President Donald Trump took office in January and began to tout peace talks. The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said Thursday that April was the deadliest month since September, with 209 civilians killed and 1,146 injured. It said 19 of the fatalities were children and that 78 children were injured.
'One of the main reasons for the sharp rise in civilian casualties was the intensified use of ballistic missiles in major cities across the country,' Danielle Bell, the head of the mission, said in a statement accompanying the report.
The economic partnership detailed in the minerals deal will entitle the United States to 50 percent of the profits generated from extracting Ukraine's vast mineral resources. Details of how the soon-to-be-established American-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund will work, and who will represent each side, are still being ironed out, officials from both countries have said.
On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration believes that the deal will create leverage against Russia in the long term.
The agreement 'would be a symbol to Ukrainian people that the U.S. is still there,' Bessent said at the Milken Institute. 'It would be a symbol to a tired American public, skeptical of more financial commitments, that it was possible to have a shared prosperity with Ukraine.'
In recent days, the Trump administration has backtracked on its previous statements that the war can be brought to an end quickly but said it remains committed to the process for now.
Speaking at a meeting hosted by the Munich Security Conference in Washington on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance conceded for the first time that Russia was 'asking for too much' and was not interested in the 30-day ceasefire that Washington had advocated.
Abbakumova reported from Riga, Latvia.
