Ukraine hopes resources deal with US will enable 'just peace'- adviser
Newshour
BBC
4.4 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ukraine and the US have signed a much-anticipated natural resources deal, after months of tense negotiations. The deal - which says the US will share profits from future sales of Ukraine's mineral and energy reserves - aims to incentivise Washington to invest further in Ukraine's defence and reconstruction.
Also in the programme: Syrian officials say they have regained control of a Damascus suburb which had seen a surge in fighting between a Druze militia and government troops; and we look at the children's book The Gruffalo. Are you excited about the first new book in more than 20 years?
(Photo: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko sign the deal. Credit: Reuters, picture obtained from social media. Yulia Svyrydenko via Facebook)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm Paul Henley. |
| 0:10.4 | The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has hailed a natural resources deal, newly agreed between the US and Ukraine, as an important step towards ending the war with Russia. |
| 0:21.9 | The agreement has been signed after months of tense negotiations |
| 0:25.2 | and will create a war reconstruction fund in exchange for Ukrainian energy and mineral resources. |
| 0:32.6 | Last night, President Trump phoned into the US cable news network News Nation |
| 0:37.2 | to reveal what he'd said to President Zelensky |
| 0:39.8 | at their much-photographed meeting in the Vatican. |
| 0:43.3 | I was telling him that it's a very good thing if we can produce a deal that you sign it, |
| 0:50.2 | because Russia is much bigger and much stronger. |
| 0:54.1 | They loaned the money, and Biden handed them $350 billion in between cash and military equipment. |
| 1:02.0 | 350, we got nothing, and I felt very foolish being the head of a country where Europe gets their money back, |
| 1:08.7 | and it's a much smaller amount and we get nothing. |
| 1:11.6 | So I went to them and said, look, we got to get rare earth. |
| 1:15.0 | Well, the deal is seen by the Ukrainian government as essential to ensure access to future |
| 1:20.1 | U.S. military aid. But among the U.S. opposition, it has its critics. |
| 1:24.7 | The Californian Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman, |
| 1:28.1 | who's a member of the Congressional Ukrainian caucus, told the BBC the deal did nothing to protect |
| 1:33.7 | Ukraine against future threats from Russia. We've seen this movie before. First, he makes crazy |
| 1:40.5 | demands. Then he settles for the most vague and inconsequential agreement. And then he |
| 1:46.7 | announces that he's the best negotiator in the history of the universe. This deal will never |
| 1:52.6 | turn out to be economically significant to the American taxpayer. This deal does not contain future |
| 1:59.0 | security guarantees. And this war will resume next decade |
... |
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