Zelensky ready to sign rare earth minerals agreement with U.S. - senators

WASHINGTON. Aug 13 (Interfax) - Kiev stands ready to sign a large-scale agreement on rare earth minerals with the United States, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham said in a joint statement following their visit to Ukraine.

"President Zelensky was excited about and was committed to obtaining a strategic agreement with the U.S. regarding the more than a trillion dollars-worth of rare earth minerals owned by Ukraine" and expressed a commitment to form a working group to put this plan into practice, the senators said.

"Expanding economic cooperation with Ukraine makes America stronger and accelerates Ukraine's economic recovery," they said. Ukraine is rich in lithium, titanium and other rare earth minerals that are needed by the U.S. economy, they said.

"An agreement with Ukraine in this area would make the U.S. less dependent on foreign adversaries for rare earth minerals," Blumenthal and Graham said.

"Now is the time to form a strategic partnership with Ukraine that can have tremendous economic benefits to the United States and lead to stability in Europe," they said.