Relations warm up (a little) between kyiv and Washington. Ukraine announced Thursday, April 17, the signing of an “intention protocol” for an agreement with the United States on the country’s mineral issue, coveted by the Trump administration on Thursday, April 17, coveted by the Trump. This possible compromise could definitively be validated “next Thursday”, April 24, according to the American president. These natural resources – including precious rare land – were at the heart of intense discussions between the American power and the Ukrainian government in recent months. The non-signature of this text, the conditions of which have in the past were very contested by Volodymyr Zelensky and many Ukrainian elected officials, had aroused the ire of Donald Trump during the stormy reception of the Ukrainian manager at the White House, on February 28.
On the ground, the war continues: new Russian strikes killed at least two people in Kharkiv and Soumy on the night of Thursday to Friday. Washington continues to activate to try to find a way out of the conflict. A week after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, Donald Trump’s special emissary Steve Witkoff went to Paris on Thursday to meet Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. An appointment also in the presence of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The information to remember:
⇒ A “intention protocol” signed between kyiv and Washington for an agreement on Ukrainian minerals
⇒ Two deaths and dozens injured in Russian strikes on Kharkiv and Soumy
⇒ Call between Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov after visiting American officials in Paris
kyiv and Washington agree on a “intention protocol” towards the signing of an agreement on Ukrainian minerals
Negotiations between kyiv and Washington around the Ukrainian mineral agreement, coveted by the Trump administration, are about to succeed. After months of discussion, the two parties would only have a few details to be resolved before the controversial text signed. “We are pleased to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a protocol of intention opening the way to an economic partnership agreement and the creation of the investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” said Thursday, April 17 on the social network X Ioulia Svyryrydenko, the first Vice-Prime-Prime Minister Ukrainian. The announcement of this memorandum of intention coincides with the latest statements by Donald Trump, who said a little earlier than the full agreement should be signed “next Thursday”, April 24. “I suppose they will respect the agreement. We will see. But we have an agreement on this point,” he said from the White House.
The Ukrainian mineral agreement is claimed by the republican billionaire in compensation for military and financial aid already provided by the Americans in Ukraine since the start of the country’s Russian invasion, in February 2022. In mid-March, a new controversial version of the document had been transmitted to the power of Volodymyr Zelensky, a few weeks after a stormy meeting between the Ukrainian leader The oval office. Donald Trump then exasperated not to obtain the signing of the agreement by his counterpart received in the White House. The new version of the text obtained by kyiv had been widely criticized by Ukrainian parliamentarians and the country’s media, which considered its conditions too unfavorable to Ukraine.
Two deaths and dozens injured in two Russian strikes in Kharkiv and Soumy
Russian strikes left two dead and at least 40 injured on the night of Thursday, April 18 to Kharkiv and Soumy, northeast of Ukraine, announced the Ukrainian authorities. In Kharkiv, one person died and forty were injured, according to a provisional assessment, said the mayor of the city, Igor Terekhov, on Telegram. This manager said that the weapon used was “a ballistic missile with submunitions, which explains that the affected area is very large”. More than 20 residential buildings have been affected, according to this source. Local governor, Oleg Synegubov, stressed that the attack had targeted an “densely populated area of Kharkiv”.
In Soumy, near the Russian border, an attack by Iranian manufacturing drones Shahed made one dead and an injured person, also informed the local military administration, on the same encrypted messaging platform. Sunday, in the midst of the branches celebration, a shot of several Russian missiles on this locality had killed 35 people, arousing strong reactions from Western countries. If Moscow said it had targeted a military target during this bombardment, many civilians perished during these air raids. Since the start of the war, Ukrainian cities have almost daily the target of Russian strikes, despite recent attempts by the United States to bring the belligerents to talks intended to end more than three years of fighting.
Marco Rubio calls Sergei Lavrov after his visit to Paris
After his visit to Paris on Thursday with Donald Trump Steve Witkoff’s special emissary, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio phoned the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov in order to tell him about the latest advances in discussions. According to a statement from the State Department, the head “transmitted to his Russian counterpart the same message as the American team communicated to the Ukrainian delegation and our European allies in Paris: President Trump and the United States want this war to end and have now presented to all parties the main lines of lasting peace”. Beyond this phone call, the institution was delighted in this same message of “the giant reception reserved for Paris to the American framework” proposed by Washington to put an end to the Ukrainian conflict.
The outcome of discussions in France, where US officials were able to interact with Emmanuel Macron or the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, “shows that peace is possible if all parties undertake to reach an agreement,” said the same source. A next meeting involving Americans, Europeans and Ukrainians must be held in London, when the cease-fire negotiations initiated by Washington trampled. Donald Trump’s special advisor Steve Witkoff met a few days ago in Saint Petersburg Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has in no way served military pressure on Ukraine since the talks.