Constant Méheut
More than a month after Washington and Kyiv first haggled over a deal to grant the United States a major stake in Ukraine’s mineral, oil and gas development projects, the two sides are back to square one in the negotiations.
Washington has sent Kyiv a new proposal that restates the sweeping financial demands from an initial draft agreement rejected by Ukraine, and adds new ones that could burden the country’s finances for years, according to the text of the new draft obtained by The New York Times, and authenticated and reviewed by three current and former Ukrainian officials.
Several Ukrainian lawmakers suggested that Ukraine could not possibly accept such a deal and that new negotiations would be needed.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Paris on Thursday that the new proposal required “detailed study” and suggested that a final agreement was still far-off. But he also said he did not want “to leave the U.S. with the feeling that Ukraine is against it in general.”
“We support cooperation with the U.S.,” Mr. Zelensky said. “We don’t want to send any signals that could lead the U.S. to stop aid to Ukraine.”
No comments:
Post a Comment