Nadia Pryshlyak12:26, ​​28.03.25

The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada committee believes that first the US needs help in defeating the aggressor.

The draft document on subsoil proposed by the US is absurd, is not an international treaty, and contradicts the legislation of Ukraine.

This was stated by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, international lawyer Oleksandr Merezhko, at a briefing.

He noted that today there is no complete understanding of whether the published draft document is a fake or not. “But it seems that this is not a fake, because this document is drawn up in the style of American law. But there is no 100% certainty that this is not a fake. If this is really a serious proposal from the American administration, then serious problems arise here from the point of view of the fact that this document is absurd, to put it mildly,” Merezhko emphasized.

According to him, the project involves the creation of a legal entity under American law, more precisely, under the law of the state of Delaware (USA). He added that in this context it is necessary to realize that this concerns Ukrainian resources, which, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, are the property of the people of Ukraine.

“If we are talking about the formal side of this issue, then this is in no way an international treaty,” Merezhko emphasized.

He noted that it is necessary to develop a full-fledged international treaty, because this is what the agreement was about. “Now, unexpectedly, the text of some contract is being proposed, which is not an international treaty and does not correspond to the law of Ukraine, because it is written from the point of view of US law. This is not acceptable. We need a serious approach, because we are talking about Ukraine’s resources, its wealth and future. And solving this with the help of a contract of one of the parties is absurd,” Merezhko said. According to him, it is necessary to prepare an international treaty, which will be subject to ratification by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the US Senate.

Merezhko believes that we need to ask the question that before moving on to actual mining on the territory of Ukraine, it is necessary for the US to help Ukraine defeat the aggressor, liberate the territories where these resources are also located, and then we can move on to the implementation of this project.

Merezhko on the minerals agreement

Subsoil Agreement – What the US is Offering

As UNIAN reported, Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that the US has proposed a draft agreement on subsoil , which provides for US control over all Ukrainian subsoil, but there is no mention of security guarantees for Ukraine. 

First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed during the Question Hour to the Government in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine that the draft agreement on subsoil from the US has been received by the Ukrainian government. According to her, they are currently working on it and forming their position.

(c)UNIAN 2025