Why “Delicacy” for Trump Has Turned into an Agreement that Is Impossible to Digest

Relations between Ukraine and the United States are starting to resemble a thriller — with elements of horror. What used to be routine institutional cooperation has now become a “contest of captains.”

But the plot and deeper meaning of this battle can’t be understood without going back to President Donald Trump’s first term. That’s when the events took place that now directly shape the behavior and interactions of the main players — and the drama around the critical minerals agreement. 

Separated from the main storyline of Trump-Zelensky relations, the ongoing dialogue between Ukraine and the United States over the terms of the minerals deal increasingly resembles an old Soviet joke.

Two pilots — Chapaev and Petka — are flying a plane.

Chapaev asks: “Petka, what do the instruments say?”
“Thirty!”
“Thirty what?”
“What instruments?”

Everyone seems to be speaking English — yet no one seems to mean the same thing.

What began as a simple “treat” for Trump ahead of the election — during President Zelensky’s visit to Trump Tower in September 2024 — has turned into a minerals deal that’s impossible to digest.

The logic was as primitive as it was transparent — straight out of the Trojan horse playbook. Trump was shown a presentation about Ukraine’s “fabulous prospects” for rare earth mining, in hopes of securing his favor.

The Russians are now doing essentially the same thing — though with a different outcome. Putin’s investment adviser, Kirill Dmitriev, is actively courting American businessmen from Trump’s inner circle, pulling them into critical mineral extraction projects by offering them sweetheart deals at fire-sale prices.

In our case, a similar role for Trump’s inner circle, was played by David Arakhamia—then a top figure in Zelensky’s political party. But things didn’t go as planned for the participants of that Trump Tower meeting. Because between that meeting and Trump’s inauguration, Ukraine quietly sold one of the largest titanium ore producers in Europe—the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC)—to Azerbaijan’s Neqsol Holding. The deal, worth UAH 4 billion, was conducted without a public tender, using Neqsol’s Ukrainian subsidiary, Cemin Ukraine LLC.

UMCC's assets include two mining and processing plants — the Irshansk plant in Zhytomyr region and the Vilnohirsk plant in Dnipropetrovsk region. In addition, it holds special permits to develop several mineral deposits: three sites at the Mezhyrichne deposit, three at the Malysheve deposit, and the Selyshche site.

The strategic value of this asset is clear: UMCC ranks among the world’s top ten producers of titanium and zirconium ores.

According to company data, in 2020 UMCC produced nearly 350,000 tons of titanium and zirconium concentrates — accounting for 4% of global output. Over 60% of that volume was exported to Asian markets: 39% to China, 12% to Japan, and 9% to Turkey.

So when such a lucrative asset was sold practically under the Americans’ noses, it didn’t go unnoticed — and it certainly didn’t improve Washington’s attitude toward Zelensky’s team.

The relationship was already strained during Trump’s first term, weighed down by the Burisma scandal, Hunter Biden, quid pro quo, Trump’s first impeachment in 2020, and the saga of Hunter’s laptop — which Trump brought up again during that infamous Oval Office shouting match.

And that’s only part of the baggage shaping the dynamic between the two leaders. Trump, after all, is famously vindictive — and, as we’ve heard, holds a grudge.

It’s with this grim political history that Ukraine now enters a new “golden era” of Trump and his loyal entourage. An era where what Ukraine intended as a symbolic gift — like gold, frankincense, and myrrh — became, in Trump’s imagination, a green light to claim Palestine.
Just a habit.

So the only real bet was on luck — and, for a moment, it looked like it might just work. Trump needed a symbolic gesture from Ukraine, something he could present as a win to his base.

Bankova — the Ukrainian shorthand for the president’s office — didn’t realize that this was the moment to seize Scott Bessent and his “brilliant” minerals deal. And in fairness, compared to its most recent version, the original deal really was wonderful.

But... the president had a different ask. He wanted security guarantees.

So Bessent was sent packing — left with a bitter taste of being dismissed. The agreed-upon text, ready for signing in Munich, was shelved. Ukraine picked a fight with J.D. Vance. Trump got a handful of talking points thrown into his face.

And then the world saw the unforgettable footage from the Oval Office.

To many, this behavior looks “kinda cool.” And it's not just Ukrainians — plenty of ordinary Brits and Germans seem to enjoy the spectacle of someone “showing the finger” to the Americans.

But their families and friends aren’t on the front lines. They don’t live with the constant risk of overnight missile strikes.

Despite widespread unease in European societies about the policies of the new U.S. administration, political elites — at least until the so-called Liberation Day — largely avoided open confrontation with Trump. They refrained from public displays of contempt. And that absence of public conflict, for a while, preserved a degree of diplomatic maneuvering room.

It wouldn't hurt for Ukraine to have some of that room to maneuver as well — especially in negotiations over the minerals deal. This project can't be balanced without real dialogue at the highest political level — without direct communication between the two men who currently hold presidential office.

Without coordination between the leaders on foundational issues, the minerals deal will remain a dead end for Ukraine’s president. Because the document is written with that exact logic in mind: the logic of no win. The logic of subordination. The logic where the stronger side gets everything — simply because it can.

Even a quick look at the version of the draft published in the media reveals that it’s written in the language of American corporate law.
Technically, it bears no resemblance to an intergovernmental agreement. U.S. lawyers simply executed the assignment given to them by the Trump administration.

In other words, the text of the minerals deal reflects an interpretation — by attorneys from the DFC and a well-known U.S. law firm — of President Trump’s desires. And they cannot deviate from the brief they’ve been given.

As it stands, the draft focuses exclusively on mythical sums of support that have allegedly already been provided to Ukraine — with no clear amounts specified — and on an equally mythical royalty interest: the right to a share of future profits from extraction projects involving Ukrainian natural resources.

The logic behind the deal is one of absorption — and its colonial undertones are deeply triggering.

That’s why nearly every expert commentary on the draft text has focused on its humiliating provisions: total dependence on U.S. approval for decisions, loss of essential elements of sovereignty, unlimited liability, and a fundamental inequality of rights.

All of these expert commentaries make valid points. But the reality is that Ukraine’s negotiating team has virtually no leverage to alter the underlying logic of the agreement.

With each new draft, the chances of balancing the text shrink further — and every version seems worse for Ukraine than the last.

Hiring expensive American or British lawyers won’t improve the situation either. They, too, are powerless to change the essential terms of the proposed deal — because those terms are being defined personally by President Trump.

The leak of the draft minerals deal to Western media only made things worse — compounded by a public exchange of “compliments” that followed.

The diplomatic crisis we all watched unfold with horror during the Oval Office meeting has now spilled over into a full-blown breakdown of the negotiations. The two sides, once allies, have become adversaries — with trust and mutual understanding now entirely absent.

This is not the first time Ukraine has faced a rupture in relations with the United States.

In the early 2000s, under President Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine was engulfed in the "Kolchuga scandal." Veterans of international diplomacy still recall that era with unease. The scandal cost Kuchma his political capital and rendered him persona non grata in the West.

How much of it was truth and how much fiction didn’t matter to Washington — because once the U.S. president activated the machinery of public destruction, that was all that counted.

It feels like we’re watching the same pattern now. The threats of U.S. sanctions against members of the Ukrainian president’s inner circle — and his senior officials — are part of what appears to be a carefully orchestrated political takedown. But unlike the Kolchuga case, the consequences of either option now on the table — sanctions against the president’s team or the signing of a colonial-style agreement — will be far more profound.

Because Kuchma never fused his identity with the nation. Zelensky did. He has built the perception that “I am Ukraine.”

And it is precisely this identification that has allowed Trump to corner Ukraine’s leadership — driving them to a crossroads with two fatal choices, for them and for us. Because we’re in the same boat.

It’s worth recalling the legislative “heroes” led by, among others, Davyd Arakhamia and Danylo Hetmantsev — who, sweating bullets, are now scrambling to outrun the looming threat of U.S. sanctions. In a remarkable display of urgency, they’ve thrown themselves into rewriting Ukraine’s legal framework to ensure that “economic entities from the United States” enjoy the most comfortable business environment possible.

Arakhamia and Hetmantsev are the authors of a draft parliamentary resolution titled “On the Development of a Legislative Framework for Creating Preferential Conditions for Businesses from Ukraine’s Allied Countries as Part of the Post-War Alliance.”

In practice, this means creating a paradise for American companies: tax and customs breaks, streamlined land allocation procedures, preferential access to mineral extraction rights, fast-tracked permits and licenses (including a mechanism for reassigning “dormant” licenses from current holders), special terms for concession-based use of state property, opportunities to manage strategic state assets, exclusive conditions for privatization, and even compensation mechanisms for investors facing war or political risk.

These heroes have probably already received MAGA assurances of the possibility of returning to “normal relations” in the next political reality in Ukraine and are preparing a batch of “treats” for business partners in the USA.

While we watch Trump’s tweets and interviews with a mix of disbelief and dismay, Russia’s special envoy quietly continues to weave a network of joint ventures — stoking the interest of American business sharks in bargain-priced Russian assets, currying favor, and displaying total loyalty.

The Russians are banking on American greed and their fading interest in being the world's policeman. They’re counting on Trump to get bored of peacemaking and pin the blame for everything on Ukraine.
For them, that’s the perfect outcome.

The real question is: can we prevent it? And is there a path out of this personal conflict with Trump?
Because we really need the United States as an ally on our side.

And withdrawal from the conflict will allow us to talk to the U.S. using the MAGA language and communicate in the style: “We’ve got a terrific offshore shelf with incredible gas reserves where American companies can fully implement your genius ‘drill, baby, drill’ strategy.”

“We’ve got outstanding industrial assets — including a titanium sponge facility producing material vital to U.S. aerospace and missile programs.”

“But to keep it running, we’ll need your help de-occupying our terrific Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — and the surrounding territory.”

Yes, we will also have to buy favors and pay the bills, but it will give us a chance to keep people and freedom. And that will mean victory.