The signing of the agreement on the establishment of the Reconstruction Investment Fund between Ukraine and the United States — dubbed the “subsoil deal” in Ukrainian society — has raised numerous questions. To address them, the joint project of LB.ua and EFI Group, New Country, dedicated a separate panel discussion to the topic: Partnership for Peace. What the US–Ukraine Agreement Gives and Doesn’t Give Ukraine, with the participation of:
- Yuliya Svyrydenko, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
- Yehor Perelyhin, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
- Serhiy Voytsekhovskyy, member of the Board of Directors of BGV Group Management
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
- Andriy Kobolyev, former head of Naftogaz and founder of the Aeneas company
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
- Ihor Liski, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EFI Group
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
The discussion also involved Members of Parliament, representatives of civil society, businesspeople, entrepreneurs, and relevant experts.
The current agreement with the United States, said Yuliya Svyrydenko, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, in no way provides for the transfer of subsoil, state-owned enterprises or licences. It is solely about the creation of an investment fund, she emphasised.
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Yuliya Svyrydenko, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine
“The Fund will neither produce nor participate in licensing itself. The Fund will not participate in a production sharing agreement. The Fund’s task is to invest. This needs to be understood because there are a lot of questions and manipulations around this topic — saying that the Fund will go into geological exploration and extract or enrich uranium.
It will not do this. It will finance projects that are potentially interesting. And to get this started requires titanic efforts on both sides,”Svyrydenko said.
The United States requires such an agreement to secure access to minerals unavailable on the global open market, explained Yehor Perelyhin, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
“From the list of components and minerals included in the agreement, a large number are not traded on the stock exchange. They do not have a public, official index quotation. They are traded on an OTC basis — over-the-counter. This means direct trading relationships between market operators. You won’t see an open market for such items as zirconium, germanium, gallium, hafnium, holmium, neodymium. This is a market that is formed between operators on a direct basis.
That is why one of the main tasks was to diversify these risks for the United States — and to give them the opportunity to work in our field, in our geography, in those areas that will meet their strategic needs. It should be a win–win for both sides,” the representative of the Ministry of Environment stated.
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Serhiy Voytsekhovskyy, a member of the Board of Directors of BGV Group Management
As of today, 97% of the graphite used to produce batteries for electric vehicles is supplied by China, which explains the American interest in a deal with Ukraine, according to Serhiy Voytsekhovskyy, a member of the Board of Directors of BGV Group Management.
“Any electric vehicle contains at least 70 kilograms of spheroidised graphite, which is 97% produced in China. That’s why the US and the European Union are a bit confused by this story. And it’s not a matter of economics, because in fact the economic component of supplying this product from China is very attractive now…” said Voytsekhovskyy. “But if only one country remains a manufacturer, we need to be prepared for the fact that someday we will use electric cars on a subscription basis — we will drive only when we have paid for them. Because everyone wants to sell a subscription, not a product, like Microsoft.”
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Ihor Liski
What does the creation of the fund mean for Ukraine? Despite certain reservations, businessman Ihor Liski believes that the agreement with the United States is primarily about the security component — even if it does not include any formal security guarantees.
“I have a simple question. Does this agreement bring Ukraine closer to victory or not? I can say for sure: it does. Because if we lose this war, our mineral wealth and mineral resources — which, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, belong to the people — will be extracted by completely different guys, with completely different brands, by a completely different Russian company.
That’s why the main story is that we need to implement this agreement very quickly,” the businessman said.
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
“This agreement is our ticket to cooperation with companies and funds that have money, technology and markets. This is already a lot,” said former Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev. The subsoil, which lies 5 kilometres underground, is a good concept — but trying to access it is a very tricky story, Kobolyev added. And having money alone does not solve the problem — one needs technology.
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Speakers and moderator Sonya Koshkina during the discussion
How the fund will be filled and operate, what security role it will play, how it will change Ukraine’s extractive industry, what will happen to dormant licences, how profits will be distributed — read more about these and other answers to important questions soon on LB.ua.
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Sonya Koshkina
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliya Svyrydenko
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Yuliya Savostina, Made in Ukraine
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Tetyana Nikolayenko, Censor
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Ambassador of Estonia to Ukraine Anneli Kolk
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Anna Kebets, Open dialogues about Human Capital
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Director of NABU Semen Kryvonos
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Former MP, Head of the Prayer Breakfasts Movement in Ukraine, Coordinator of the Christian Platform of the Ukrainian-American Partnership Pavlo Unhuryan
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Artur Yurchenko, Head of Taykun Company
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Oleksandr Kharebin, Political Consultant and Media Manager
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Kseniya Orynchak, founder and head of the National Association of Mining Industry of Ukraine
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Myroslav Laba, Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Nataliya Dmytrenko, Head of the Analytics and Monitoring Service of the OPU
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Olha Batova, EFI Group
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Director for Ukraine Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) Maryna Bezkorovayna
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Scientist-philosopher, Doctor of Philosophy Yevhen Bystrytskyy
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
INL Director Richard Saunders
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Olena Kalenska
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Independent non-executive director, Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of Ukrainian and European companies, corporate governance advisor Iryna Papusha
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
President of the Association of Ukrainian Banks Andriy Dubas
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Mykola Viknyanskyy, owner of Termopal, founder of the Association of Furniture Exporters of Ukraine and graduate of Presidents' MBA kmbs
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Executive Director of Diia.City United Nataliya Mykolska
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Deputy Head of NABU Polina Lysenko
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Khrystyna Kurhanska, chairman of the board of the public organisation DOLADU
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Nina Yuzhanina, former head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Tax and Customs Policy
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Former MP Tetyana Ostrikova
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
First Deputy Head of the National Bank of Ukraine Kateryna Rozhkova
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Iryna Fedoriv, head of the public initiative Golka
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
From left to right: Nataliya Dmytrenko, head of the analytics and monitoring service of the OPU, photographer Hryhoriy Veprik, and former Deputy Minister of Economy Svitlana Panaiotidi
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Head of the public initiative Golka Iryna Fedoriv and TV producer Viktoriya Butenko
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Sonya Koshkina and Andriy Kobolyev
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Viktor Pavlushchyk, the head of the NACP (center), and Andriy Kobolyev, the former head of Naftogaz (right)
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Artur Yurchenko, head of Taykun, and Viktor Proshkin, chaplain of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Growford Institute
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
From right to left: Orysia Demska, professor at the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, Mykola Viknyanskyy, owner of Termopal, founder of the Association of Furniture Exporters of Ukraine, and Serhiy Ustenko, owner of Carpathian Mineral Waters
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Rector of KNU named after T. G. Shevchenko Volodymyr Bugrov demonstrates his vyshyvanka
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Owner and director of Ukrainian Marketing Group Nataliya Bukhalova and head of the Prayer Breakfast Movement in Ukraine, coordinator of the Christian platform of the Ukrainian-American partnership Pavlo Unguryan
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Editor-in-chief of LB.ua Sonya Koshkina, philanthropist and owner of the company First Private Brewery Andriy Matsola and Ihor Liski, EFI Group
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
From left to right: former MP Tetyana Ostrikova, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Advisor to the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Iryna Zolotarevych
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Deputy Prime Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko, owner of the company First Private Brewery Andriy Matsola and editor-in-chief of LB.ua Sonya Koshkina
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
From left to right: the head of the NACP Viktor Pavlushchyk, the Ukrainian military and journalist Serhiy Cherevatyy, and the rector of the SBU Academy Andriy Chernyak
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Professor at the National Academy of SBU Orysya Demska and owner of Termopal, founder of the Association of Furniture Exporters of Ukraine Mykola Viknyanskyy
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Sonya Koshkina and Ihor Liski
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
The speakers of the discussion: Ihor Liski, Yuliya Svyrydenko, Serhiy Voytsekhovskyy, Yehor Perelygin, Andriy Kobolyev and moderator Sonya Koshkina
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
From left to right: Nataliya Mykolska, executive director of Diia.City United, Sonya Koshkina, editor-in-chief of LB.ua, author of the publication Censor Tetyana Nikolayenko, and MP Yevheniya Kravchuk
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Sonya Koshkina and Serhiy Ustenko
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
Chief Editor of LB.ua Sonya Koshkina, Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliya Svyrydenko and, Head of the Analytics and Monitoring Service of the OPU Nataliya Dmytrenko
Photo: Oleksandr Ratushnyak
From left to right: Nataliya Bukhalova, owner and director of Ukrainian Marketing Group, Sonya Koshkina, Maryana Kaganyak and Tetyana Nikolayenko, Censor
