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First Vessel Passes Channel Opened to Aid Baltimore Bridge Cleanup

A Maryland Natural Resources Police helicopter flies overhead as wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A Maryland Natural Resources Police helicopter flies overhead as wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
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First Vessel Passes Channel Opened to Aid Baltimore Bridge Cleanup

A Maryland Natural Resources Police helicopter flies overhead as wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A Maryland Natural Resources Police helicopter flies overhead as wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests on the container ship Dali, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A tugboat pushing a fuel barge became the first vessel to sail through a temporary channel opened beside the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore harbor, authorities overseeing the cleanup operation said late Monday.
Two small, temporary channels are being opened for ships helping clean up the site of the catastrophe.
Officials said the channels would initially only be open to smaller vessels involved in the cleanup operation, and would not be big enough to allow cargo and container ships to pass through.
The tugboat Crystal Coast pushing a fuel barge transited the first temporary channel at 3:00 pm Monday (1900 GMT Monday), becoming the first vessel to transit since the bridge collapsed last Tuesday after being struck by an out-of-control cargo ship.
The barge was used to supply jet fuel to Dover Air Force Base for the Department of Defense, the joint information center for the agencies overseeing the cleanup operation said in a statement.
A second, slightly deeper channel will be opened in the coming days, Maryland governor Wes Moore told reporters.
The opening of the temporary route "will help us to get more vessels in the water around the site of the collapse," he told a press conference.
This will allow more workers to pitch in toward the mammoth task of clearing the harbor of the bridge, which was destroyed in seconds last Tuesday when the Singapore-flagged Dali lost power and hit a bridge support column, killing six people.
Shipping in and out of Baltimore -- one of the United States' busiest ports -- has been halted, with the waterway impassable due to the sprawling wreckage.
The authorities hope that removing the bridge -- by cutting it into smaller sections and lifting them out -- will help rescuers recover all the victims' bodies and eventually reopen the crucial shipping lane.
On Friday, President Joe Biden is due to visit the port city, which is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Washington, the White House announced.
The first temporary channel has a depth of at least 11 feet (3.4 meters), a 264-foot horizontal clearance and vertical clearance of 96 feet, the multi-agency task force overseeing the operation said in a statement.
This temporary channel "is not big enough for any container or cargo ships to pass through," US Coast Guard petty officer Carmen Caver told AFP.
"They're working on a plan to make it slowly open to more and more people," she added.
Work was underway on opening a second channel which would allow larger vessels with a draft 15 to 16 feet, the multi-agency task force overseeing the operation said.
The port of Baltimore is a key hub for the auto industry, handling almost 850,000 autos and light trucks last year -- more than any other US port -- according to Maryland state figures.
It also ranked first for farm and construction machinery, as well as imported sugar and gypsum, and second for coal exports.
The operation to recover the missing bodies and to reopen the port to larger vessels has been hampered by the challenge of diving around the structure, according to Moore.
"We're talking about water that is so murky and so filled with debris that divers cannot see any more than a foot or two in front of them," he said.
"We have to move fast, but we cannot be careless," he added.

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Ukraine Will Send Team to US Next Week for Talks on New Draft Mineral Deal

Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's Minister of Economy answers on journalists questions during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's Minister of Economy answers on journalists questions during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
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Ukraine Will Send Team to US Next Week for Talks on New Draft Mineral Deal

Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's Minister of Economy answers on journalists questions during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's Minister of Economy answers on journalists questions during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)

Ukraine will send a team to Washington next week to begin negotiations on a new draft of a deal that would give the US access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources, Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko told The Associated Press.

“The new draft agreement from the US shows that the intention to create a fund or jointly invest remains,” Svyrydenko said Saturday, during a trip to northern Ukraine.

The delegation from Kyiv will include representatives from the Ministries of Economy, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Finance.

The long-running negotiations over a mineral deal have already strained relations between Kyiv and Washington. The two sides had been preparing in February to sign a framework agreement but the plan was derailed following a contentious meeting in the Oval Office between US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

After some Ukrainian lawmakers leaked the new draft, critics slammed it as little more than an attempt to strip Kyiv of control over its own natural resources and infrastructure. According to the leaked document, the new draft includes not only rare-earth minerals but gas and oil.

Ukraine holds significant deposits of more than 20 minerals deemed strategically critical by the US, including titanium, which is used to make aircraft wings, lithium, key to several battery technologies, and uranium, used in nuclear power.

New draft only gives the US side of the deal Despite the disruption following the Oval Office meeting, Ukrainian officials showed interest in signing the framework deal at any time, seeing it as an important step to win the favor of President Donald Trump and shore up US backing in the war against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

After weeks of silence on the status of the deal, the US sent a new draft to Kyiv, which goes further than the original framework.

It’s unclear why the US chose to bypass the signing of the framework deal and instead moved forward with a more comprehensive draft agreement, which would likely require ratification by Ukraine’s parliament.

However, Ukrainian officials have been cautious about commenting on the contents of the draft, stressing that it currently reflects only one side’s position.

“What we have now is a document that reflects the position of the US Treasury legal team,” said Svyrydenko. “This is not a final version, it’s not a joint position.”

She said that Ukraine’s task now is to assemble a technical team for negotiations, define its red lines and core principles, and send a delegation to Washington for technical talks as early as next week.

“It’s clear that the full parameters of this agreement can’t be discussed online,” Svyrydenko said. “We need to sit down with the teams and continue the conversation in person.”

Legal, investment, and financial advisers are being selected, she said.

“This marks a new stage in relations with the United States — one that requires expertise across multiple areas,” she said. “Ultimately, everything will be decided through the course of negotiations.”

Ukraine seeks terms acceptable to both sides

Svyrydenko declined to elaborate publicly on Ukraine’s official evaluation of the new draft, but noted that there is now a more detailed document outlining the fund’s creation. And while the initial draft focused primarily on the intention to establish the fund, Svyrydenko said the latest version lays out how American advisers envision its structure and operation.

It remains unclear what role Ukraine would play in managing the fund under the newly proposed US draft. However, analysts who reviewed the leaked document said Kyiv’s involvement would likely be minimal — a point Ukraine hopes to challenge in upcoming negotiations, using the previously agreed framework as its reference.

A previous version of the framework agreement, obtained by The Associated Press, outlined plans for a jointly owned and managed investment fund between the United States and Ukraine, intended to support the reconstruction of Ukraine’s war-torn economy.

Under the terms, Ukraine would allocate 50% of future revenues generated from key national assets — including minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas, and other extractable resources — to the fund.

The framework agreement, which was never signed, stated that revenues from its natural resources would go into the fund and be used for the reconstruction of the country, not that ownership or control of those resources would be transferred to the United States.

“We’re very focused on ensuring that the final draft of the agreement, after negotiations, fully aligns with our strategic interests,” Svyrydenko said. “I believe the work on the previous memorandum showed that both teams are capable of reaching these goals and agreeing on terms acceptable to both sides.”