President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday hailed a minerals deal with the US as a truly equal and fair agreement, and the first result of his Vatican meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis.
Zelenskiy said the minerals deal opens the way for the modernization of industries in Ukraine.
Zelenskiy has been under pressure to show results from courting Trump, who has shifted US policy towards supporting Russia's account of the war in Ukraine and has frequently criticized the Ukrainian leader.
Under the terms of the deal announced on Wednesday, Ukraine and the United States will establish a joint Reconstruction Investment Fund.
The fund will be controlled by a company with "equal representation of three Ukrainian and three American board members," the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
The agreement covers 57 types of resources, including oil and gas.
Ukraine holds about five percent of the world's mineral resources and rare earths, according to various estimates.
But work has not yet started on tapping many of the resources and a number of sites are in territory now controlled by Russian forces.
