NEW YORK, February 20. /TASS/. The US considers the conclusion of an agreement on rare-earth minerals with Ukraine as a "critical component of building a strategic partnership" between the countries, NBC reported, citing sources.

According to the TV channel, the corresponding position of Washington was conveyed to the Kiev authorities by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during his visit to Kiev on February 12. He also linked the signing of the document to the provision and further strengthening of Ukraine's security by the US.

According to the sources, Kiev was "taken aback" by Bessent's approach to negotiating the agreement. The US official gave one hour to sign the agreement and threatened that in case of refusal, the US side would cancel Vladimir Zelensky's meetings with US Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference. Information about these threats was also confirmed by The Economist's sources. After the talks, Washington postponed the meetings with Vance and Rubio, but they still took place as part of the conference events.

Officially, the US Treasury Department did not comment on the information about Bessent's political assessment of the resources agreement. On Tuesday, the Treasury secretary said told Fox News that he believes the Ukrainian side will still sign the agreement.

"The Bessent offer is about acknowledging that Ukraine’s ability to defend itself so far was largely contributed to by American taxpayers. <...> That offer is about recouping some of that, and acknowledging that when there is peace, Ukraine has the potential to grow itself into a stronger economic position, through a partnership with the US," a White House official told NBC.

In early February, Trump said that Washington was interested in obtaining rare-earth metals from Ukraine. Zelensky, in turn, noted his readiness to make a deal and suggested that the outcome of negotiations on this issue could be determined at the Munich Security Conference on February 14-16. However, on February 14 in Munich, the Kiev authorities rejected the US administration's plan to help Ukraine in exchange for Washington's right to 50% of Ukraine's rare-earth metals. At the same time, Zelensky pointed out that there were no security guarantees in the proposed agreement. Kiev said it was working on a counterproposal.