US-Ukraine investment fund seals first critical minerals deal

• The US-Ukrainian reconstruction investment fund secured its first critical minerals deal investing about US$30 million in early-stage mining projects targeting rare earths, uranium, beryllium, and zirconium.
• The fund supports Ukraine’s recovery by focusing on five sectors, including minerals, defence, energy, and infrastructure, with total project investments around US$70 million.
• New projects aim to strengthen Ukraine’s power and heating networks, including a US$100 million battery system for backup power to 600,000 homes and an equity stake in heat and power co-generation platforms.

LONDON - The joint US-Ukrainian ‌reconstruction investment fund has sealed its first critical minerals deal alongside four other new projects, one of its top US officials told Reuters.

The fund, established as part of the minerals pact the two countries signed in April 2025 following a push by US President Donald Trump, is focused ​on five strategic sectors from minerals and defence to energy and infrastructure.

Conor Coleman, head of investments at the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), said the fund’s projects now total around US$70 million (S$89 million) and showed Washington’s support for Kyiv in the long-running war with Russia.

“It’s absolutely imperative for the Ukrainian people that we’re investing now,” Coleman said in an interview, referring to the ongoing damage to Ukraine as it faces another winter.

The long-anticipated first minerals deal will inject roughly US$30 million into a “joint investment platform” with BGV Group, a firm founded by Hennadii Butkevych, the billionaire co-owner of Ukraine’s largest supermarket chain ATB.

Coleman said it would initially focus on early-stage mining projects across Ukraine and target rare earths, uranium, beryllium and zirconium deposits.

“They are all on the US critical minerals list, so it ties in very well with what we’re looking to do from a (US) administration priority (standpoint),” Coleman said.

Power projects

Two of the other new projects announced on Oct 2 aim to shore up Ukraine’s power and heating networks after a rise in Russian attacks on key infrastructure ahead of winter.

Coleman said one would add to the near US$100 million the DFC has just agreed to lend Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK for a new battery system that will provide backup power to approximately 600,000 Ukrainian homes for up to two hours.

The project will also have “access to capital if damages arise”.

The fund will also take an equity stake in a combined heat and power co-generation platform designed to help build and run off a number of “energy hubs” aimed at restoring damaged electricity and heat supplies to households.

Coleman also said the fund was looking for more capital to increase its capacity. REUTERS