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Speaker 1: After months of tense negotiations and that meeting in the

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Speaker 1: White House, Ukraine and the US have signed a minerals deal. Now.

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Speaker 1: Under the deal, the two countries would share profits from

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Speaker 1: the sale of Ukraine's mineral reserves in the future, and

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Speaker 1: Ukraine is believed to have vast reserves of critical minerals

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Speaker 1: like graphite, titanium, and lithium. Ewan McDonald is the editor

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Speaker 1: of New Voice of Ukraine and with US. Ewan Hello, Hello,

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Speaker 1: is this a good deal for Ukraine.

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Speaker 2: It's a better deal than the one that was offered previously.

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Speaker 2: Ukraine has been negotiating for a long time with the

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Speaker 2: US administration about this deal. It was not seen positively

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Speaker 2: at first, I think in Ukraine because it seemed to

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Speaker 2: be exploitative of Ukraine. Ukraine is in a bad situation

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Speaker 2: at the moment, under attack by Russia. The war is

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Speaker 2: going on, lots of damage done this one. This deal

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Speaker 2: appears to be better because it does actually include the

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Speaker 2: idea that the US might invest actual military aid things

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Speaker 2: like air defense systems as part of its contribution to

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Speaker 2: the fund. So I think this deal will be taken

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Speaker 2: a bit more positively in Ukraine than it was before.

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Speaker 1: So will. I mean, given that, what we should probably

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Speaker 1: take from the deal is that the US is now

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Speaker 1: financially involved in whether Ukraine actually comes out of this. Well,

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Speaker 1: should Putin be worried about this deal being signed?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not good news for put In because what

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Speaker 2: it does is it binds Ukraine and US together, improves

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Speaker 2: the relationship which Putin was obviously trying to undermine and

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Speaker 2: has been trying to undermine ever since the US started

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Speaker 2: to engage with Russia as part of this peace process.

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Speaker 2: The deal is not really I wouldn't say it's part

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Speaker 2: of the peace process because it's focused on the reconstruction

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Speaker 2: of Ukraine after the war has ended. But it maybe

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Speaker 2: takes us a little bit down the road more towards

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Speaker 2: that starting to talk about peace. Maybe the US will

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Speaker 2: be more engaged in trying to achieve a peace settlement

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Speaker 2: because basically no progress has been made on that so far.

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Speaker 1: What are the real reason do you think that Pusian

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Speaker 1: announced that cease fire for next week?

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Speaker 2: The ceasefire dates coincide with Russia's Victory Day, which is

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Speaker 2: on May ninth, when traditionally Russia holds a large military

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Speaker 2: parade in Moscow. Russia's air defense systems have proved to

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Speaker 2: be not very effective against Ukrainian drones, and Ukraine now

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Speaker 2: has drone forces and missiles capable of striking targets in

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Speaker 2: Moscow and beyond. So this is in Ukraine, it's quite

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Speaker 2: clearly seen as basically a cynical way of Putin to

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Speaker 2: hijack the idea of peace in order to protect his

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Speaker 2: parade and make sure that there are no embarrassing moments

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Speaker 2: while his foreign guests are in Russia for this parade.

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Speaker 1: And you and do you think that Ukraine will honor that?

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Speaker 2: It is? Usually Ukraine goes along with these Russian unilateral

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Speaker 2: cease fires, which are not really cease fires at all,

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Speaker 2: because Russia tends to keep firing anyway. It uses these

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Speaker 2: cease fires to improve its positions, bring up logistics and

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Speaker 2: troops to the front unmolested by Ukraine in drones. So

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Speaker 2: Ukraine will probably what usually does is says it will

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Speaker 2: go along with it. But if the Russians fire, then

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Speaker 2: Ukraine will respond in kind. And usually the Russians fire.

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Speaker 1: Now you and what are the chances that this piece

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Speaker 1: deal that has been has been proffered by the US,

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Speaker 1: where you know, there would be this massive concession of

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Speaker 1: land by Ukraine. What are the chances that this thing

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Speaker 1: actually squeaks over the line?

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Speaker 2: Very little chance because of the political situation in Ukraine,

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Speaker 2: which is very much against just handing over land for peace.

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Speaker 2: That is not the roots of the conflict are not

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Speaker 2: really to do with land, is to do with political

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Speaker 2: control of Ukraine and the very idea of Ukraine being

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Speaker 2: a sovereign, independent state. Russia wants to destroy Ukraine basically

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Speaker 2: in that and make it a sort of a vassal state. Also,

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Speaker 2: the peace deal, although it seems to give a lot

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Speaker 2: to Russia, doesn't really give it all it wants. Again politically,

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Speaker 2: it wants control of Ukraine. So there's also going to

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Speaker 2: be pushed back from Russia. And they don't like the

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Speaker 2: deal either, even though it appears to be far more

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Speaker 2: beneficial to Russia than to Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: So what's it going to take to make this deal work?

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Speaker 2: It would have to involve real negotiations between Russia and

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Speaker 2: Ukraine with the US as a mediator. At the moment,

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Speaker 2: the US is just going presenting a plan to Russia

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Speaker 2: and then taking it to Ukraine to say to see

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Speaker 2: if it likes it. Ukraine also, and then it goes

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Speaker 2: to Ukraine and with another plan and says can we

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Speaker 2: do this? Ukraine agreed to cease fire fifty days ago

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Speaker 2: that was offered by the Trump administration, but was never

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Speaker 2: taken up by the Russians. So there would have to

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Speaker 2: be a proper peace process really with contacts between Ukraine

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Speaker 2: and Russia through a mediator. Probably at the moment is

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Speaker 2: a sort of shuttle diplomacy which is not achieving any results.

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Speaker 1: You and it's good to talk to you. I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate you talking us through it. Thanks mate, Ewan McDonald,

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Speaker 1: who was the editor of New Voice of Ukraine.

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