“It was a calm conversation, like in a mafia movie," he said.
"The first proposal looked like a legal sketch based on ideas expressed by President Trump. We said: ‘Okay, but you can't mix public and private law.’ We started asking questions, rationalizing all these things, and I think we really got rational answers.”
The Ukrainian side is sure that staying calm, composed, and focused on practical matters rather than politics was the key to success.
“Imagine drinking a dozen Red Bulls — that’s what it felt like," Kachka explained.
"We wanted to maintain a respectful relationship with the US side, to build trust and confidence.”
He also noted that US President Donald Trump exerted “huge” pressure, pushing for the deal to be signed as quickly as possible.
“Of course, we saw all of President Trump’s posts on Truth Social," the Ukrainian deputy minister added.
"But putting emotions aside, it just showed how strongly he wanted the agreement signed here and now. We wanted this deal, and we signed it. We wanted to show the US that this is really different from their dealings with the Russians.”
The Times reports that Ukraine’s negotiation team views the final agreement as a “triumph,” given the terms originally presented to them in February at the Munich Security Conference.
US-Ukraine minerals deal
On April 30, the US and Ukraine signed an agreement to create a 50/50 US–Ukrainian Recovery Investment Fund.
The agreement includes 12 articles and a list of critical materials and is financial in nature. On the Ukrainian side, the fund will be represented by the Agency for Support of Public-Private Partnership under the Economy Ministry. On the US side, the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) will serve as the participant.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal confirmed that the agreement does not include security guarantees.
On May 1, the White House called the agreement historic and said it will launch a first-of-its-kind partnership for Ukraine’s recovery and long-term economic success. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the minerals deal the first outcome of his recent conversation with President Trump at the Vatican.
On May 8, Ukraine’s Parliament ratified the agreement with broad cross-party support (338 votes). Zelenskyy signed the law ratifying the deal on May 12. On May 13, lawmakers also approved draft legislation to amend Ukraine’s Budget Code to enable the fund’s implementation.
Later that day, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko confirmed that Ukraine completed all internal procedures needed to launch the Recovery Investment Fund.