Trump administration may seek control over Ukrainian nuclear plants as part of minerals deal — Financial Times

The Trump administration is considering revising the terms of a still unsigned minerals deal with Ukraine to gain access to key energy infrastructure in the country, The Financial Times reported on Friday, citing Ukrainian officials.

According to the officials, the agreement could include a provision granting Washington control over Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.

The U.S. is also seeking language in the deal that would clearly define who owns and controls a joint investment fund established under the agreement.

The Trump administration has not yet presented Kyiv with revised terms, the sources said. “But I realize that… they’re working on a bigger agreement,” one Ukrainian official told FT.

Trump spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. According to the White House, Trump told Zelensky that “American ownership” of the nuclear power plants would be the “best protection” for them.

Zelensky later said that he had not discussed the transfer of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities to U.S. ownership during the call. He emphasized that all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants belong to the Ukrainian people and are not private property.

“[The Americans] want to take [the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant] back from the Russians, and they want to invest and to modernize [the facility]. This is a separate issue. This issue is open to discussion. We can talk about it. But we definitely didn’t discuss the question of ownership with President Trump,” Zelensky said.