U.S.–Ukraine joint fund seals its first critical minerals deal: about $30 million with BGV Group

The joint U.S.–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF) has sealed its first critical minerals deal, alongside four other new projects, Reuters reports, citing a senior U.S. official.

The fund was created under the minerals pact the two countries signed in April last year, following pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, and focuses on five strategic sectors: minerals, defence, energy and infrastructure.

The first deal will inject about $30 million into a “joint investment platform” with BGV Group, the firm founded by Ukrainian billionaire Hennadii Butkevych, co-owner of Ukraine’s largest supermarket chain, ATB. The platform will initially focus on early-stage mining projects in Ukraine, targeting deposits of rare metals, uranium, beryllium and zirconium — all of them on the U.S. list of critical minerals.

“It is absolutely essential for the Ukrainian people that we are investing now,” Conor Coleman, head of investments at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), said in an interview, referring to the ongoing damage as Ukraine faces another winter. The fund’s projects now reach about $70 million and, according to him, show Washington’s support for Kyiv.

Two of the other projects target power and heating networks, after the increase in Russian attacks on infrastructure. The DFC has just agreed to lend about $100 million to Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, for a battery system that will provide backup power for about 600,000 Ukrainian homes for up to two hours, with “access to capital if damage occurs”.

The fund will also take a stake in a cogeneration platform for heating and power, with community “energy hubs” to restore power and heating damaged by the war. Meanwhile, the fund is also seeking more capital to expand its investments.