Communal workers stand next to destroyed cars in the courtyard of a residential building after a drone attack in Odessa, May 1, 2025, as part of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Credit: Oleksander Gimanov/AFP)
Washington and Kyiv have signed a new deal that will see the United States invest in Ukraine's rare earth deposits as it seeks to reduce military aid to the war-torn country. The agreement was followed by a Russian drone strike overnight that killed at least two people and wounded 15 others in a residential area of Odesa, the Ukrainian emergency services said early Thursday.
"Unfortunately, two people died, according to preliminary information, and another 15 people were injured," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine posted on Telegram.
It described the attack as "massive" and said high-rise buildings, private houses, a supermarket, a school and cars were damaged.
More than 200 people were evacuated from one of the buildings, it added.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, reacted to the news by calling for a "complete cease-fire" early Thursday in a post on Telegram.
"We must push for it together with the U.S.," he wrote.
The strike came as the United States and Ukraine on Wednesday signed a minerals deal that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration called a new form of U.S. commitment to Kyiv after the end of military aid.
After initial hesitation, Ukraine has accepted the minerals accord as a way to secure long-term investment by Washington, as Trump aims to drastically scale back U.S. security commitments around the world.
Explosions were also heard in the city of Sumy and air raid warnings were triggered in several places, including Sumy, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia.
Yermak criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin in his Telegram post.
He wrote: "Putin will always have the desire to kill, until the end of his life, but diplomacy, forceful and economic methods of influence will still force Russia to stop the war."
"We are working on this with our partners every day."
He added: "There will be more important diplomacy soon, which will concern our security, as well as a just and sustainable peace."
As for the deal signed between the U.S. and Ukraine, here's what we know about the agreement, which lacks any security guarantee for Ukraine, according to AFP.
Why the deal?
Trump had demanded compensation for U.S. aid given to Ukraine under his predecessor Joe Biden's administration since Russia's February 2022 invasion.
The U.S. leader had sought $500 billion in compensation — around four times the amount that the United States has paid out to Ukraine, which currently stands at $120 billion, according to the Kiel Institute, a German economic research body.
Zelensky rejected that version of the deal, saying he would not sign an accord that "10 generations" of Ukrainians would have to pay off.
Ukraine has agreed to the minerals deal as a way to secure long-term U.S. investment, as Trump has drastically scaled back U.S. security commitments around the world.
Trump has balked at offering security guarantees to Ukraine and rejected its bids to join NATO — but he has said a U.S. presence on the ground would benefit Ukraine.
How will it work?
The two countries will establish a joint Reconstruction Investment Fund, with each side having equal voting rights.
The fund's profits will be invested exclusively in Ukraine, which will not be asked to pay back any "debt" for billions of dollars in U.S. support since Russia's February 2022 invasion.
Ukraine will have "full control over its subsoil, infrastructure and natural resources," Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said.
The deal will exclusively finance mineral, oil and gas projects as well as infrastructure and processing in Ukraine for the first 10 years, after which "profits may be distributed between the partners."
"The transfer and development of technologies is an important component of the agreement, because we need not only investments, but also innovations," Ukraine's Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Svyrydenko added that the agreement would not impact Ukraine's bid for integration into the European Union.
What resources does Ukraine have?
Ukraine holds some five percent of the world's mineral resources and rare earths, according to various estimates.
But work has not yet started on tapping many of the resources, and several sites are in territory now controlled by Russian forces.
Ukraine also has around 20 percent of the world's graphite, an essential material for electric batteries, according to France's Bureau of Geological and Mining Research, and is a major producer of manganese and titanium.
It also says it possesses one of the largest lithium deposits in Europe, yet to be extracted.
Kyiv says "rare earth metals are known to exist in six deposits," and an investment of $300 million would be needed to develop a deposit at Novopoltavske, which it claimed was one of the world's largest.
What does US support mean for Ukraine?
Ukraine has said any deal would need to include long-term and robust security guarantees that would deter Russia from attacking again.
But according to the text published by the media, the only security clause puts the United States under no obligation, nor does the deal mention weapons.
It simply says that the U.S. "supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain the security assurances necessary to build a lasting peace".
However, a U.S. Treasury statement notably mentioned Russia's "full-scale invasion" of Ukraine, diverging from the Trump administration's usual formulation of a "conflict" for which Kyiv bears a large degree of responsibility.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the deal showed "that the U.S. has an economic interest in Ukraine."
"It's a signal to the Russian leadership. It's also a signal to the American people that we have a chance to participate, get some of our... the funding and the weapons compensation for those," he told Fox News.