Ukraine's parliament will vote on ratifying US minerals deal on May 8, lawmaker says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo by Dmitriy Frantsev via Unsplash

KYIV (Reuters) -     Ukraine's parliament will hold a vote on May 8 to ratify a minerals deal signed with the United States earlier this week, a lawmaker said on Friday, while two other documents pertaining to the agreement will not need to be ratified.

Ukraine and the U.S. signed a deal on Wednesday that will give the United States preferential access to new investments in extraction of Ukraine's natural resources, and fund investment in Ukraine's reconstruction.

The accord, heavily promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, is central to Kyiv's efforts to mend ties with the White House, its main military backer in its war against Russian invasion. The ties had frayed after Trump took office in January. 

Lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak published the date of the upcoming ratification vote on the Telegram messaging app.

He also cited Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal as telling parliament on Friday that two of the documents related to the deal covered its implementation and would not need to be ratified by lawmakers.

Ukraine's cabinet registered a bill to ratify the minerals deal with the U.S. late on Thursday, according to the parliamentary database.     

Ukraine aims to ratify it within the next few weeks, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Thursday.

"We want to ratify it as soon as possible. So we plan to do it within the coming weeks," she told an online briefing.

Zheleznyak said that Prime Minister had told parliament that the two additional documents cover details of implementation and will not need a parliamentary vote to ratify them.

 (Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Gareth Jones)