Kyiv residents react after Ukraine and the US sign a mineral deal

Kyiv residents and family members of missing Ukrainian soldiers reacted to the U.S. and Ukraine mineral deal with mixed feelings on Thursday.

After months of tense negotiations, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a deal that is expected to give Washington access to the country’s critical minerals and other natural resources, an agreement Kyiv hopes will secure long-term support for its defense against Russia.

But few details have been shared about what the deal will entail.

Diana Abramova joined hundreds of others at a protest for the families of missing Ukrainian soldiers on Kyiv's Independence Square.

Her father Valentyn Stroyvans went missing last year fighting in Toretsk in the Donetsk region.

She told the Associated Press she hopes that the world will unite to help to end the war and bring back their loved ones.

"Any news is hard to take, whether it's about negotiations or something else. I still believe and hope that any action will yield some result that will lead our Ukraine to victory. Only to victory," she said.

Despite not knowing the details of the deal, 74-year-old university lecturer Natalia Vysotska expressed optimism, saying “if it was signed, then our experts must have compared the pros and cons. I hope it will be beneficial."

But others felt more depleted. For 37-year-old Iryna Vasylevska, the deal served as another reminder that “our land is just a bargaining chip for the rest of the world and that we do not have our own full protection.”

“My vision is that instead of strengthening ourselves, we continue to give it all away,” she said. “I feel terrible about the fact that our human resources in war are considered as meat. I am sure that there are other possible agreements, except those that will make us poor in all areas.”

According to Ukrainian officials, the version of the deal signed Wednesday is far more beneficial to Ukraine than previous iterations, which they said reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country's resources.

The agreement — which the Ukrainian parliament must ratify — would establish a reconstruction fund for Ukraine that Ukrainian officials hope will be a vehicle to ensure future American military assistance.

A previous agreement was nearly signed before being derailed in a tense Oval Office meeting involving U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.