Today's Contents
Reporter's Notepad:
- US-Ukraine minerals deal reshapes investment terms for mining projects: CMS Analysis
Just The Facts:
- Zelensky calls on Putin to meet him in Istanbul for direct peace talks on Thursday
- Ukraine's central bank eases some currency restrictions to attract new foreign investment
- Ukraine's economy ministry creates international working group to develop insurance market
- Ukraine seeks leader with 'unquestionable integrity' to head new Centralised Procurement Organisation
Here's What They Think:
- SCMP: Engaging China in Ukraine's reconstruction could turn it into a peacemaker
- Kyiv Post: Pressure on Kremlin to end Ukraine war nears tipping point
Sober Second Thought:
- Ukrainian refugees face comparable food insecurity to war-affected residents back home, study finds
Rebuilder's Social
- Yulia Svyrydenko on the first all-Ukrainian mine clearance machine certified, Diaspora2030 on experts living in diaspora in Germany invited to return to Ukraine, Halyna Yanchenko explains US-Ukraine minerals deal in broad terms.
URN Partner Program
URN's Partner Program offers expertise to readers in areas typically beyond the scope of daily journalism, illuminating areas such as the legal and regulatory landscape in Ukraine, logistics, the physical security situation, and much more.
As part of the Program, CMS Ukraine focuses its legal expertise today, exclusively for Ukraine Rebuild Newswire readers, on the US-Ukraine Minerals agreement, with the following article:
US-Ukraine minerals deal reshapes investment terms for mining projects: CMS Analysis
Two provisions in the US–Ukraine Minerals Agreement signed on April 30 could reshape how foreign capital enters Ukraine’s mining sector and how domestic producers negotiate offtake deals.
The provisions, covered in Article VII (Rights to Investment Opportunities) and VIII (Market Rights to Purchase Extraction) of the Minerals Agreement, introduce new obligations on the Ukrainian state authorities as well as on future users of the country's subsoil.
These articles aim to guarantee the Reconstruction Fund access to investment opportunities in mineral production projects and negotiation rights over the offtake of extracted resources in the future.
As reported, the overall agreement established a Reconstruction Investment Fund to be managed by both countries in an equal partnership. The deal covers 57 types of minerals and is expected to unlock significant resources for reconstruction and economic growth, as well as introduce cutting-edge technologies.
Article VII of the agreement grants the Reconstruction Fund priority access to investment information and negotiation rights over Ukrainian mineral production and infrastructure projects.
Sharing investment details with the Reconstruction Fund
Whenever the owners of the mineral production licence (or production sharing agreement) or concession seeks to raise capital, they must share investment details with the Reconstruction Fund. If the Fund expresses interest, they must then negotiate in good faith while refraining from providing materially more favorable terms to third parties.
Importantly, this mechanism is expected to broaden opportunities for Ukrainian projects to access financing through the Reconstruction Fund’s involvement and should not interfere in projects that are not seeking external capital.
Article VIII allows the Reconstruction Fund to negotiate offtake rights over the minerals extracted in Ukraine by other project owners on market terms and grants protection to the Reconstruction Fund against more favorable offtake terms granted to third parties. This is something that the Ukrainian mineral producers will need to take into consideration when planning their offtake agreements.
The mechanisms meant to ensure these rights of the Reconstruction Fund are expected to be detailed in the Limited Partnership Agreement, which will constitute the principal operating guidance governing involvement of the Reconstruction Fund in Ukraine's minerals and infrastructure sectors.
To ensure consistency with the investment and offtake rights of the Reconstruction Fund, Ukraine will still need serious legal reform, including changes to core legislative acts such as the Budget Code, Subsoil Code, Law On Production Sharing Agreements, Law on Oil and Gas Law and various sub-legislative regulations.
For further details, contact CMS at: vitaliy.radchenko@cms-cmno.com
Ukrainian Railways' EBRD-backed tender for gas engine power plants: CMS Summary
Separately, CMS Ukraine has written, exclusively for Ukraine Rebuild Newswire, a high-level summary of Ukrainian Railways' tender for the purchase of gas engine power plants.
The tender forms part of its plans, backed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), to build out distributed electricity generation.
To read the high-level summary, click here.
Note from a Friend-of-URN
A brief online chat this morning with friend-of-URN Kostiantyn Koshelenko has revealed that spots are still open to attend an English-language discussion at the book.ua bookstore near Zoloti Vorota in Kyiv on May 15.
Kostiantyn, the author of Management in Times of War and former Deputy Minister for Digital Development at the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, will host the event at 6:30 pm on Thursday to mark the launch of the audio version of his book (in English and Ukrainian), as well as the Swedish print edition.
"We’ll talk about leading teams, managing projects, and navigating personal resilience during war and uncertainty. Our panel features Pär Lager, Serzh Velychanskyi and Roman Kuzyuk. The format: a live rooftop conversation — with coffee, books, a photographer, and autographs."
Contacts
For questions related to daily news and story suggestions, feel free to message newsroom chief Valentina Bajic at valentina@ukrainerebuildnews.com.
For sponsorships, the Tips for Investors column, and other general matters, email founder Adam Brown at adam.brown@ukrainerebuildnews.com.
Now moving on to today's headlines …
Zelensky calls on Putin to meet him in Istanbul for direct peace talks on Thursday
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday evening he was ready to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for direct peace negotiations in Turkey's city of Istanbul on Thursday.
"I will be in Türkiye this Thursday, May 15, and I expect Putin to come to Türkiye as well. Personally. And I hope that this time, Putin won't be looking for excuses as to why he 'can't' make it. We are ready to talk, to end this war. Thursday. Türkiye," Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation.
At a press conference early Sunday, Putin proposed that Russia and Ukraine resume "without any preconditions" direct talks that he said Kyiv "interrupted" at the end of 2022, as seen in a video posted by The Associated Press.
"We propose to begin (negotiations) without delay next Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul, where they were held earlier and where they were interrupted," Putin said. "We are committed to serious negotiations with Ukraine. Their purpose is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict, to establish a long-term, lasting peace."
Putin also stated that "some new truces, a new ceasefire" may be agreed on during these negotiations.
The Russian president's remarks came less than a day after Zelensky and a group of European leaders who gathered in Kyiv on Saturday, including French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, demanded from Russia a 30-day ceasefire starting Monday.
In his initial response to Putin's offer for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, Zelensky wrote in a post on X that he expected Russia to first confirm the ceasefire.
"There is no point in continuing the killing even for a single day. We expect Russia to confirm a ceasefire – full, lasting, and reliable – starting tomorrow, May 12th, and Ukraine is ready to meet," Zelensky wrote.
His latest reaction, in which he said he will be waiting for Putin in Istanbul, came only after US President Donald Trump urged Ukraine in a post on Truth Social to accept Putin's proposal.
"President Putin of Russia doesn't want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY," Trump wrote.
In the address on Sunday, Zelensky did say the ceasefire proposal was still on the table. "A full and unconditional ceasefire, one that lasts long enough to provide a necessary foundation for diplomacy, could significantly bring peace closer," he stated.
Putin's proposed peace negotiations with Ukraine will take into account an abandoned 2022 draft deal between the two countries and the reality of Russia's control over almost a fifth of Ukraine, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters after Putin's statement, as quoted by Reuters.
In the days following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the two sides launched negotiations in Belarus, later moving the talks to Istanbul. A draft framework for a potential settlement that emerged from those discussions, which broke off in May 2022, became known as the "Istanbul Communique."
Under the draft, seen by Reuters, Ukraine would commit to permanent neutrality in exchange for security guarantees from the five permanent UN Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US - along with other countries such as Belarus, Canada, Germany, Israel, Poland, and Turkey. In simple terms, Ukraine would stay non-nuclear and outside NATO, while the security deal would require the US and its allies to defend Ukraine if Russia attacked again.
Ukraine's central bank eases some currency restrictions to attract new foreign investment
The National Bank of Ukraine said it is introducing a series of currency liberalization measures to attract more foreign investment and support existing businesses in Ukraine, businesses, starting May 10.
The policy changes will balance the easing of currency regulations and the tightening controls to limit capital outflows, according to a press release from the NBU.
A key component of the new measures allows Ukrainian firms to exceed existing foreign exchange limits within a new investment-based framework. Companies that attract new capital in foreign currency into their authorized capital from May 12, 2025, can use those funds to conduct certain foreign exchange transactions.
This includes settling payments for imports delivered before Feb 23, 2021, refunding pre-invasion advance payments to non-resident buyers, servicing debt rom before June 20, 2023, external loans, and financing foreign branches beyond existing limits.
The central bank noted that, as of last month, Ukrainian firms owe nearly $14 billion in principal and over $7 billion in interest on external unsecured loans. Current rules allow only limited repayment of these old loans, and the new framework will facilitate payments without undermining the foreign exchange market, provided new capital is raised.
Additional measures include raising the annual limit for transfers to foreign subsidiaries €1 million, provided that the foreign subsidiary has been registered for at least a year.
The NBU will also increase limits on foreign corporate card transactions, with cash withdrawals rising from UAH 12,500 to UAH 17,500, and payments for goods and services from UAH 100,000 to UAH 150,000. Forward foreign exchange transactions will also be authorized under a framework developed in coordination with the International Monetary Fund, with banks and clients allowed to engage in currency deals with and without delivery.
In an attempt to limit "unproductive" outflows, banks will no longer be allowed to close currency supervision cases if importers receive hryvnia refunds from non-resident banks' Loro accounts. A UAH 500,000 monthly cap on personal foreign currency transfers using Ukrainian bank cards is being extended to cover services like legal, accounting, advertising, and consulting, following evidence that previous limits were being circumvented using alternative merchant codes.
Ukraine's economy ministry creates international working group to develop insurance market
Ukraine's Economy Ministry said it has held the inaugural meeting of a new international task force aimed at accelerating the development of the country's insurance market.
The meeting brought together international donors, representatives of international financial institutions, and both Ukrainian and global insurance market stakeholders, the ministry said in a press release.
The new working group seeks to develop systemic and flexible insurance market solutions that will attract private investment to the Ukrainian economy, despite the risks associated with the war, the ministry said. Acting as a collaborative platform, it will also facilitate the exchange of insights on government priorities, investor expectations, international best practices, and scalable insurance innovations.
"Ukraine will become one of the largest investment and construction sites in the world for the next decade. We cannot allow the lack of insurance solutions to become a bottleneck in this process," said Andrii Teliupa, deputy minister of economy and chairman of the working group on insurance market development.
"For investors, this means one thing: they will have access to an insurance instrument that will allow them to enter Ukraine right now," he added.
The working group will operate in two tiers: a core group overseeing strategic coordination and regulatory proposals, and, starting July 2025, four focus groups developing technical solutions in key areas such as regulation, data, product flexibility, and public-private partnerships. Short-term solutions will be presented by July, with broader reforms and potential legislative changes expected by year-end.
Ukraine seeks leader with 'unquestionable integrity' to head new Centralised Procurement Organisation
Ukraine's Agency for Restoration is looking for candidates with "unquestionable integrity" and "an orientation toward change" to head of the Centralized Procurement Agency (CPO), which was recently established to ensure transparency in reconstruction efforts.
The CPO is "about equal conditions for all market participants, transparent tenders and optimal use of resources," said Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksii Kuleba in a press release.
"It is also a qualitatively new system that will ensure consistency with international standards. This will allow foreign investors to participate in tenders for Ukrainian projects," he added.
Kuleba highlighted that, while the law does not require an open competition for the position, "we are deliberately holding it to ensure the transparency of the organization's activities."
For the head of the new organization, the government says the following qualities are key requirements:
- "higher education (in the field of management, economics and law will be an advantage);
- management experience and strategic thinking;
- unquestionable integrity and leadership qualities;
- orientation towards change and innovation, ability to work in a team."
A special working group, which includes representatives from the public sector, the expert community, civil society and business, has been set up to select candidates, according to the release.
Ukraine officially presented the Centralised Procurement Organisation (CPO) of the Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development in April. Its operations include handling the procurement of goods and services such as construction, road maintenance, and project documentation preparation.
SCMP: Engaging China in Ukraine's reconstruction could turn it into a peacemaker
Involving China in rebuilding Ukraine could transform it from a passive supporter of Russia to an active player in making peace, Thomas Graham and Zongyuan Zoe Liu, fellows at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in an op-ed for the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
A durable peace could draw China back to Ukraine, where before the war it had nearly $3 billion in Belt and Road Initiative-related contracts and had leased up to 10% of the war-torn country's farmland, the authors wrote, arguing that Ukraine's industry, energy, infrastructure, and agriculture sectors offer fresh markets for Chinese companies facing overcapacity at home and growing tariffs overseas.
Kyiv Post: Pressure on Kremlin to end Ukraine war nears tipping point
Diplomacy around the world has picked up speed in the past days, and the pressure on the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine is reaching a breaking point, Jason Jay Smart, a political adviser, wrote in an op-ed for the Kyiv Post.
Russian President Vladimir Putin now faces growing pressure on all sides as Ukraine stays committed to talks, Smart wrote, noting that it should become clear in the days ahead if Moscow truly wants peace or is just pretending.
Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland face food insecurity comparable to war-affected residents back home, study finds
Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland are facing food insecurity at levels nearly identical to those experienced by those who remained in war-torn Ukraine, despite relocating to one of Europe's wealthiest countries, according to a study by a group of scientists from the University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich published in Scientific Reports.
The researchers, who surveyed 1,267 participants between October 2022 and February 2023 - 1,160 in Ukraine and 107 Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland, found that over 80% of surveyed refugees and residents reported struggling to access sufficient, nutritious food since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The most common challenges included the inability to afford balanced meals and running out of food without being able to buy more. Roughly 40-45% of participants in both Ukraine and Switzerland reported having to cut or skip meals, eat less than needed, or go hungry.
Severe hunger and weight loss were reported by over 20% of respondents in both countries, and 11% of residents in Ukraine said they had gone a whole day without food, according to the study.
The study found that perceived income was the most significant factor associated with food insecurity. In Ukraine, 84% of those with average or below-average income experienced food insecurity, compared to 75% of those with above-average income. In Switzerland, this gap was far wider - 88% of low-income refugees were food insecure, versus 50% of higher-income respondents, as per the study.
Women, particularly in Switzerland, were found to be more vulnerable to food insecurity. Many female-headed households reported fewer opportunities to engage in coping strategies such as growing, borrowing, or trading food. This may be linked to childcare responsibilities or limited social networks - 20% of refugees reported having no one to rely on in case of emergency.
Access to food aid was far more common in Switzerland (59%) than in Ukraine (22%), but aid did not significantly reduce food insecurity in either location. In Ukraine, food production at home was the strongest factor associated with better food outcomes, though such practices are largely inaccessible to refugees in Switzerland, where access to garden plots is limited.
Despite Switzerland’s advanced infrastructure, refugees struggled with high food prices, integration challenges, and limited employment. Only 21% of Ukrainian refugees were employed as of 2023, and many cited language barriers as a key obstacle. Government assistance averaged 1,500 CHF per person per month, leaving many unable to afford fresh produce and other nutritious food items.
The findings raise broader concerns about how even wealthy host countries are falling short in meeting the nutritional needs of displaced populations, the authors wrote. Researchers emphasized that "poverty, not just conflict, is a major driver of food insecurity," and called for targeted support programs that go beyond emergency aid to address structural barriers to food access.
Social Media Posts
1st All-Ukrainian Demining Machine Certified
Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced that Ukraine has certified its first remote mine clearance system, the HART 5100 that can clear more than 2 hectares of land per day.
"The HART 5100 is a 100% Ukrainian development. From concept to assembly, everything was done in Ukraine. This means faster delivery, simpler maintenance, and minimal dependence on imports."
Overview of Minerals Deal
Halyna Yanchenko, member of Parliament of Ukraine, posted a broad overview of the US-Ukraine Subsoil Agreement, seeking to answer five common questions about how the deal will actually work in practice.
The post covers how profits will be distributed, issues surrounding investors with existing subsoil license, the fund's rights over concessions and privatizations, as well as a broad description of the parties involved.
Avoid Russian Gas, DiXi Group Says
The Ukrainian think tank DiXi Group said in a social media post that the European Union risks turning gas into a weapon against itself as some members consider reducing the impact of unpredictable US trade policies by increasing purchases from Russia.
"The answer is quite obvious: a return to energy dependence on a terrorist state is by no means on the European agenda. Although replenishing gas reserves is potentially more challenging now than last year, the EU's gas market remains stable."
Diaspora Experts Sought to Rebuild Ukraine
Diaspora2030, a global alliance of groups representing diaspora populations, is promoting a call by the German development agency GIZ for qualified Ukrainians currently in Germany who want to return to help rebuild Ukraine.
"As a highly qualified 'Returning Expert,' GIZ supports you to work with a local employer and help rebuild your country of origin. This includes counselling on finding a job and support for your voluntary return as well as a subsidy on your local salary."
URN Daily: Sense Bank and Ukrgasbank for sale? And US seeks to cancel $4.7 billion of Ukraine's debt
