The United States–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund as a New Paradigm in Post-Conflict Reconstruction Finance
This article analyzes the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund Agreement of April 2025, examining its potential to redefine post-conflict reconstruction finance through an innovative equity-based partnership model. Unlike traditional foreign aid mechanisms relying on grants or sovereign lending, the Agreement establishes a co-governed limited partnership between the U.S. Development Finance Corporation and Ukraine's Agency on Support Public-Private Partnership, converting possible military assistance into capital contributions that may generate equity stakes in Ukraine's critical mineral extraction projects. The framework leverages Ukraine's estimated $12 trillion in natural resources as collateral for reconstruction financing while addressing U.S. strategic mineral security concerns. This article identifies three key mechanisms for analysis: transformation of military aid into deemed capital contributions, market-based investment rights, and offtake arrangements for critical minerals.
Henry T. Scott is a Partner in the Los Angeles office of Milbank and a member of the firm's Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance Group. Mr. Scott co-authored the United States chapters of the first and second editions of The Renewable Energy Law Review, and the United States chapter of numerous editions of the Projects and Construction Review, published by Law Business Research Ltd. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Dr. Paul R. Williams holds the Rebecca I. Grazier Professorship in Law and International Relations at American University where he teaches in the School of International Service and at the Washington College of Law. Dr. Williams is also the Co-Founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group (“PILPG”). He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.