The joint U.S.-Ukraine reconstruction fund has approved its first investment project, selecting Sine Engineering, a Lviv-based duel-use technology producer that operates in communications and navigation.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced the investment, the first since the fund was set up, on Wednesday. Sine Engineering tech, she said, is used by roughly 150 Ukrainian manufacturers of drones and interceptor systems.
“The U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund is part of our strategic partnership with the United States,” Svyrydenko said. “Its successful operation demonstrates that Ukraine offers unique expertise and technologies and can be as a successful business case.”
The fund, which was established as part of a minerals deal signed between the U.S. and Ukraine in April of last year, was created after the infamous Oval Office showdown between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“Today marks another important milestone in advancing the historic agreement that Prime Minister Svyrydenko and I signed less than one year ago to establish the URIF, which gives our nation a direct stake in Ukraine’s long-term peace and prosperity,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
“Both the U.S. and Ukrainian economies stand to benefit from this novel investment partnership,” Bessent said. “In approving the Fund’s first investment, we are showing the market and the world that the URIF is open for business, catalyzing investment, and delivering on its mandate to build strong foundations for Ukraine’s recovery and future prosperity.”
There have already been more than 200 applications to the fund, a plurality of which focused on Ukraine’s energy sector, due to Russia’s targeting of such infrastructure during the winter.
Trump has long been a skeptic of helping Ukraine with U.S. weapons, and he has blamed the Biden administration for a shortfall in munitions that are now being used in the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.
“This is a very volatile world,” Trump said last week. “We want to have vast amounts of ammunition, which we have right now — we have a lot of ammunition, but it was taken down by giving so much to Ukraine.”
Simultaneously, Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky, have offered to help the U.S., Israel, and other Gulf partners in defending against Iranian drones, which Ukraine has firsthand experience defending against because Iran has partnered with Russia in drone technology for its war against Ukraine.
Ukraine has dispatched about 200 drone specialists to the Middle East to help those countries, while they have consistently asked Western countries for years for air defense systems and interceptors to help them defend against larger systems, such as ballistic missiles.
RUSSIA HAS BEEN AN EARLY BENEFICIARY OF THE US-IRAN WAR IN MIDDLE EAS
The U.S. and Ukraine discussed a possible drone agreement last year, in which the Ukrainians would provide the U.S. with their firsthand knowledge of counter-drone technology, but little has come of it to date.
Maryna Hrytsenko, the executive director of the Ukraine-based Snake Island Institute, told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday that the initial talks for a drone deal “was nothing specific” but since then “very specific working groups on very specific topics” have been formed.
“There’s been American working groups, especially experts, coming to Ukraine and assessing the capabilities and assessing how they can implement them,” she said. “The American side is trying to understand what exactly they want to procure and how they’re used.”
Ukrainian Capt. Max Maslii, the deputy chief of staff of the 96th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, Ukraine Air Force, told reporters at the same event that he believes the U.S. and Ukraine are fighting together in “one war” against Russia and Iran.
“We think that we’re in the same boat in United States, and we will find a way to protect all of us together, because we have one enemy with their capabilities,” he said.
