The joint U.S.-Ukrainian board of the Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF) approved three investments. The first is a joint investment platform with Ukrainian company BGV Group Management to build a portfolio of early-stage mining projects across Ukraine, initially focused on identified rare earth, beryllium and zirconium deposits. Reuters reporting put the BGV platform at roughly $30 million and total URIF project values at about $70 million across six deals. The second is an equity investment in a multi-site distributed combined heat and power cogeneration platform to restore electricity and heat damaged by the war. The third is debt financing for DTEK’s 200 MW/400 MWh battery energy storage system across six sites, which is already operational and can supply the equivalent of about 600,000 Ukrainian homes for two hours; the DFC separately agreed to lend nearly $100 million to DTEK for the battery system.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the approvals as the realization of the April 2025 agreement that created URIF, and DFC’s head of investments said total fund projects now stand near $70 million. The fund made its first investment in March in Sine Engineering, and in June the DFC signed a political risk insurance framework with MIGA. Dollar figures for the BGV platform and DTEK lending come from Reuters reporting, not the Treasury release, which did not disclose amounts.
For mining investors, the BGV platform is the first U.S.-backed vehicle targeting Ukrainian critical mineral deposits at the exploration stage. The test will be whether early-stage projects in a war zone can attract the private co-investment the fund structure assumes.