US-Ukraine fund approves first critical minerals deal

The U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF) on Friday approved its first critical minerals deal as part of a series of new investments, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Under the plan, URIF will establish a joint investment platform with Ukrainian company BGV Group Management to build a portfolio of early-stage mining projects across Ukraine, with an initial focus on rare earths, beryllium and zirconium deposits.

The fund also approved an equity investment in a combined heat and power co-generation platform intended to restore electricity and heat supply damaged by the conflict, and debt financing for DTEK's 200 MW/400 MWh battery energy storage system across six sites in Ukraine.

The Treasury said the moves mark continued progress under an agreement signed in April 2025 to establish URIF. The fund made its first investment in March in emerging-technology company Sine Engineering.

URIF is a joint U.S.-Ukrainian investment vehicle focused on Ukraine's reconstruction and what Washington describes as shared economic security. The latest investments expand U.S. access to Ukraine's critical mineral resources amid the ongoing conflict.

US-Ukraine fund approves first critical minerals deal

US-Ukraine fund approves first critical minerals deal

US-Ukraine fund approves first critical minerals deal

US-Ukraine fund approves first critical minerals deal

A super El Nino event officially formed in September 2026, monitoring data from China's National Climate Center showed on Friday.

Zhao Junhu, chief forecaster at the center, said that the equatorial central and eastern Pacific entered an El Nino state in May this year, with sea surface temperatures in the key monitoring region rising rapidly and continuously from May to September.

The three-month running mean of the sea surface temperature (SST) index in the monitoring region has remained above 0.5 degrees Celsius for five consecutive months. The index exceeded 2.5 degrees Celsius for the July-September period, meeting the threshold for a super El Nino event.

The event is classified as an eastern Pacific-type El Nino, in which the warmest sea surface temperatures are concentrated in the equatorial eastern Pacific.

Monitoring data showed that sea surface temperatures across most of the equatorial Pacific in September were above average of the same period, with temperatures in the warm pool of the eastern Pacific exceeding the climatological average by more than 3 degrees Celsius.

The SST index for the monitoring region reached 2.94 degrees Celsius in September, up 0.35 degrees Celsius from August. The average index for the July-September period stood at 2.54 degrees Celsius.

Based on a combination of domestic and international dynamical climate models and statistical forecasting methods, the center expects sea surface temperatures in the equatorial central and eastern Pacific to continue rising over the next three months, peaking in late autumn or early winter, Zhao said.

The event is expected to become the strongest El Nino on record since systematic monitoring began, he added.

Super El Nino event formed in September: China's National Climate Center