Ukraine and U.S. poised for game-changing minerals deal
On Friday, an agreement regarding rare earth metals between Ukraine and the U.S. may be signed. Donald Trump was asked about the benefits Ukraine would gain from signing this agreement. "The right to fight on," stated the President of the U.S.
During the signing of decrees in the Oval Office, Donald Trump addressed questions from journalists, including what Ukraine would receive in exchange for signing the agreement regarding rare earth metals, which could happen as soon as Friday.
"$350 billion, military equipment and the right to fight on," Trump said. "Ukraine, I will say they're very brave, and they're good soldiers, but without the United States and its money and its military equipment, this war would have been over in a very short time," he added.
Trump reiterated that America wants to recover the money spent supporting Ukraine. He again claimed—contrary to the facts—that America spent $350 billion on this cause while Europe spent $100 billion in loans. In reality, as French President Emmanuel Macron corrected him on Monday, Europe spent more in total than the United States ($140 billion compared to $114 billion from the U.S.), and loans repaid with profits from Russian assets were granted to Ukraine by both the U.S. and the EU.
Minerals agreement
After days of tension between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, the U.S. and Ukraine agreed on the rare earth minerals. Kyiv is ready to sign an agreement on the joint development of Ukrainian mineral deposits, including oil and gas after the U.S. waived the demand for the right to $500 billion from revenues from these resources.
Donald Trump had previously demanded preferential access to this amount as compensation for the U.S. military support for Ukraine provided by his predecessor, Joe Biden. Volodymyr Zelensky rejected this proposal as "unserious," claiming there is no basis for asserting that the U.S. is owed this money, and the agreement does not provide Ukraine with security guarantees.
Zelensky also claimed that Trump lives in a "Russian misinformation bubble," which angered the U.S. President and top White House officials. Trump called Zelensky a "dictator," and his national security adviser Mike Waltz cautioned him to "tone it down. " Waltz said the agreement is the "best security guarantee" Ukraine can obtain.
Prospects for cooperation
Ukrainian officials claim they managed to negotiate much more favorable terms and present the agreement as a way to expand relations with the U.S., even though it still lacks security guarantees. However, future arms supplies are still being discussed between Washington and Kyiv.
Zelensky will travel to Washington on Friday to meet with Trump after U.S. and Kyiv officials recommended signing the agreement. The final version of the contract will establish a fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of the revenues from the "future monetization" of state mineral resources.
Ukraine's mineral resources
Ukraine has some of Europe's largest deposits of critical minerals, including lithium and titanium, many of which remain unexploited. According to the Institute of Geology, Ukraine has rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium, which are used in televisions and lighting, and neodymium, which is used in wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries. It also possesses erbium and yttrium, whose applications include nuclear energy and lasers.
EU-funded studies also indicate that Ukraine has reserves of scandium, but detailed data are classified.
More than half of the country's total resources are located in four regions that Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in September 2022. These are Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, although Kherson has little value in minerals.
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