The president of the United States, Donald Trump, aims to secure an agreement with Ukraine to access rare earth minerals in the country as a form of payment for the financial support provided to the Ukrainian government. In a statement to the press from the Oval Office, he said, “We are looking to reach an agreement with Ukraine, where they ensure what we are giving them with their ‘rare earth’ and other things. We are putting hundreds of billions of dollars. They have excellent ‘rare earths.’ And I want ‘rare earth’ security, and they are willing to do so.”
Trump has expressed concerns that Europe has not provided the same level of financial support to Ukraine as the United States, stating, “We have an ocean in the middle. They don’t. It is more important for them than for us.” The president has also criticized the burden of providing aid to Ukraine, although he has not disclosed details about his plans to continue or stop the assistance.
Ukraine has significant reserves of various minerals, including titanium, iron, and coal, as well as approximately 500,000 tons of unexploited lithium, valued at tens of billions of dollars. However, some of these resources are at risk of being lost due to the advance of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine or have already fallen under Russian occupation. According to Mustafa Nayyem, former director of the Ukraine State Agency for the recovery and development of infrastructure, “The control of mineral resources has become part of the war.” Ukraine is not only fighting for its territory but also for the right to manage its strategic wealth, which could be a crucial factor in its recovery. Rare earths are a group of 17 essential chemical elements used in the manufacture of advanced technologies, such as electronics, renewable energies, and defense.
A person close to the Ukrainian president, Zelenski, told the Financial Times that Trump’s statements seem to be in line with the Victoria Plan presented to him in the autumn. The source said that Ukraine had offered Trump “special conditions” for cooperation in key resources, emphasizing the need to protect them from Russia and Iran. The Ukrainian areas with the highest rare earth concentration are Donetsk and Lugansk, although exploitation has been affected by the armed conflict, as well as Zaporiyia and Crimea, where rare earth deposits were identified before the annexation by Russia in 2014.
The proposed agreement includes sharing critical natural resources with Western partners, replacing US troops in Europe with Ukrainian forces, and offering Trump investment supervision powers to block Chinese commercial interests in Ukraine. In relation to the ongoing conflict, Trump has stated that conversations are advancing to end the war, according to the CNN American television network. Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to manufacture magnets that convert energy into motion for electric vehicles, mobile phones, and other electronic devices. Ukraine contains large deposits of uranium, lithium, and titanium, although China is the largest world producer of rare earths and other critical minerals.