President Trump says Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to sign a deal with the U.S. to provide valuable minerals in exchange for what Ukraine is hoping will be additional military aid to help defend against Russia’s advances, as the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year.
Zelenskyy described it as a preliminary step toward a broader agreement. “The priority is not to lose the U.S. as a main guarantor of security for Ukraine,” he said.
A draft of the agreement calls for Ukraine to contribute half of all revenues from minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas “and other extractable materials” to a Reconstruction Investment Fund, jointly owned and managed by the U.S. and Ukraine to be “reinvested at least annually in Ukraine to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during press conference in
The U.S. “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace,” the agreement reads. However, it doesn’t specify who would provide those guarantees or what shape they would take.
Ukraine — described by the World Economic Forum as “a key potential supplier of rare earth metals” — is believed to hold about 5% of global rare-earth metal reserves, a group of 30 substances classified as “critical raw materials” by the European Union.
“Ukraine is a significant player in a wide range of minerals that are of interest to the U.S.,” said Robert Muggah, principal at SecDev, a geopolitical risk consultancy. However, he cautions that “the scale of extractable critical minerals in Ukraine is likely vastly overstated.”
