Ukraine woos Trump with prospect of mineral riches
BY LAURA KELLY AND RACHEL FRAZIN - 02/16/25 6:00 AM ET
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks during his meeting with the Chairman of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU) Friedrich Merz in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Trump said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to begin negotiations immediately, with plans to meet in Saudi Arabia. Trump’s top officials are in Europe this week huddling with Ukrainian and European officials on plans to end the war.
Ukraine is offering itself as a reliable partner in the global competition for key mineral resources – if occupying Russian forces are ousted from Ukrainian territory where some of these resources are located.
“We have a lot of rare sources, rare materials, which is crucially important for weapon production. We explained to our colleagues as now, under Russian control, our eastern part, where there are a lot of these resources,” Lesia Zaburranna, a Ukrainian member of Parliament, told The Hill, following meetings in Washington D.C. last week.
“For us it’s very important to liberate [these territories] because in this case, these resources will be developed by Ukraine and the USA. But not Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was in Kyiv on Wednesday and said that a minerals deal with Washington would provide Ukraine with a post-war “security shield.”
“Security matters. Moscow and its allies cannot be allowed to gain control over Ukraine, and that means we must work together—across the free world,” Zelensky posted on X about his meeting with Bessent.
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Trump said he wants Ukraine to provide about $500 billion worth of rare earth elements, suggesting it as repayment for U.S. military and economic aid provided to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022.
Trump says the U.S. provided close to $300 billion in support to Ukraine. The federal watchdog monitoring Ukraine aid reports about $183 billion in U.S. aid obligated, with less than $90 billion disbursed.
But negotiations between Zelensky and U.S. officials are off to a rocky start, Politico reported Saturday. Ukraine reportedly balked at a U.S. proposal calling for U.S. rights to half of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for military support.
Rare earth minerals are key components of consumer electronics, electric vehicles and military production. These materials are typically found in relatively small deposits around the world, making them uneconomic to mine and therefore hard to come by. China currently dominates global rare earth production and processing.
Among Ukraine’s largest deposits are lithium and graphite. While not considered rare earth minerals, these materials are valuable for battery cell production. Ukraine’s other deposits of beryllium and uranium could be used for nuclear power and weapons. Titanium, also in Ukraine, is used in the aviation and space industry.
Rare earth materials found in Ukraine include lanthanum and cerium, which are used in TVs and lighting; neodymium, which is used in wind energy and batteries; and erbium and yttrium, which are used in lasers, Reuters reported.
Less than 20 percent of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including half of its rare earth deposits, are under Russian occupation, Zelensky told Reuters in an interview last week. Zelensky called for allies’ help in protecting what Ukraine controls, particularly in the eastern part of the country, which is the frontline of fighting.
“We need to stop Putin and protect what we have,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky “knows Trump is transactional, so he’s playing to a rhetoric that works,” Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Hill.
She noted that rare earths are used in both low-carbon energy, including motors and magnets used in wind turbines — but are particularly important in weapons.
“Rare earths are in your tanks, missiles, fighter jets, warships, pretty much most major defense technologies,” Baskaran said.
However, she said that in practice actually getting the war-torn country’s minerals out of the ground and into U.S. technology is an uphill battle — especially since it takes years or even decades to get a mine set up.
“Who wants to go put an 80-year investment into the border of Russia? No one,” she said, noting that because of the war, it’s possible that infrastructure would also need to be rebuilt to get the mine running.
While U.S. military aid to Ukraine has not stopped, no new aid packages are in the works. And Ukrainians are raising alarm that Trump’s foreign aid freeze, which halted economic support to Ukraine, is just as debilitating as weapons shortages on the frontline.
This support helps Ukraine repair its energy grids amid relentless Russian attacks, meant to freeze the civilian population and wear down their resolve. U.S. economic support also helps pay salaries for state-backed medical professionals and teachers, allowing the Ukrainian government to prioritize resources for the military.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made headlines Wednesday when he said Ukraine should not expect NATO membership – something that Kyiv and its supporters in Europe view as the only guarantee of deterrence against Putin.
Trump often boasts of his good relationship with Putin, but has threatened steep tariffs on Russia and its allies if the war doesn’t end soon.
America’s trade relations with Europe is a driving force in why Ukraine matters for Trump, said Victoria Coates, who served as deputy national security advisor during Trump’s first administration.
“If the Ukraine conflict spills over into a NATO ally, that will both undermine economic commerce between the continent and the United States, and trigger additional U.S. security obligations,” said Coates, now at The Heritage Foundation.
“I think that’s why he said Ukraine is important, and why he is interested in getting it resolved in a reasonable way.”
Zelensky’s pitch to Trump speaks to his understanding of the president’s fixation on securing U.S. access to minerals across the world, by coercion or force if necessary. Trump’s bid to take over Greenland from Denmark appears to be related to the island’s natural resources.
Coal, graphite, uranium and rare earth metals can be found beneath Greenland’s soil. The Danish territory also says that there is “huge potential” for oil and gas exploration off its coasts.
Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz in January cited Greenland’s mineral and oil and gas resources when discussing the president’s desire to take the island.
Zelensky first proposed developing Ukraine’s mineral resources in hjs Victory Plan, laid out in October. The plan followed a trip to Kyiv by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) – a close Trump ally – who boasted of talks to develop a strategic agreement to develop “more than a trillion dollars worth of rare earth minerals.”
“Expanding economic cooperation with Ukraine makes America stronger and accelerates Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the lawmakers said at the time.
“Ukraine is blessed with significant lithium, titanium, and other rare earth minerals that are needed by the American economy. An agreement with Ukraine in this area would make the U.S. less dependent on foreign adversaries for rare earth minerals.”
