Trump claims US will secure resources for aid given to Ukraine
President Donald Trump has stated that Ukraine has “essentially agreed” to provide the United States with $500 billion worth of rare earth minerals as compensation for the military aid Washington has supplied during the ongoing war.
“They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth [minerals], in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want to have our money secured, because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars [in Ukraine],” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl.
US aid vs. global contributions
Trump, 78, emphasized that the more than $300 billion the US has sent to Ukraine far exceeds contributions from other countries. He argued that regardless of whether a peace deal is reached between Ukraine and Russia, the US should benefit from Ukraine’s natural resources.
“They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. And they may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But we’re going to have all this money in [Ukraine], and I say, I want it back,” Trump stated.
“I told them that I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth [minerals], and they’ve essentially agreed to do that,” he added.
Zelensky open to reciprocal deal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated support for a resource deal with the US in exchange for security guarantees as part of a potential peace agreement.
“If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelensky told Reuters. “We need to stop Putin and protect what we have — a very rich Dnipro region [in] central Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s vast mineral resources
Ukraine is home to approximately 5% of the world’s mineral resources, including titanium, uranium, iron, manganese, lithium, and rare earth minerals—all considered vital to US national security.
US delegation to meet Zelensky in Germany
A US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, is expected to meet Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference later this week. The discussions will focus on how to end the nearly three-year-long war and potentially finalize the resource deal.
“I think it’s going to happen,” Trump said of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
“I think we’ve made tremendous progress in the last week. We’re dealing with the Russians. We’re dealing with the Ukrainians. I think there’s going to be something,” he concluded.
