President Donald Trump said on Monday that Ukraine should provide the U.S. with its uncommon earth minerals in return for continued American support in its war against Russia.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump revealed that Washington and Kyiv are in ongoing discussions regarding the matter. “We’re truly working on some agreements right now to secure assurances and other guarantees to keep the whole situation moving forward,” he said.
Trump expressed frustration over the U.S. supplying more economic and military aid to Ukraine than Europe and suggested that Kyiv is open to his proposal.
“We’re telling Ukraine that they have highly treasured rare earth minerals. We want guarantees for what we’re putting up. We’re handing them money hand over fist,” he said. “I want security over rare earth. We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they have great rare earth resources. I want security over them. And they’re willing to do it.”
Trump has repeatedly pledged to end Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine and has attributed blame to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the clash, which is set to enter its fourth year this month.
Ukraine possesses significant reserves of critical rare earth minerals, accounting for roughly 5% of the world’s total mineral resources, according to a 2024 World Economic Forum report. Along with one of the largest confirmed lithium reserves, Ukraine also has semiconductor-grade neon gas essential for chip production, as well as beryllium, uranium, zirconium, apatite, iron ore, and manganese.
