An F-16 fighter aircraft bound for Ukraine at the Melsbroek military airport, in Brussels, Belgium, 28 May 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE / OLIVIER HOSLET
US President Donald Trump indicated on Monday that his administration would expect Ukraine to supply its rare earth minerals to the US in a quid pro quo arrangement with Kyiv to ensure continued US military aid.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said his administration was “looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things”.
Accusing the Biden administration of having “handed out money” to Kyiv, Trump said that European countries should be paying “at least equal” if not “much more” than the “close to $300 billion” in aid that the US has supplied to Ukraine. “It’s more important for them than it is for us, but they’re way below us in terms of money”, Trump said.
Rare earth minerals are a set of 17 metals crucial to producing electronics including smartphones, batteries and electric cars. While Ukraine is rich in natural resources and minerals, much of its rare earth minerals remain unexploited with many deposits in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine.
Sharing Ukraine’s natural resources with the country’s partners was part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan” to end the war, which he presented to Western leaders including Trump in September, The Kyiv Independent reported on Monday
For that to happen, however, Ukraine’s partners would need to provide security guarantees “so that the Russians do not occupy this Ukrainian land with minerals”, The Kyiv Independent’s source in the Office of the President of Ukraine said.
Reacting to Trump’s proposal on Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it “selfish” and argued that Ukraine’s natural resources would be far better used to finance its post-war reconstruction.
While ending the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible was one of Trump’s key campaign pledges, there is anxiety in Kyiv over the future of US military aid to the country, as well as fear that any Trump-brokered peace deal would entail unfavourable terms for Ukraine.
On Monday, Reuters reported that US arms shipments to Ukraine had resumed over the weekend after being briefly put on hold over the last week as the Trump administration “debated its policy towards Kyiv”.
