President Trump says Kiev could face difficulties if it doesn’t agree to a minerals deal, despite Zelensky’s reported refusal.
President Donald Trump has warned that Ukraine could encounter “a lot of problems” if it refuses to grant the US rights to a significant portion of its natural resources.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky reportedly first suggested giving Washington access to his country’s rare-earth minerals in October. Trump stated earlier this month his intention to pursue a deal, seeking the “equivalent of $500 billion” in natural resources as compensation for aid given to Ukraine during its conflict with Russia.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said, “we’re going to either sign a deal or there’s gonna be a lot of problems with [Ukraine].” He added that an agreement would “hopefully [take place] in the next fairly short period of time,” with the US receiving “four or five hundred billion dollars back.”
Trump also criticized Joe Biden’s administration’s aid to Ukraine, stating Biden “just gave them money…We’re spending our treasure on… a country that’s very, very far away.” In contrast, Trump asserted that European countries would be reimbursed for their aid to Kiev “in the form of a loan.”
According to The Economist, citing unnamed sources, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allegedly gave Zelensky a one-hour deadline to accept a proposal during a visit to Kiev the previous week. Zelensky reportedly declined.
At the Munich Security Conference the previous weekend, Zelensky told journalists he wanted a “connection between some kind of security guarantees and some kind of investment.”
The Associated Press cited an unnamed official who described the agreement in its current form as “colonial.”
White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes accused Zelensky on Monday of being “short-sighted about the excellent opportunity the Trump administration has presented to Ukraine.”
Amid these discussions, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker claimed on Thursday that the US had stopped selling weapons to Kiev.
On Saturday, Reuters, citing anonymous sources, reported that the US has also threatened to block the Ukrainian military’s access to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet terminals if it continues to resist the minerals deal.
According to the 2024 World Economic Forum report, Ukraine “holds immense potential as a major global supplier of critical raw materials” that could be “essential” for defense, technology, and green energy. However, much of these resources are located in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which joined Russia in 2022.
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