Since the Trump Putin phone call, most of the world breathed a sigh of relief as they await a resolution to the protracted clash in Ukraine. However one man in particular has been left frustrated and apparently angered at the prospective deal, and that person is Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky has been again and again stressing that he should be at the forefront of the negotiations and is even asking Trump to include his European allies in the negotiations. Zelensky is visibly feeling that the deal negotiated will leave his stakes out as he has his own demands and ideas about what he wants. He also realizes that the US President will not entertain his demands and will go forward with his plans regardless.
Zelensky has now cut a solemn figure looking at all his options and he has now finally come to the conclusion that the rare earth deal might be a good card to play. Few days back the US and Donald Trump had indicated that they want Ukraine to payback the aid they have given to Kiev. The US President is looking ta Ukraine’s vast rare earth minerals as a lucrative option.
However Zelensky also realizes that and is now looking to use the minerals as a bargaining ploy. It has also been revealed that Zelensky has declined to sign an agreement that would give the US access to his country’s rare earth minerals, Reuters have claimed.
It is well known that Ukraine has tremendous mineral wealth. According to the 2024 World Economic Forum report, Ukraine “holds immense potential as a major global supplier of critical raw materials” that are deemed “essential” for defense, the technology sector, and for essential equipment. The nation boasts Europe’s largest titanium and lithium reserves, which are not classified as rare-earth elements.
Kiev also has considerable beryllium, manganese, gallium, uranium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite, and nickel deposits.
In a post on X on Friday, the Washington Post’s Rogin claimed that the Ukraine leader had refused to sign any such deal, “multiple lawmakers here in Munich told me the US Congressional delegation presented Zelensky with a piece of paper they wanted him to sign which would grant the US rights to 50% of Ukraine’s future mineral reserves. Zelensky politely declined to sign it.”
Reuters also cited anonymous members of the Ukrainian delegation at the Munich Security Conference as saying essentially the same thing. The supposed meeting between the Ukrainian leader and a bipartisan group of US lawmakers reportedly lasted 90 minutes.
According to the agency, Zelensky “felt he was being asked unreasonably to sign something he hadn’t had a chance to read,” with two of the sources describing the proposal as “one-sided.” Kiev still needs to work out “some details,” according to the report.
On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kiev, where he presented the draft to the Ukrainian leader. In an interview with Reuters last week, Zelensky said he would like to have a mutually beneficial partnership with the US as opposed to simply giving Ukraine’s natural resources away.
Then there is the issue of vast regions of Ukraine under the control of Russia. Since 2022, Putin has annexed major mineral rich regions of Ukraine which even Zelensky acknowledges however.
According to Forbes, around $7 trillion worth of Ukraine’s total mineral wealth is located in what is now the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which joined Russia in 2022.
Ukraine has “tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth [and] in terms of oil and gas,” President Trump told Fox News this week. He stated he had told the leadership in Kiev “that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earths, and they’ve essentially agreed to do that.”
Zelensky Offers Rare Earths to Europe
Meanwhile Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal wrote that his country possesses vast reserves of uranium, lithium, and other mineral resources “critical” to the survival of the European Union in an article for Politico, promising EU officials and businesses “hundreds of billions of dollars” in potential profits.
At the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky reportedly “politely declined” to sign a document that would allegedly grant the US the right to 50% of Ukraine’s future mineral reserves. Dismissing accusations of “selling out what remains of Ukraine,” Zelensky had previously insisted that he wants to establish a mutually beneficial partnership rather than simply giving the country’s natural resources away.
“Ukraine’s subsoil contains 22 out of the 30 minerals listed as critical for the EU… We are ready to set up joint ventures in this area, which would undoubtedly lead to a strategic advantage for the EU,” Shmigal wrote in his article, in which he touted potential benefits EU officials could reap from further cooperation with Kiev.
He went on to claim that investing in Ukraine’s reconstruction would boost the entire European economy and consolidate the bloc. “We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars that European businesses could be involved in, as well as the creation of production and jobs both here and in the bloc’s countries,” Shmigal wrote, adding that “anyone who sees their own prospects would want to take part in it.”
“We aren’t a country that’s come begging to join the EU for the sake of obtaining public funds, preferences, or benefits. We’re a country that knows its worth and is honest with its allies,” he added, claiming that Kiev is a backbone of European security and that the bloc “might not survive without us.”
It seems Zelensky and Ukraine are now looking at alternate ways to continue the Russia Ukraine war, and they believe the vast aid from Washington will freeze due to the policies of the Trump administration. A deal with Putin and Trump will likely end the war. The only other viable option for Zelensky seems to be to get the European nations involved, and Ukraine is looking to offer them the rare earth minerals as an extremely lucrative offer they hope will taken up by the like of France, UK and Germany amongst others, to continue the war effort.
