It was a trap right from the word go. The trap laid by Zelensky’s as ploy for a rare earth mineral deal. In January, Zelensky proposed to share Ukraine’s alleged vast mineral wealth with US in exchange for economic and military aid. And I have to say, Trump fell for it. The Trump administration agreed to sign the deal, without even realizing that more than half of Ukraine’s alleged reserves are now under Russia’s control.
Such a deal would have been disastrous. Here is why.
Ukraine wanted to extract security guarantees from US in exchange for the deal. It means USA’s direct involvement in Kyiv’s security affairs. This is something that doesn’t go well with Trump’s foreign policy.
Even if Ukraine and the US agreed on a rare earth minerals deal, the question of how to access these resources remains unresolved. According to news agency AFP, over 70% of Ukraine’s alleged $15 trillion in mineral wealth is located in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions—both partially controlled by Russia—and in Dnipropetrovsk, where Moscow’s forces are advancing.
Currently, Ukraine and its Western allies are not in a position to shift the war in Kyiv’s favor, a reality recently acknowledged by officials in the Trump administration.
For any rare earth deal to be viable, Ukraine would need continued security assistance to regain full control of its territory. However, this objective is highly unrealistic, making such an agreement a non-starter for President Trump.
Additionally, pursuing a rare earth deal with Ukraine could reinforce Vladimir Putin’s justification for continuing the war. In the past, Putin has labeled the US-led global order a “neocolonial system” and accused Western elites of disregarding national sovereignty and international law. If Trump funds the war in Ukraine to secure access to Kyiv’s rare earth resources, this narrative could gain further traction worldwide.
And now, addressing the elephant in the room: Does Ukraine even possess those natural resources?
The US Geological Survey does not list Ukraine as having significant rare-earth reserves, nor do any reputable mining databases. In reality, rare-earth production is a very small industry; it’s not a massive one, generating around $15 billion annually—comparable to just two days of global oil output.
Even if Ukraine somehow produced 20% of the world’s rare earths, that would amount to only about $3 billion per year. To reach Trump’s proposed $500 billion, the US.would need to wait for 150 years—an unrealistic expectation.
And that’s why when US looked so ready to strike the deal, Zelenskyy backed off.
Even on Friday when Zelenskyy arrived in the White House to meet Trump, he remained disrespectful and showed no signs that he wants to strike this deal and go back home as a happy person. He thought he would get away after lecturing Trump and Vance despite getting so much aid, money from the US. But of course, he was shown his place in no time. He was left humiliated after the White House showdown. Yet the best outcome from this fiery exchange was that the mineral deal was not signed. He was forced to cut his visit short and was essentially kicked out without even the joint press conference. Trump finally realized Zelensky is a massive fraud and his mineral deal proposal was just a trap to put both Trump and Putin on a collision course. Zelensky wanted Trump to fight his war against Putin but got owned instead by the president and VP JD Vance.