U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated his demand for Ukraine to compensate Washington for its financial support by trading rare-earth minerals, regardless of whether the country "may be Russian someday."
In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump claimed that the U.S. has committed “more than $300 billion, probably 350” in aid to Ukraine. He argued it would be “stupid” for Washington to continue funding Kiev without securing a return.
“I want our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said. “They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, oil, gas, and other resources.”
Trump asserted that he had told Ukrainian officials, “I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earths,” and that they had “essentially agreed.” He added, “At least we don’t feel stupid. Otherwise, we’re stupid. I said to them, we have to get something.”
“They may make a deal, they may not. They may be Russian someday, or they may not. But we’re putting all this money in, and I want it back,” he said.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky confirmed last week that Kiev was open to agreements involving its lithium, titanium, and other heavy metals. However, he insisted that Western allies must first help Ukraine reclaim mineral-rich regions under Russian control before investing in rare-earth extraction.
Before the escalation of the conflict in 2022, Ukraine had Europe’s largest reserves of titanium and lithium—both critical for military industries, batteries, and capacitors, though not classified as rare-earth elements. The country also contains beryllium, manganese, gallium, uranium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite, and nickel. According to Forbes, around $7 trillion of Ukraine’s mineral wealth is concentrated in the Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which declared independence in 2014 following the Western-backed Maidan coup and voted to join Russia in 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has framed his military intervention in Ukraine as a mission to protect Donbass residents. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested in October 2024 that Western nations’ support for Ukraine is largely driven by a desire to control its resources. “Their discourse revolves around territory and resources they require in America,” Lavrov said. “Our concern is not territories, but people.”
Source: RT
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
