Trump eyes deal on Ukraine's rare Earth metals amidst talks
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has expressed interest in Ukraine's rare earth metals. Kyiv was not surprised by this, as the idea of their joint extraction was proposed by the Ukrainian side several months ago.
According to the RBC-Ukraine portal, citing a source from President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, the proposal regarding rare earth metals was part of the peace plan.
Let us recall that on Monday, President Donald Trump stated that he wants to negotiate an agreement with Ukraine under which Kyiv would supply the United States with rare earth metals, used in electronics, in exchange for American assistance.
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- This was part of the victory plan. We have special resources, including rare earth elements, uranium, lithium, and titanium, and it's important that they don't fall into Russia's hands. That's why President (Volodymyr Zelenskyy - ed.) suggested that they should be specially protected and specially used with key partners - emphasized the RBC-Ukraine source.
According to the RBC-Ukraine source, this issue was discussed by President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with Donald Trump last fall.
He clarified that security guarantees are needed first to ensure the protection of rare earth metals from the Russians.
Rare earth metals, also known as rare earth elements, are a group of 17 chemical elements, including scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.
- We're 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 - said the American leader on Monday during a conversation with journalists in the Oval Office. He added that "Ukraine is ready to do this."
Trump also stressed that "great progress has been made" on Russia and Ukraine, but he did not clarify precisely what he meant.
