Ukraine's mineral wealth draws U.S. interest amidst conflict
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, emphasizes that his country is not proposing to "give away" its resources, but is instead offering them based on mutually beneficial partnership. "The Americans helped the most, so the Americans should earn the most," he stated.
In an interview with Reuters, President Zelensky highlighted that although Russia occupied about 20% of Ukrainian territory, less than 20% of the mineral resource reserves have come under their control.
"Of course, they did not take over 20% of our mineral resources, only less. Much less. Nevertheless, these are still worth hundreds of billions of dollars," Zelensky emphasized.
During the interview with Reuters, Zelensky spread out a map on the table, showing numerous mineral deposits, "including a wide strip of land in the east marked as containing rare earth metals. About half of these seemed to be on the Russian side of the current front lines," Reuters reports.
Zelensky drew attention to the mineral wealth of the Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as central and western Ukraine. He stressed that Ukraine has lost coal, but the Russians have also suffered losses, not knowing how to manage the seized mines. The Ukrainian President warned that Vladimir Putin plans to make these resources available to his allies, such as North Korea and Iran.
As Zelensky noted, Kyiv is not proposing to "give away" its resources, but is instead offering them on the basis of mutually beneficial partnership.
"The Americans helped the most, so the Americans should earn the most. They should have this priority, and it will be so. I would also like to discuss this with President Trump," Zelensky announced.
On February 3rd at 3:00 PM ET, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine should secure U.S. access to rare earth metals in exchange for further military assistance.
"We are telling Ukraine that they have very valuable rare earth metals. We want them to pledge them as collateral. We want guarantees because we are giving them money by the handful," Trump said.
Already in the fall of 2024, Volodymyr Zelensky talked with Trump about making Ukrainian rare earth metal deposits available, which are key for the production of magnets, electric motors, and electronics.
Ukraine possesses the largest reserves of titanium in Europe, essential for the aerospace and space industries, and uranium, used in nuclear energy production.
Source: Reuters, PAP
