Trump says he wants Ukraine's rare earth minerals in exchange for further aid

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said Monday that Ukraine should provide the US with its rare earth minerals in exchange for Washington’s continued support in the war against Russia.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said Washington and Kyiv are engaged in ongoing talks over the matter, adding: "We're actually working some deals right now, so we have some guarantees and some other things to keep that whole situation going."

Trump complained that the US is providing Ukraine with more economic and military aid than Europe and suggested Kyiv is open to his proposal.

"We're telling Ukraine they have very valuable rare earth. We want what we put up to go in terms of a guarantee. We want a guarantee. We're handing them money hand over fist," he said. "I want to have security of rare earth. We're putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earth, and I want security of the rare earth. And they're willing to do it."

Trump has repeatedly vowed to end Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine and has blamed both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the conflict, which is slated to enter its fourth year later this month.

Ukraine is sitting on massive reserves of critical rare earth minerals. It holds about 5% of the world’s total of mineral resources, according to a 2024 World Economic Forum report.

In addition to having one of the largest confirmed reserves of lithium, Ukraine boasts semiconductor-grade neon gas that is critical for chip production, beryllium, uranium, zirconium, apatite, iron ore and manganese.