Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is slated to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White on Friday to finalize the widely publicized mineral deal. The initial demand for $500 billion in minerals was perhaps a reminder to Ukraine of how much the US has spent on their war. The current draft would establish a jointly managed Reconstruction Investment Fund.
It is estimated that Ukraine holds 5% of world’s critical raw materials. Ukrainian officials believe they have 19 million tonnes of graphite reserves and significant deposits of titanium, rare earth metals, and lithium. The current plan would require harvesting up to HALF of Ukraine’s minerals and rare earth materials.
The White House believes that this new deal could be worth $1 trillion. Donald Trump has stated that American taxpayers must “get their money back” after Biden sent an untold fortune to fund the proxy war. Yet, there has been much bickering between Zelensky and Trump on whether all or part of that money was a grant or a loan. Either way, the Russia-US meeting last week shook up negotiations. Ukraine expressed anger and turned to European leaders who immediately gathered to see how they could push forth this war without America. Zelensky’s willingness to sign a deal tells us the outcome of those meetings. Even French President Emmanuel Macron is welcoming a deal between the US and Ukraine.
“The provisions of the deal are much better for Ukraine now,” a source in Ukraine’s government told the BBC. The specifics have not been outlined. The caveat for Ukraine is a security guarantee, which the US has not offered at the time of this writing. “I want to find a Nato path or something similar,” Zelensky told the BBC. “If we don’t get security guarantees, we won’t have a ceasefire, nothing will work, nothing.”
NATO membership is off the table. Donald Trump’s administration has not taken a side in this foreign war and the next move is crucial. Russia has come out to offer a counter-mineral deal to America. Russia “undoubtedly have [sic], I want to emphasize, significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine,” Putin said. “As for the new territories, it’s the same. We are ready to attract foreign partners to the so-called new, to our historical territories, which have returned to the Russian Federation,” he added.
The world will be watching this Friday as this deal could change the trajectory of America’s position in the war.
