Trump Says Ukraine Has Agreed to Hand Over $500 Million in Rare Earth Metals to U.S. For Military Aid

Trump demands rare-earth minerals to guarantee a return on American investments

In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, President Trump said he told Zelenskyy the United States wants $500 Billion Dollars worth of rare earth and mineral to continue supporting the Ukraine war with Russia. Trump wants back the $Billions already spent by Ukraine on an… pic.twitter.com/69zeWs60ue

— 𝔹𝕦𝕕 & ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕪… (@bud_cann) February 11, 2025

In an interview with Bret Baier, Trump claimed that “the United States is in for more than $300 billion, probably 350” in various forms of aid to Ukraine, adding that it would be “stupid” for Washington to continue bankrolling Kiev without receiving anything in return. “I want to have our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said. “They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earths, and they’ve essentially agreed to do that. So at least we don’t feel stupid. Otherwise, we’re stupid. I said to them, we have to get something. You know, they may make a deal, they may not make a deal, they may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday, but we’re gonna have all this money in there, and I say, I want it back.”

🇺🇸 President Donald Trump:

”I want about $500 billion worth of rare earth minerals from Ukraine. I want our money back.”
The new president of the United States has discovered the truth about the war.
The money was embezzled.😊 pic.twitter.com/HHyLtkbNrw

— Mr. zhang (@zhangkuancheng) February 11, 2025

Vladimir Zelensky confirmed last week that he would be open to reaching an agreement over Ukraine’s deposits of lithium, titanium, and other metals once Russian forces were pushed out of mineral-rich territories.

The list of rare-earth metals found in Ukraine also includes beryllium, manganese, gallium, uranium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite, and nickel. About $7 trillion of Ukraine’s total mineral wealth is located in its former Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 following the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev. Most of these territories came under Russian control after Donetsk and Lugansk voted to join Russia in 2022..

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited the protection of people in Donbass as a key reason for launching the military operation in Ukraine. Resources in these territories are a major factor in the support of NATO member states for Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in October 2024. “Their discourse revolves around territory and resources that they require in America,” he said. “Our concern is not territories, but people.”

The Bret Baier Podcast

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Trump says Ukraine has ‘essentially agreed’ to allow the US access to $500B in rare earth minerals

By Victor Nava, NY Post, Feb. 10, 2025:

President Trump claims that Ukraine has “essentially agreed” to give the US half a trillion dollars worth of rare earth minerals as payment for the military aid Washington has provided Kyiv.

“They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth [minerals], in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want to have our money secured, because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars [in Ukraine],” Trump

Trump, 78, insisted that the US should have access to Ukraine’s natural resources regardless of whether a peace deal between Russia and the former Soviet state can be successfully negotiated, arguing that the “more than $300 billion” the US has provided Ukraine dwarfs what other nations have contributed to the war effort.

“They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But we’re going to have all this money in [Ukraine] and I say, I want it back,” the president said.

“I told them that I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth [minerals], and they’ve essentially agreed to do that,” Trump revealed.

“I said to them, ‘We have to – We have to get something. We can’t continue to pay this money.’” Trump continued, arguing that continuing to provide aid to war-torn Ukraine for nothing would be “stupid.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday signaled support for a reciprocal resource deal with the US in exchange for security guarantees as part of a potential peace settlement.

“If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelensky told Reuters. “We need to stop Putin and protect what we have — a very rich Dnipro region [in] central Ukraine.”

Ukraine is home to roughly 5% of the world’s mineral resources, with rich deposits of titanium, uranium, iron, manganese and lithium — as well as rare earth minerals that are considered vital to US national security.

“I think it’s going to happen,” Trump said of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.

“I think we’ve made tremendous progress in the last week. We’re dealing with the Russians. We’re dealing with the Ukrainians. I think there’s going to be something,” the president insisted.

A US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, is expected to meet with Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in Germany later this and discuss how to end the nearly three-year-long war.