Trump wants to renew rare earth minerals deal with Ukraine

The US President Donald Trump said he wants to renew the rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine.

His words are reported by CNN.

All this is supposedly because European countries return the funds that Ukraine receives from them, because they lend them.

"Yes, I think Iʼll renew this deal, you know, weʼll see what happens, but Iʼll renew it, otherwise things wonʼt make him [Volodymyr Zelensky] very happy. And look, itʼs election time," Trump said.

He also said that the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was treated "pretty rudely" in Ukraine during his visit to Kyiv.

"Scott Bessent actually got there, and he was treated pretty rudely because, essentially, they told him ʼnoʼ, and Zelensky was asleep and couldnʼt meet with him," the US president said.

According to him, Bessent arrived to sign the document, but the Ukrainian side did not do so.

What kind of agreement are we talking about?

Trump said on February 9 that he has a concrete plan to end the war and wants to make a $500 billion deal with Volodymyr Zelensky for access to rare earth minerals and gas in Ukraine in exchange for security guarantees in a potential peace deal.

The draft agreement was brought to Ukraine by the head of the US Treasury Department Scott Bessent. Zelensky said that Kyiv was open to partnership on this issue, but he did not sign the agreement on this issue because it did not provide security guarantees for Ukraine.

"The document was clear in only one thing — we must give 50% of everything that is listed there. By the way, we are not afraid of this and I am ready for the publicity of this document. I told the US Treasury Secretary that this document is not ready. Everything that is written there is beyond my capabilities, beyond my powers, beyond the Constitution of Ukraine and all legislation," the president said.

Later, Zelensky said that the war cost Ukraine $320 billion. Of that, $120 billion was paid by Ukrainian taxpayers, $200 billion by the US and the EU. All of these are weapons packages.

"In total, the US gave us about $67 billion for weapons and $31.5 billion in direct financial assistance to the budget. There were some separate programs, there were humanitarian programs, we are grateful. But you canʼt charge us $500 billion and ask us to return 500 billion in minerals, this is a frivolous conversation," Zelensky said.

Negotiations between Russia and the USA

On February 18, Russia and the United States held their first talks in Saudi Arabia. No specific date has been agreed upon for the meeting between Putin and Trump, which is unlikely to take place next week. However, the parties agreed to create negotiating groups to end the war in Ukraine.

After the talks, the US President Donald Trump criticized Kyiv and Brussels, and also supported holding elections in Ukraine. In his opinion, there were opportunities to conclude a peace agreement with Russia during the "three years of war".

The next day, February 19, Trump claimed that Zelensky had only a 4% approval rating. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published research showing that as of the first half of February 2025, 57% of Ukrainians trusted Zelensky.

The President of Ukraine reacted and said that Trump is in a "circle of disinformation."

Donald Trump later called Zelensky an “unelected dictator” who allegedly persuaded the United States to “spend $350 billion on a war that cannot be won and should never have been started”. Trump said that “Zelensky has done a terrible job, his country is ruined” and that he has little time left.

• The US President Donald Trumpʼs special representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg noted that Europeʼs position on a peaceful settlement will be taken into account, but there will be no physical European representatives at the negotiating table. You can read about Europeʼs participation in the settlement of the war in Ukraine here.

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