The American proposals for access to Ukraine's valuable mineral resources were clear in only one respect: obtaining half of the resources listed in the document. This was stated by the President during a press conference held after his return from the UAE and Turkey.
Zelenskyy is ready to make this document public, but he does not think it will help relations with the United States. He told the US Treasury Secretary, who brought the document to Kyiv, that the deal was not ready.
"Everything that is written there is beyond my capabilities, beyond my powers, beyond the Constitution of Ukraine. That is why I said: there is no word about security guarantees. At the second meeting with Vance, we agreed that there should be something about it, but no one knows what it is," he said.
Then he told the vice president that if there was nothing clear in the agreement, then the interest should be written.
"You write down some guarantees, and we will write down some percentages. I was told: only 50 per cent. I said: OK, no. And then let the lawyers work further," the president said.
Agreement with the US on rare earth elements
- US proposals for US access to Ukraine's rare earth materials were brought to Kyiv by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The Ukrainian side did not sign the document, but instead took it for study. The draft with Ukrainian developments was handed over to the US side on 14 February.
- According to lb.ua's sources, the Americans demanded that Ukraine sign the agreement before the Munich Security Conference, otherwise they would have cancelled the meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance. Ukraine did not do this, and the meeting took place.
- Donald Trump said he wanted to sign an agreement with Ukraine on access to rare earth elements. This should be compensation for the assistance provided by the Americans.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused Trump of selfishness and stressed that ‘we should use these resources of the country to finance everything that will be needed after the war’.
- According to Horizon Capital, a Ukrainian private equity firm, Ukraine has deposits of 20 major minerals, such as cobalt and graphite, with reserves estimated at $11.5 trillion. In particular, our country has about a third of the proven reserves of lithium in Europe, which is the main material for batteries and, therefore, may be of interest to Elon Musk's electric vehicle business.
- On 4 February, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was ready to cooperate with partners in terms of their investments in minerals, adding that he had discussed this issue with Donald Trump in September 2024.