Ukraine balks at White House's call to give up its rare earth minerals

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Donald Trump apparently feels entitled to Ukrainian natural resources. Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn't quite see it the same way.

Ukraine balks at White House's call to give up its rare earth minerals www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— News Hub - A Home for Better News (@thenewshub.bsky.social) 2025-02-17T22:33:59.544Z

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/ukraine-balks-white-houses-call-give-rare-earth-minerals-rcna192497

Over the course of the last decade, Donald Trump’s line on the 2003 invasion of Iraq has evolved more than once, but there’s one claim he’s repeated ad nauseum: The United States, the Republican has long argued, should’ve kept Iraq’s oil as part of the war. After the president deployed U.S. troops to Syria, Trump insisted that his administration actually did take and keep Syrian oil......

With this in mind, it probably shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Republican White House believes Ukraine should also turn over some of its natural resources to the United States, in exchange for the security aid we’ve provided to our ally.

At least for now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn't appear especially receptive to the idea. NBC News reported:

The Trump administration has suggested to Ukraine that the United States be granted 50% ownership of the country’s rare earth minerals, and signaled an openness to deploying American troops there to guard them if there’s a deal with Russia to end the war, according to four U.S. officials. Rather than pay for the minerals, the ownership agreement would be a way for Ukraine to reimburse the U.S. for the billions of dollars in weapons and support it’s provided to Kyiv since the war began in February 2022, two of the officials said.

When presented with proposed deal, Zelenskyy declined to sign it. The Ukrainian president did, however, say that he would examine the offer in more detail......

For his part, Trump said a day later that Zelenskyy “will be involved” in the negotiations — he didn’t say when, how, or to what degree — and went on to talk about how impressed he is with Russian military might.

“They have a big, powerful machine, you understand that?” the American president said, referring to Putin’s military. “And they defeated Hitler and they defeated Napoleon.”

It was the latest in a series of pro-Russia comments that Trump has made in recent days

[SheltieLover]

1. Extortion!

[Jit423]

2. This is what it has been all about since the breakup of the USSR. Nothing more. Not the land but what's under it.

Also, as I recall, there were significant nuke weapons stockpiled in a few of the other former satellites. Ukraine has the biggest motherload of what Russia wants.

Ukrainians want to be Ukrainian.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/donbas-is-fiction-kateryna-zarembo-s-book-dismantles-russian-myths-about-ukraine-s-east/ar-AA1yrZ3w?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[Dan]

3. When Germany invaded Russia during WW2

At some point Stalin recognized that to slow the German advance - you had to burn it all down.

I hope that Ukraine is successful in fighting off Russian aggression - but if not, burn it all down (whatever that means).

I hope and pray that Trump will not end up sending American troops to fight Ukraine at Putin's bidding, but for now, I would not bet on that.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Sen. Van Hollen has scathing criticism on Trump's Ukraine aid conditions

Link to tweet

[Emrys]

5. Blame Lyndsey Graham

It was reportedly he who clued Trump in to the existence of these rare earths/strategic mineral resources in Ukraine a little while back. That rattled Trump's avaricious cage, and here we are

The chances of Trump actually understanding what rare earths are and what their uses and value are apart from the fact that they're potentially worth a boodle are non-existent. He may even imagine they're like diamonds and would look neat set into rings and fancy cufflinks.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. trump presented Zelenskyy with agreement to sign without reading

Expecting anyone to sign an agreement that they have not read is an overreach and dumb. An agreement may not be binding unless is understood and agreed to by the parties

Link to tweet

Regarding rare earth minerals, President Zelensky said he “had been presented a document by the Trump administration sort of shoved in front of him. And they wanted him to sign it without reading it,” says Senator @ElissaSlotkin, who met with Zelensky in Munich.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. He wants to control resources worth trillions of dollars

In perpetuity, in return for the $114 billion we've given them in aid since russia invaded. With no security guarantees or promises of more aid.

It's more extreme than the reparations demands initially placed on Germany after WW1.

It would turn Ukraine into a resource extraction colony.

And he's impressed with russian military might?

[Xolodno]

8. A good portion of it is already Russian control.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-rare-earth-minerals-trump-zelensky-b2699904.html

And they now have control of two of the three natural gas deposits.

List of production by country: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rare-earth-elements-where-in-the-world-are-they/

Iran keeps discovering rare earth mineral deposits, however, they lack the capability to fully exploit it. Hope TSF doesn't get us into a war with them.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Zelensky won't sign natural resource deal that 'will be paid by 10 generations of Ukrainians'

Zelenskyy is not giving into trump's blackmail demands.

⚡️Zelensky won't sign natural resource deal that 'will be paid by 10 generations of Ukrainians.'

Zelensky said that he will not recognize the 0 billion request since it vastly outweighs the 0 billion the U.S. has sent in aid to Ukraine.

— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) 2025-02-23T16:47:42.485Z

⚡️Zelensky won't sign natural resource deal that 'will be paid by 10 generations of Ukrainians.'

Zelensky said that he will not recognize the $500 billion request since it vastly outweighs the $100 billion the U.S. has sent in aid to Ukraine.

Link to tweet

https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-wont-sign-a-natural-resource-deal-that-will-be-paid-by-10-generations-of-ukrainians/

President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back at the U.S.’ demand for a $500 billion fund to be financed with Ukrainian natural resource revenue, saying that the U.S.’s aid grants are not debts, during the Ukraine: Year 2025 forum in Kyiv on Feb. 23.

Negotiations on a deal to entrench U.S. interests in Ukraine's reserves are ongoing, with the latest draft presented by the White House demanding $500 billion of Ukraine’s natural resources, including critical minerals, to recuperate American aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky said that he will not recognize such a large sum since it vastly outweighs the $100 billion the U.S. has sent to Ukraine under former President Joe Biden.

The president added that the aid given to Ukraine cannot be counted as debts since they are grants and stressed that security guarantees need to be included in the deal. So far no such guarantees have been put in place, he said.

“I am not signing something that will be paid by 10 generations of Ukrainians," Zelensky said, adding that he wants a dialogue with Trump.

I expect that trump will be exploding any time now