Ukraine rejects initial Trump request for half its rare mineral wealth

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

February 15, 2025 at 11:28 a.m. EST


MUNICH — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected a Trump administration request this week that Kyiv hand over 50 percent of its rare-earth mineral resources — an extraordinary demand that could significantly overshadow the value of aid that has been sent to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials are working on a counterproposal that would still offer Washington more access to the country’s natural resources but would bolster U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, four people familiar with the discussions said.

Zelensky told reporters Saturday that he had not agreed to the Trump administration’s proposal “because it’s not ready yet.” He said that security guarantees were not part of the U.S. proposal, and that Ukraine needed that in any agreement with the United States. "We can consider how to distribute profits when security guarantees are clear. So far, I have not seen that in the document,” he told reporters at an annual gathering of U.S. and European security elite.

The request came when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kyiv on Wednesday, becoming the first Trump Cabinet official to meet the Ukrainian leader, according to two senior Ukrainian officials, two European diplomats and a fifth person familiar with the situation. They and others spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about the sensitive issue.

The offer and Ukraine’s consideration of it rippled through European diplomatic circles not only for its audacity but also because the war-ravaged country appeared to be seriously considering how to reach a deal in the hope of a commitment from the United States to help defend against Russia’s aggression.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/15/ukraine-rejects-trump-administration-request-half-its-mineral-wealth/

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No paywall (gift)

[enid602]

1. Impounded bank accounts

Why doesn’t trump just use Russian oligarch deposits here at US banks for Security? That should make Pooty scurry to the table real quick.

[Aussie105]

2. Trump wants to 'solve' the problem by giving Putin what he wanted all along.

Ukraine simply wants Russia to go back across the original border, then suck shit and die.

Trump won't get anywhere with his 'peace' plan.

More to the point, who will rebuild Ukraine once (if) the war stops?

Russia won't be able to, or won't be interested, and Donnie s trying to save money.

[bsiebs]

5. Well, to be fair, Donnie isn't trying to save money, he is repurposing it for billionaire tax cuts and grifting...

The deficit during this fool's term will only go up... while government services vanish.

[KewlKat]

3. I read where 40% of Ukraine's metals are now in territory that Russia occupies.......so that leave 60% and the felon in

the WH wants 50%.....so, that leaves 10% for Ukraine?

Quid Pro Quo?

and then leave our troops to protect "our" newly acquired mineral?

[Hugin]

4. I am speechless at this demand.

What the actual fuck?



I guess Trump envisions living in the Gazan Riviera with weekly excursions to the mines of Ukraine to mock the gulag miners.

This is some sick shit.

[Norrrm]

6. Extortion might be an appropriate word.

[Buzz cook]

7. Maybe Ukraine should have lied

Said they'd do it once Russian troops had been removed. Then once the Russians were gone, say they need to renegotiate as Trump did with NAFTA, or abandon it like Trump did with the WHO or Paris Accords.

[LudwigPastorius]

8. "request"

That's a nice word for give-me-your-minerals-or-I-cut-off-aid blackmail.

This is the same shit Trump tried to do with Z. when he leaned on him to manufacture bullshit about Biden. It's just that the stakes for Ukraine now are existential.

[Evolve Dammit]

9. More criminal mob boss extortion from the Don.

[truthisfreedom]

10. All Ukraine has to do is say no.

If we let Russia win, they’ll take everything, we get nothing, and they march straight into Europe.