{"id":2886,"date":"2025-02-17T15:44:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T16:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/?p=2886"},"modified":"2025-02-17T17:18:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T17:18:27","slug":"zelensky-had-an-hour-to-agree-to-us-rare-earths-deal-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/17\/zelensky-had-an-hour-to-agree-to-us-rare-earths-deal-economist\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky had \u2018an hour\u2019 to agree to US rare earths deal \u2013 Economist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ukrainian leader rejected Trump\u2019s proposal to exchange critical minerals for military aid<\/strong><\/p>\n

The US gave Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky just \u201can hour\u201d<\/em> to agree to a proposal granting Washington access to the country\u2019s rare minerals, The Economist has claimed, citing sources. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented the deal during a visit to Kiev last week.<\/p>\n

According to the outlet, Zelensky expected the meeting to focus on continued financial support, but instead Bessent demanded that Ukraine grant the United States access to its entire reserves of critical resources.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month US President Donald Trump said that he had demanded the \u201cequivalent of $500 billion worth of rare earths\u201d<\/em> from Ukraine in exchange for what he estimated to be \u201cmore than $300 billion\u201d<\/em> Washington has provided to Kiev since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Scott
US imposing \u2018colonial\u2019 resource deal on Ukraine \u2013 media<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Zelensky declined Bessent\u2019s proposal, deferring further discussion to the Munich Security Conference, the Economist wrote. However, at the event on Saturday, Zelensky again refused to sign the deal, which reportedly grants the US rights to 50% of Ukraine\u2019s mineral reserves, telling reporters that it was \u201cnot ready yet.\u201d<\/em> He is seeking a \u201cbetter deal,\u201d<\/em> according to Financial Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zelensky first floated such an idea as part of his \u201cvictory plan,\u201d<\/em> a five-point strategy he unveiled in October. Under the plan, Kiev and Washington would jointly use Ukraine\u2019s critical resources while the US continued military assistance and deployed non-nuclear strategic deterrence.<\/p>\n

NBC reported on Saturday that Washington could send troops to Ukraine to \u201cguard\u201d<\/em> the rare earths that it wants as repayment for aid. According to US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Washington expects to be reimbursed by Kiev for the \u201cinvestments\u201d<\/em> it has made in the Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n

Ukraine possesses significant deposits of rare earth elements, including lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, erbium, and yttrium, which are essential for various technologies such as lighting, batteries, nuclear power, and lasers. However, Zelensky recently admitted that a large chunk of mineral-rich territory, some 20%, is currently under Russian control.<\/p>\n

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\n READ MORE: <\/span>Zelensky refused to sign rare earths deal with US \u2013 media
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Moscow has criticized the potential deal. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week that it would violate Ukraine\u2019s constitution, which states that the nation\u2019s natural resources belong to its people.<\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described it as a \u201ccommercial transaction,\u201d<\/em> saying that \u201cit would be better not to provide aid at all thus facilitating an end to the conflict.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ukrainian leader rejected Trump\u2019s proposal to exchange critical minerals for military aid The US gave Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky just \u201can hour\u201d to agree to a proposal granting Washington access to the country\u2019s rare minerals, The Economist has claimed, citing sources. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented the deal during a visit to Kiev last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2889,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions\/2889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}