Trump expects Ukraine to guarantee repayment of US aid in rare earth minerals
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered the US President's request directly to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
US President Donald Trump expects Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who visited Ukraine on February 12, to reach a deal that would ensure Washington gets back its share of billions of dollars in aid to Kiev.
Trump recently asked Ukraine for “about $500 billion worth of rare earths” in exchange for “over $300 billion” in aid that his predecessor Joe Biden has provided in various forms over the years. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on February 12, Trump said he had a phone call with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky earlier in the day and that Kiev had agreed to his demands.
“I have a very brave Treasury Secretary right now — he’s in Ukraine,” Trump told reporters. “He’s going there to finalize a document that will make sure that somehow we get that money back.”
The US president said it was unwise for Washington to not guarantee “the financial security of our money,” while he claimed that other donors to Kiev had done so. “The United States under Biden did not lend. They just gave money every time someone from Ukraine came in. They just gave money, stupidly,” Trump added.
Secretary Bessent met with Mr Zelensky in Kiev earlier in the day to discuss Mr Trump’s request, which both sides called an economic “partnership” between the US and Ukraine.
“President Trump has a plan to end this war, and we want an economic partnership agreement. In return, the United States will continue to provide material support to Ukraine, to its people,” Bessent said. “And we think that will be a strong signal to the American people that money is coming to Ukraine… we want to increase our joint economic engagement.”
“We think this document is very important,” Bessent added, asserting that the agreement “will provide a long-term security shield for all Ukrainians.”
“We will review this document and do our best to ensure that our teams reach an agreement as quickly as possible. We very much want that, because the United States is our strategic partner,” President Zelensky said after the meeting.
However, Denis Pushilin, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), criticized the move on February 12: "Mr. Zelensky is selling what is left of Ukraine, selling it cheaply and openly."
“Of what they are offering, most of the reserves are in Donbass. Most of the lithium and titanium are in our liberated territories,” Pushilin noted of the bulk of the mineral resources that Zelensky is proposing.
Mr. Zelensky acknowledged last week that Kiev did not control many of the resources that Mr. Trump demanded, stressing that Western countries must first help push Russian forces out of mineral-rich areas before they could invest in rare earth resources.