Ukraine rejects initial Trump request for half its mineral wealth

MUNICH – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected a Trump administration request this week that Kyiv hand over 50% of its 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, seven people familiar with the discussions said.

Zelenskyy 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 three senior Ukrainian officials, two European diplomats and two more people 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.

One senior Ukrainian official joked that the country’s leaders would consider nearly anything to maintain U.S. support, including, the official said, a massive shipment of Ukrainian eggs. The country has an egg surplus, and leaders there are aware of their skyrocketing cost in the United States.

But another senior Ukrainian official described being taken aback by the scale of what the Trump administration demanded. The person compared it to Europeans carving up African colonies in the 18th century, and said it could also lead to the right to develop Ukraine’s resources being signed away for decades with no guarantees that investors would actually develop them.

Ukraine’s rare-earth mineral resources could be worth trillions of U.S. dollars, with rising demand in electronics, defense systems, drones, and the clean-energy and automotive industries, among others. They are difficult to extract at scale, and while Ukraine has some reserves, it does not mine them at the moment. China produces the vast majority of rare-earth minerals.

Many but not all of Ukraine’s reserves are in territory occupied by Russia.

The country’s leaders are unsure of the exact value of their overall natural resources, in part because it is unclear how much can be extracted. One internal estimate pegs the rare earths at $3 trillion to $5 trillion, while the sum total of mineral deposits may be closer to $13 trillion to $15 trillion, one senior Ukrainian official said.

Ukraine has other mineral resources in addition to rare earths, such as lithium and uranium. It is unclear whether the White House seeks access to the broader category of minerals or just rare earths.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One of the senior Ukrainian officials said that Kyiv received the proposed U.S. mineral deal just four hours before Bessent met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Wednesday. In that meeting, the treasury secretary “insisted” that Zelenskyy sign it immediately. Zelenskyy did not, the official said.

The Ukrainians continued to discuss the proposal on Friday, when Zelenskyy met with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Munich. Ukraine has told the Trump administration that it cannot legally sign away its mineral resources in the way proposed by Washington, but Ukrainians have continued to mull alternatives, two Ukrainian officials said.

The Friday meeting was delayed for several hours when Rubio’s plane experienced mechanical difficulties and had to turn around – buying the Ukrainians valuable time to come up with a counterproposal, one of the officials said.

Zelenskyy had only a few minutes to read the U.S. proposal before his Wednesday meeting with Bessent, said one person familiar with the discussions.

“Ukraine has theoretically agreed” to the concept of such a deal, but disagreed with the lack of U.S. security guarantees listed in the proposal, the person said. The document Zelenskyy declined to sign this week was more of a short memorandum of understanding “governed by New York law” than a major international agreement, the person said, adding that it would not have been enforceable. Ukraine would expect any such deal to last for decades to come and wants such an arrangement to be ratified by its parliament.

The 50% idea appears at least partially inspired by Ukraine, which identified the material as a resource that could help bolster the economy and be tied to Western security assistance. Zelenskyy first suggested providing the United States with the materials during a meeting with Trump in September, prior to the election. The idea is also part of a “victory plan” Zelenskyy made public the following month.

But Zelenskyy has said he wants European involvement and investment in developing his country’s resources, not just Washington’s.

Zelenskyy confessed Saturday to feeling stressed about the Trump administration’s approach to his country.

Asked after delivering a speech at a public forum in Munich whether he felt Trump and Vance understand the stakes of Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Zelenskyy said: “I’ll be honest. We have to work on it. All of us, not only me.”

The audience of ministers and diplomats erupted in shocked laughter at his honesty, since leaders in his position typically seek to smooth away disagreements.

Trump allies have expanded and seized on the minerals idea as a way to maintain the president’s support for Kyiv.

“Ukraine has value. Literally has value,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said Saturday in Munich at an event sponsored by Politico.

“Trump now sees Ukraine differently,” he said. “These people are sitting on literally a gold mine … I showed him a map.”

If the United States is granted Ukraine’s mineral wealth, Graham said, “we will have something to defend. We will have an economic interest in Ukraine we’ve never had. And that’s a nightmare for Putin.”

Critics say that asking for 50% of the sector doesn’t match the level of assistance Kyiv has received. Ukraine has received about $66 billion in military aid from Washington since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago, according to the State Department, and about $50 billion in non-military aid, according to an estimate from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Ukraine received about $69 billion in military aid in the eight-year-stretch between Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion.

“Investment now in the Ukrainian critical minerals sector could make a lot of sense. But President Trump’s initial offer seems unreasonable, exploitative and unlikely to help end the war. This is not a good way to promote American interests.” said Simon Johnson, an economist at MIT who has been involved in helping Ukraine with its economic planning.

“I expect the Ukrainian reaction to be dismay and disbelief,” he said.

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O’Grady reported from Kyiv and Stein reported from Washington.