सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Kathmandu. After a row between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kiev and Washington have agreed to a deal that will give the United States access to Ukrainian mineral resources. How much money is at stake? Will the deal provide security guarantees to Ukraine? Key details of the deal are still unclear. Trump and Zelensky are expected to sign it in Washington this week.
President Trump has said that the US should give up $5 trillion in natural resources to fight the war with Russia.
Trump has demanded compensation for US aid paid to former US President Joe Biden’s administration in the three years since Russia invaded in February 2022. According to the German economic research body Kiel Institute, Trump has demanded $500 billion in compensation. That is about four times the amount Washington has currently paid Ukraine, which is worth $120 billion.
Zelensky had rejected the draft, saying he would not sign a deal that would require “ten generations” of Ukrainians to pay. A source in Kiev with knowledge of the deal later told AFP that the demand had been removed from the most recent draft of the document. However, it does suggest that the United States and Ukraine should shift revenue to a joint US-Ukrainian fund and jointly develop mineral resources.
“They removed all the clauses that we did not like, especially the one about $500 billion,” the Ukrainian source said.
Uncertainty on security
Ukraine insists that any agreement must include long-term and strong security guarantees that would help prevent Russia from ever attacking again. Zelensky proposed in October last year as part of his five-point victory plan that would see Ukraine eventually join NATO in exchange for security commitments. But that option – a red line for the Kremlin – has been blocked by Washington.
Ukraine has advocated the deployment of foreign peacekeepers in the event of a ceasefire. But the United States has rejected that option, and European countries are divided on the issue. The text of the minerals deal could include references to Ukrainian security without concrete guarantees. A Ukrainian source told AFP that discussions on this point are still ongoing. “There is a common thread that the US will invest in a stable and prosperous sovereign Ukraine,” the source said, adding that there was mention of US support for ‘lasting peace’ and ‘security guarantees’.
Ukraine has these expensive minerals
Ukraine has about five percent of the world’s mineral resources. But not all of them have been mined yet. Nor can they be easily mined. Some are in territory occupied by Russia. This is what Trump wants to protect. According to World Mining Data, Ukraine is a significant producer of manganese (the world’s eighth largest producer), titanium (11th) and graphite (14th). These minerals are essential for electric batteries. According to France’s Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM), Ukraine has 20 percent of the world’s estimated resources of graphite.
Ukraine also claims to have “one of the largest lithium reserves in Europe.” But the government says the soft metal has yet to be extracted. According to Kiev, “six deposits of rare earth metals are known to exist” and that developing the Novopoltavske deposit would require an investment of $300 million.
Ukraine claims the Novopoltavske deposit is one of the largest in the world. However, the site is controlled by Russian forces, and the Kremlin has denied that it annexed the territory since 2022 or the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he supports US investment in Russian-occupied territories.
The Shevchenko deposit of lithium, tantalum, niobium and beryllium is less than 10 kilometers from the front line near Pokrovsk, where Russian forces are gaining ground against Ukrainian forces that are outnumbered and outgunned.
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