The Trump administration has proposed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States be granted 50 percent ownership of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for its military support, according to a report by NBC News.
U.S. officials told NBC News that handing over half of its valuable minerals would be a way for Ukraine to reimburse the U.S. for the billions of dollars in weapons and support it has provided to Kyiv since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
The American officials also signaled an openness to deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine to guard these minerals, if there is a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has been dangling allowing the U.S. to develop his country’s natural resources as a tactic to keep U.S. President Donald Trump on Kyiv’s side. Trump said on Monday that he wants around $500 billion worth of Ukraine’s mineral riches.
Zelenskyy warned on Friday that Ukraine will likely lose its war with Russia without U.S. military support. The Ukrainian president is in Germany this weekend to meet with other global leaders at the Munich Security Conference.
His grim prognosis comes as the conflict appears to be entering a new phase, with Trump and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth talking earlier this week about negotiating an end to the conflict on terms favorable to Russia.
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