Zelensky Calls for US Investment in Ukraine’s Rare Earths After Trump Links Aid to Mineral Access

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky called on US companies Tuesday to invest in his country’s rare earths after US President Donald Trump said he wanted a deal with Kyiv that involved getting the minerals in exchange for aid.

Trump said Monday that he would want strategic metals — essential for various technologies — in exchange for security from the United States. 

Zelensky, who had floated the idea to the Republican last year, said it would be “fair” to give US companies access to the minerals as Washington has helped Kyiv fend off Russian forces. “I would like US business... to develop this field here,” Zelensky said, according to comments published by his office.

“We are open to the fact that all this can be developed with our partners, who are both helping us to protect our land and pushing the enemy back with their weapons, and sanctions packages — and this is absolutely fair.”

He called the idea an “important economic point” in his so-called “victory plan” for ending the three-year war with Russia.

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The Ukrainian leader said he had discussed such an initiative when he met Trump on a trip to the United States last Autumn. “I told him that we are open to investments from American companies,” he said. 

At the time Zelensky said the plan was meant to protect Ukraine’s natural resources. He also said that a visit by Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg was in preparation. 

“We already have started working on the dates when the American team will arrive. We are now agreeing on the dates and the delegation, and we are waiting for the teams. We will work jointly,” he said.

In his evening address later Tuesday, Zelensky said his administration was already beginning “substantial talks” with Trump’s team. 

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump repeated the idea of sending more military aid to Ukraine in exchange for the country’s rare earth metals.

“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said. “They have great rare earth. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do it.”

Trump’s remarks echoed US Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s statement in Feb. 2024 suggesting that Kyiv pay off Washington’s loan with its vast mineral resources.

But what can Ukraine offer?

What are rare earth elements?

There are 17 rare earth elements whose primary uses are in high-tech components.

The elements include neodymium, dysprosium and terbium, used in making powerful magnets for electric vehicles, wind turbines and smartphones, and europium and yttrium used in building energy-efficient lighting and display screens, just to name a few.

Scandium, one of the rare earth elements, is often used with aluminum to create an alloy suitable for aerospace applications.

Contrary to its name, rare earth elements are abundant in the earth’s crust – just scattered in smaller clumps and unusual to find in their pure form.

Lithium – a critical component in making batteries of which Ukraine is believed to possess a third of Europe’s reserves – is not a rare earth element.

What does Ukraine have?

According to an article by Ukraine’s Geology Institute, rare earth elements such as cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, erbium, samarium, lutetium and yttrium were found in the Azov Deposit – an area under Russian occupation – though the amount of reserves remain unclear.

A 2022 research funded by the EU says, “There is no specific information available on reserves of cerium, dysprosium, erbium, europium, gadolinium, holmium, lanthanum, lutetium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, terbium, thulium nor ytterbium in Ukraine.”

However, it says that Ukraine’s reserves of scandium are classified, some information could be found in open sources.

Scandium reserves “have been estimated in four complex deposits: Zhovtorichanske (metasomatites), Stremyhorodske, Torchynske (apatitetitanomagnetite-ilmenite ore roots and their weathering crusts), and Zlobitske ilmenite placer deposit,” the report says.

Though the report did not disclose the amount of scandium in Ukraine, it says that Ukraine has a vast reserve that, coupled with Ukraine’s ability to extract the element, could meet domestic demands whilst exporting it.

“The mineral resources of scandium in the bowels of Ukraine are among the largest in the world, and the available mining and processing facilities make it possible to fully meet the domestic needs of scandium and supply it for export,” it says.