US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to travel to Ukraine in the coming days to discuss ending the Russian invasion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
Bessent’s trip will mark the first cabinet-level visit to Kyiv under Trump’s new administration and will be the billionaire hedge fund manager’s first trip abroad since passing Senate confirmation on Jan. 28. The visit comes as Washington seeks to bolster its role in ending the war with Russia and secure American access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
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“I am sending Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet President Zelensky. This War MUST and WILL END SOON — Too much Death and Destruction,” Trump wrote.
Bessent will hold discussions focused on US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, energy resources, and the future of state-owned enterprises, according to a source with direct knowledge of the trip told Reuters.
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“The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show. WHEN AMERICA IS STRONG, THE WORLD IS AT PEACE,” Trump wrote.
The announcement comes after Trump started floating the idea of exchanging mineral access for continued US security support on Feb. 3. “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.”
Zelensky quickly reacted by stating that he supported the idea. “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,” Zelensky said on Feb. 5.
Trump claimed on Monday that Kyiv had already “essentially agreed” to a rare earth deal worth half a trillion dollars. “I told them that I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth [minerals], and they’ve essentially agreed to do that,” Trump said in a Fox News interview.
The potential deal has been gaining traction as Trump’s appointees have repeated the plan. “We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their rare earths, their natural resources, and their oil and gas,” US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said in an interview on Sunday.
We really have this big potential in the territory which we control... We are interested to work, to develop, with our partners, first of all, with the United States.
Bessent’s visit will coincide with trips to Europe by other top US officials for the Munich Security Conference beginning on Friday, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and US special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg. The officials are expected to meet with Zelensky and European allies to discuss the war along with potential frameworks for a peace deal with Russia.
Zelensky confirmed on Monday that he planned to meet with “serious people” from the Trump administration in Ukraine before the conference, and AFP reported earlier that the Ukrainian leader would meet with Vance on Friday.
Ukraine’s potential to become a key global supplier of rare earth elements has been highlighted by the Ukrainian Center for Economic Strategy (CES). Experts from CES said a potential exchange could boost Ukraine’s heavy industries and provide guarantees for its investment potential – and Zelensky’s government seems to agree.
“We really have this big potential in the territory which we control,” Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak told The Associated Press. “We are interested to work, to develop, with our partners, first of all, with the United States.”
There are 17 elements in the group deemed “rare earth” and several are present in Ukraine. “It can be lithium. It can be titanium, uranium, many others,” Yermak said. “It’s a lot.”
But accessing the elements may be difficult, as many of the country’s known mineral deposits are located in Russian-occupied territory, according to CES.
Read more about Trump’s proposal to trade Ukraine’s rare earth minerals for continued US security assistance:
- Trump Says Kyiv Agreed to $500B Mineral Deal
- Ukraine’s CES Says Country Can Benefit From US Investment in Critical Minerals
- Zelensky Calls for US Investment in Ukraine’s Rare Earth Metals, Echoing Trump
- Ukraine’s Rare Earth Minerals: What Is Trump Eyeing in Ukraine?
- Trump Proposes to Trade US Aid for Ukraine’s Metals – ‘I Want Security of Rare Earth’
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