Trump Wants to Help Ukraine if Kyiv Gives Strategic Minerals to US

WASHINGTON, TUESDAY — United States President Donald Trump has asked Ukraine to supply rare earth minerals to the United States (US) as a form of payment for US assistance to Ukraine in the war against Russia. The agreement on this matter will be negotiated by Washington and Kyiv.

"We conveyed to Ukraine that they have very valuable rare earth minerals," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday (2/3/2025) local time or early Tuesday morning WIB.

"We want to reach an agreement with Ukraine regarding what they will secure through their rare earth minerals and other things to obtain what we provide to them," Trump continued.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once floated the idea of bartering their rare earth mineral wealth for US aid in October 2024 as part of a "victory plan" to end the war against Russia.

It is not entirely clear from Trump's statement whether he meant "rare earth minerals" to refer to all types of important minerals or just rare earth minerals. Rare earth minerals are a collection of 17 metals used to make magnets that convert energy into motion in electric vehicles, smartphones, and other electronic devices.

The US Geological Survey identifies 50 minerals as critical to the US economy and national defense, including several types of rare earth minerals, nickel, and lithium. The US has only one rare earth mineral mine. The country's capacity to process rare earth minerals is also very limited.

This is different from China, the main rival of the US. China is the largest producer of rare earth minerals and many other important minerals in the world.

Ukraine has significant deposits of uranium, lithium, and titanium, although none of these minerals rank among the top five in the world in terms of volume.

When asked by a reporter whether Trump wanted Ukraine to give those resources to the US, Trump replied, “Yes, I want to secure the availability of rare earth metals.”

Last week, Reuters reported that US military aid to Ukraine had been temporarily suspended without explaining why. Trump also said that his party had held talks with Moscow to stop the Ukraine-Russia war.

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency, as reported on Saturday (1/2/2025), Zelenskyy warned that negotiations to end the Ukraine-Russia war would be very dangerous if they did not include his country.

Negotiations with the US over Ukraine's rare earth supplies to the US could be Zelenskyy's bargaining chip to get Washington to help Kyiv, including in negotiations with Russia. Zelenskyy has previously expressed the idea of utilizing his country's rare earths. He said Ukraine's wealth is worth trillions of US dollars.

"This requires a special agreement with the Western Allies on the use of these strategic resources, including investments for the use of rare earth metals," Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, on Monday (3/2/2025), the Russian military pushed forward to control an area of 430 square kilometers approaching the central region of Ukraine in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. Russian troops on the eastern front of Donetsk are known to continue to advance towards central Ukraine.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in the United States reported that Russian troops advanced to control an area of 430 square kilometers in January 2025. This movement slowed down compared to November 2024 when Russian troops controlled an area of 725 square kilometers and in December 2024 an area of 476 square kilometers.

The war continues to drag on as Russia approaches its third anniversary. Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, following the persecution of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine following the 2014 Maydan Revolution that led to the establishment of a pro-Western government in Ukraine.

Russian troops are closing in on the strategic town of Pokrovsk west of Donetsk, which borders the Dnipropetrovska region, which is divided by the Dnipro River.

Despite being under pressure on the eastern front, Ukraine has managed to carry out a number of attacks on strategic targets in Russia. An explosion in Moscow on Monday morning killed two people, including the founder of an ethnic Armenian battalion fighting Ukrainian forces on the eastern front, and wounded three others.

Russia's Investigative Committee released photos showing the building's lobby with shattered glass and a collapsed ceiling. It did not say what caused the blast. Russian news agency TASS cited a security source as saying a bomb had been planted in the building.

Russia's Federal Investigative Committee launched a criminal investigation into the case on charges of murder, attempted murder, causing harm to the public and arms smuggling.

One of those killed in the attack was Armen Sakisyan, a founder of a volunteer battalion fighting in Donetsk and who ran a boxing club in the region. Sarkisyan's bodyguard was also killed in the attack.

In December 2024, Sarkisyan was convicted in absentia by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on charges of arms smuggling and forming a militia and supporting military operations against Ukraine.

The SBU previously accused Sarkisyan of recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine to help the Russian military. They formed the ArBAT or Armenian Battalion unit. They fought in the Toretsk region of Donetsk and also in the Russian region of Kursk which was invaded by Ukraine in August 2024.

Russian authorities have not mentioned Ukraine's involvement in the bomb attack that killed Sarkisyan.

Ukraine also launched bombing attacks on Russian energy targets at two oil facilities in western Russia. The Ukrainian military said Monday that drone and missile attacks were carried out overnight on Russian oil refineries.

The SBU claims to have hit oil refineries in Volgograd and Astrakhan. It was the fifth such attack since early 2025.

“The attacked facility supplied fuel to the Russian occupation forces on our territory,” the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement.

The Volgograd and Astrakhan governments confirmed that Ukrainian drone attacks had caused fires at their oil and gas facilities and power plants. Russia said it shot down 70 Ukrainian drones, 25 in Volgograd airspace and seven in Astrakhan airspace, and the rest in other regions.

Russia also responded by sending attack drones into Ukraine. Ukraine claims to have shot down 38 Russian attack drones.

Russia and Ukraine also blamed each other for an attack on a boarding school in the Ukrainian-occupied Kursk region of Russia on Sunday, February 2, 2025, that killed 15 people.

The Ukrainian Air Force said four people were killed in Saturday's strike on a former boarding school that was being used as a shelter. It said dozens of people were still buried under the rubble.

Russia has not given a casualty figure. It has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting school buildings in an unspeakable crime.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, throughout Friday-Saturday (31/1-1/2/2025), 15 residents were killed due to Russian attacks in central and eastern Ukraine. Eleven people including a child were killed in Poltava due to a missile explosion and 16 people were injured. (AFP/Reuters/AP)