Trump and the Great Deal to Ukraina's raw materials: What we know and do not know

Trump and the Great Deal to Ukraina's raw materials: What we know and do not know

The United States and the Ukraine work on a Agreement on natural Resources , which would give Washington access to the unused minerals Kiev. In return, Ukraine hopes for investments and concrete security guarantees.

Details of the agreement

The Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj told journalists on Wednesday and said that the contract could be a "great success", but the conversations with US President Donald Trump are decisive. A first concept of the agreement that is available contains only a few details. While Trump said on Tuesday that the two sides had achieved our agreement on rare earths and "almost" various other topics, Selenskyj remained more reserved. He emphasized that the agreement was only a "frame" and some important questions are still unanswered.

What does the agreement include?

The design agreement provides for the establishment of a "reconstruction investment fund", which is to be managed jointly by the governments of the USA and Ukraine. The Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal said on Wednesday that Ukraine would lead half of the future projects in the field of natural resources in these funds in order to finance further developments. Schmyhal emphasized that the agreement would rule out "occurrence, institutions, licenses and license fees", which are connected to the natural resources of Ukraine. "It's all about future licenses, developments and infrastructure," he said.

What does Trump want from the agreement?

Trump said he was trying to get the money back, which was provided under the previous administration as support for Ukraine. The United States originally claimed a share of $ 500 billion in the rare earths and other minerals in Ukraine in exchange for the help already achieved. Selenskyj, however, rejected this idea and explained that approval was synonymous with a "sale" of his country. Trump then called Selenskyj a "dictator".

When asked what Ukraine would receive as part of the mineral agreement, Trump replied: "$ 350 billion and lots of equipment, military equipment and the right to fight." This repeated a wrong claim that he had made in the past. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German Think Tank, which is precisely pursuing war support for Ukraine, Washington has promised a total of around $ 124 billion in help for Ukraine.

Trump indicated that security guarantees were not part of the agreement, and added: "We have largely negotiated our agreement on rare earths and various other things." He also explained that "later" the future security of Ukraine will be dealt with. The design agreement available to the CNN contains no concrete figures or details about the amount of the proportion that the US would keep in the fund.

What does Ukraine want from the agreement?

The Ukraine mineral areas have long been a sought -after goal of their allies, and Kiev has made them a central theme of his support. Selenskyj has made it clear that security guarantees should be part of the agreement. Some occurrences are already in areas that are under Russian occupation, and Selenskyj argues that a reason why the West should support Ukraine in its fight against Moscow is to prevent strategically important resources in the hands of the Kremlin.

"The occurrence of critical resources in Ukraine, together with the globally important energy and food production potential, are among the main goals of the Russian Federation in this war. And that is our opportunity for growth," said Selenskyj in October when he was presented by his "victory plan".

Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska, co-founder of the Ukrainian sustainable investment fund, emphasized that an agreement without security guarantees could not work. "In order to give the United States access to these occurrences, Ukraine must regain control of these areas, free the areas of mines and rebuild the infrastructure," she said.

The interest of the United States in the minerals of Ukraine

Materials such as graphite, lithium, uranium and the 17 chemical elements that are known as rare earths are crucial for economic growth and national security. They are essential for the production of electronics, technologies for clean energy, including wind turbines, energy networks and electric vehicles as well as for some weapon systems.

The USA are heavily dependent on imports of these minerals, many of which come from China that have dominated the market for a long time. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), China is responsible for almost 90 % of global processing of rare earth minerals. In addition, China is the world's largest producer of graphite and titanium as well as an essential processor of lithium.

Experts have long warned that the dependence on China is risky for strategic materials, but the current trade conflicts between Washington and Beijing make it all the more important for the United States to look for alternative suppliers. The European Union has also expressed interest in the resources of Ukraine and signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine, which outlines future investment opportunities in the area of ​​mineral mining.

The size of the Ukraine resources

Trump has repeatedly referred to the agreement as one about "rare earths", but he probably spoke more comprehensively about critical minerals. Ukraine does not have globally significant reserves less often, but some of the largest occurrence of graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium, all of which are classified by the USA as critical minerals.

Despite the big reserves in Ukraine, little was done to develop the sector. In view of the enormous burdens that Russia's unprofitable aggression has on the Ukrainian economy, it is unlikely that Kiev would be able to open up these resources without foreign investments. "Most projects are still in the exploration phase, without large-scale processing systems," said Katser-Buchkovska, which was a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and headed the parliamentary committee for energy security and transition.

"The promotion of rare minerals will be extremely expensive and, years of preliminary work, billion dollar investments, infrastructure development and training of workers, will require workers before production can even begin," she added, and pointed out that the area of ​​raw material acquisition in Ukraine is underdeveloped due to outdated infrastructure, war -related damage and poor investments remains.

Russia and the agreement

Trump's return to the White House has led to a significant change of policy towards Russia. US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of this month to discuss the end of the war in Ukraine without inviting Kiev or one of his European Allies to participate. Trump explained on Monday that he was about the end of the war in "serious conversations" with Russia and attempts to conclude "economic development agreements" with Moscow, pointing out their "massive occurrence of rare earth".

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow was ready to work with American companies in order to reduce occurrence of rare earths in both Russia and parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia. "Russia is one of the leading countries when it comes to the reserves less often. By the way, when it comes to new areas, we are also ready to win foreign partners - there are also certain reserves," said Putin in an interview with Russian state media.

The reporting was supported by CNNS Victoria Butenko, Nick Paton Walsh, Gul Tuysuz, Christian Edwards, Svitlana Vlasova, Dariya Tarasova-Markina, Lauren Kent and Michael Williams.