What rare minerals does Ukraine have and why are they coveted by Trump?
It is a deal that will give the United States access to one of Ukraine's most valuable natural resources, but it remains unclear whether it will provide kyiv with the security guarantees that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking.
kyiv and Washington are close to signing a deal on US access to valuable minerals in Ukraine, which has huge deposits of rare earths and crucial minerals.
Olga Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said on X that “negotiations have been very constructive and almost all key details have been finalised.”
"We are committed to completing it quickly so that it can be signed," he added.
The idea of granting the US access to these valuable minerals came from Zelensky himself, who presented it to Trump in September 2024 as part of the “victory plan” and was seen as a way to secure US support for kyiv in the war against Russia.
Since his arrival at the White House, Trump has shown interest in minerals, but without offering the security guarantees sought by Ukraine.
“I told [Ukraine] I want about $500 billion worth of rare earths, and they basically agreed to do that,” Trump told Fox News reporter Bret Baier on February 10.
Trump argued that the minerals should be exchanged for continued U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, but he gave no indication he wanted to commit to defending that country.
“This is not a serious conversation,” Zelensky said, rejecting the proposal. “I cannot sell our state.”
Since then, relations between the two governments have been strained, but recently they seem to have eased, making progress in these negotiations possible, the final terms of which have not yet been defined.
In any case, Trump's proposal has demonstrated the importance of these minerals, but what are they good for and what can they offer the US?
“Rare earths” is a collective term for 17 chemically similar elements that are widely used in modern technology and industry.
These elements are crucial for the manufacture of smartphones, computers and medical equipment, among others.
These are scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb) and lutetium (Lu).
These minerals are called “rare” because it is very rare to find them in a pure state, although there are deposits of some of them around the world.
However, rare earths are often found with radioactive elements such as thorium and uranium, and separating them requires many toxic chemicals, making the extraction process sometimes difficult and expensive.
Ukraine possesses 21 of the 30 substances that the European Union (EU) defines as “critical raw materials”, which represents about 5% of the world’s reserves.
Many of the areas containing these elements are located south of what is known as the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield, mainly under the Sea of Azov. Most of these territories are currently occupied by Russia.
However, there are still promising projects in the Central Buzh region, as well as in the kyiv, Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr regions.
Experts say that although several hundred promising geological sites have been identified, only a few of them could be developed into deposits if their exploitation is considered economically viable.
“The estimates that have been published are very rough,” says Adam Webb, head of battery raw materials at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
“Much more work needs to be done to demonstrate that these mineral deposits can be converted into economic reserves.”
As for other important Ukrainian mineral resources, about 70% of them are located, according to Forbes Ukraine, in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Luhansk regions. That is, many are in territories invaded and still occupied by Russia.
In addition to rare earth minerals, Ukraine also possesses what are known as essential minerals, such as lithium.
According to the Ukrainian government, the country has about 450,000 tons of lithium reserves. It is not being exploited, although there have been plans to start doing so.
Russia has seized at least two lithium deposits: Shevchenkivske in the Donetsk region and the Kruta Balka complex deposit in the Berdyansk region.
Lithium deposits in the Kirovohrad region remain under Ukrainian control.
The US interest in controlling the production of rare earths and quite possibly essential minerals is largely due to competition with China, which currently dominates global supply.
In recent decades, China has become a leader in both the extraction and processing of rare earth minerals, with 60-70% of global production and nearly 90% of processing capacity.
The US dependence on China in this regard worries the Trump administration, both in terms of national security and the economy.
These materials are needed for highly sophisticated technologies, from electric cars to military equipment.
Analysis by Navin Singh Khadka, BBC World Service Environment Correspondent.
At first glance, it seems like a paradox.
Trump has ordered an expansion of fossil fuel production, abandoning renewable energy policies. But at the same time, he wants to secure crucial minerals – which are key to the transition to clean energy – from wherever he can.
However, these minerals are also the building blocks of consumer electronics, military and navigation equipment, and most importantly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers.
Trump has announced a major stimulus for the expansion of AI infrastructure in the United States. This will require a huge supply of essential minerals, mainly copper, silicon, palladium and rare earth elements.
And the supply of strategic minerals has already begun to decline, becoming one of the main causes of the slowdown in global growth of clean energy.
According to experts, the main factor is China's dominance of essential minerals, including rare earths, largely due to geopolitics between the United States and China.
Having perfected its processing techniques over decades, China now controls 100% of the refined supply of natural graphite and dysprosium, 70% of cobalt and nearly 60% of all processed lithium and manganese, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
It also produces mostly rare earth elements and maintains tight control over key metals around the world, owning major mines in Africa, Asia and South America.
“To counter China’s growing control over the global supply chain,” the U.S. House Armed Services Committee during the Biden administration stated that “it is essential that the United States secure its own innovative supply of critical and strategic minerals.”
The Trump administration appears to see places like Ukraine and Greenland as areas where it can use innovative methods to add to its supply chain.
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