US President Trump wants to establish the further support of his country for Ukraine on conditions: In return, Ukraine is intended to deliver valuable raw materials to the USA. Chancellor Scholz called Trump's demand “selfish”.
US President Donald Trump has demanded valuable raw materials from Ukraine in exchange for further US aids. His government wants to negotiate an agreement with Kiev that guarantees the delivery of rare earth to the USA, Trump explained in Washington. “We invest hundreds of billions dollars. They have great rare earths,” said the US President. He stated that Ukraine was “ready to do this”. Rare earths are metals that are required to manufacture smartphones, electric cars and other high-tech products.
In this context, Trump once again criticized his democratic predecessor Joe Biden. “Biden never asked for money. He never said: You have to pay. He just distributed money,” said Trump. In contrast, he is working with the Ukrainian government to complete “some deals” to secure guarantees for US support.
Trump already threatened to drastically shorten aids
The United States is the most important supporter and arms supplier of Ukraine in its defensive fight against aggressor Russia. However, Trump has indicated several times that he could drastically return the support of the United States.
The Republican was optimistic of being able to achieve a peace solution in the war that has been going on for almost three years. “We have made a lot of progress in Russia and Ukraine,” he said – without giving any details. In Kiev it is feared that Russia could end up being the winner.
Scholz: Ukraine must be able to finance her reconstruction
Sharp criticism of Trump's latest demand came from Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It “would be very selfish, very self-related” if you used Ukraine's resources to finance the support for the defense, Scholz said after an informal EU summit in Brussels. “It is about the fact that Ukraine can finance its reconstruction.” These are big tasks when you look at the huge destruction. Therefore, one should use the country's resources to finance everything that is necessary after the war.
Selenskyj offered access to raw materials
So far there has been no Ukrainian reaction to Trump's statements. President Wolodymyr Selenskyj offered the western allies access to valuable raw materials in his country before the US election in autumn. So he named uranium, titanium, lithium and graphite when he was presented by his so -called victory plan in Parliament in Kiev.
Ukraine has valuable raw materials “worth the value of US dollars,” said Selenskyj. The question is whether these resources fell in global competition to Russia and its allies or remained with the democratic world in Ukraine and – as he said.
Areas filled with valuable resources from Russians
According to the independent Russian Internet portal “CurrentTime”, some of the areas with occurrence of rare earths in Ukraine are now occupied by Russian troops. The Krutaja Balka deposit near the port city of Berdjansk was named. Another deposit has been lost due to the recent advance of the Russian units at Kurachowe.
Nevertheless, the country still has about 20 explored fields with the strategically important raw materials. In view of the emergency in which the Ukraine is located, the state leadership could be forced under the pressure of Trump to cede the valuable resources far below value.
