NBC News learned the details of the US proposal to give Ukraine 50% of rare earths: what the US offered in return
Kyiv • UNN
The Trump administration offered Ukraine to transfer 50% of its ownership of rare earth minerals to the United States in exchange for military aid. Zelenskyy refused to sign the document, saying he needed to study it.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has offered Ukraine to give them 50% of Ukraine's rare earth minerals, noting that US troops could be deployed to ensure security in connection with mining if a peace agreement with Russia is concluded. NBC News reports with reference to sources, UNN reports.
Details
According to four US officials, the newspaper writes, "the Trump administration has offered Ukraine to give the United States 50% ownership of the country's rare earth minerals and signaled openness to deploying US troops to protect them if there is an agreement with Russia to end the war.
The two officials said that instead of paying for the minerals, the property deal would be a way for Ukraine to reimburse the United States for billions of dollars in weapons and support provided to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022.
However, on February 14, The Washington Post's Josh Rogin said that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign a document transferring 50% of Ukraine's mineral resources to the United States.
Eight U.S. officials report that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented Zelenskiy with a proposal for U.S. ownership of half of Ukraine's rare earth minerals in a draft agreement he brought to Wednesday's meeting in Kyiv.
After the meeting, Bessent said that the draft US-Ukraine agreement on rare earth minerals reflected the president's goal, but he did not provide details of what the administration had proposed.
Zelenskiy refused to sign the document when Bessent presented it during the meeting, saying he needed to study it and consult with others about it, according to eight U.S. officials briefed on the meeting.
At the time, the Ukrainian leader said that he and his team would "do everything to consider all the details of the document" before he arrived in Munich, where he met on Friday with US Vice President J.D. Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as US lawmakers on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Zelenskiy, speaking at a security conference on Friday, said his lawyers would evaluate the document Bessent presented to him in Kyiv with advice and some changes. He called the proposal a memorandum between the US and Ukraine, not a security agreement.
In recent months, US President Donald Trump has expressed interest in concluding a deal with Ukraine that would give the US significant access to its rare earth minerals, which are used to produce a variety of technological products.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump saidthat he wants the US to receive $500 billion worth of Ukrainian rare earth minerals and made it clear that Kyiv has "essentially agreed to do it.
Ukrainian officials have said that Zelenskiy has long supported the idea of exchanging "important resources" for further U.S. support, calling it part of a "victory plan" he presented to Trump during a meeting last fall.
In an exclusive interview on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskiy told NBC News' Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker that it would be "very, very difficult" for Ukraine to survive without US military support.