Zelenskyy told Trump Ukraine would consider sharing rare earth minerals in exchange for military support
Geoff Nixon | CBC News | Posted: February 5, 2025 12:30 AM | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
Ukrainian leader says conversations with Trump began before last fall's U.S. election
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that he's talked to U.S. President Donald Trump about the prospect of Ukraine sharing rare earth minerals with the United States, a topic he said was first raised with his White House counterpart months ago.
Trump said Monday that he wanted Ukraine to supply the U.S. with such minerals as a form of payment for the financial support Washington has provided to Kyiv amid its fight with Russia.
"I talked about this back in September, when we had a meeting with President Trump," Zelenskyy told reporters at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
"We are open to the fact that all of this can be developed with our partners, who are helping us to defend our land and pushing the enemy back with their weapons, their presence and sanctions packages. And this is absolutely just."
Reporting from Ukrainian media suggests that point was made to Trump that the land where those resources are located must remain in Kyiv's control, in order for the U.S. to be in an eventual position to access them — and as such, security guarantees are needed to protect them.
Russia offered its own comment on this matter Tuesday, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying Trump's proposal shows that the U.S. is no longer willing to provide support to Ukraine for free.
Yet Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former Ukrainian economy minister, noted that what Trump saw on offer from Ukraine could not be matched by Russia.
"Putin, on the other hand, can't give Trump anything, except flattery and bad faith, and Trump knows it," he wrote on the social media platform X.
Strong support under Biden
The all-out war in Ukraine is nearing the three-year mark and the U.S. has been a critical backer of Kyiv's fight during that time.
But that support began under the administration of former U.S. president Joe Biden and has the potential to shift under Trump's watch — though the new Oval Office inhabitant has sent mixed signals on what may happen.
WATCH | Drone dangers for civilians:
Trump has long talked about his intent to bring about a rapid end to the conflict in Ukraine, but the timelines associated with this claim have shifted. While the U.S. president previously claimed he could end the war in a 24-hour period, members of his administration have been pointing to longer timelines being necessary for progress on this front.
Zelenskyy said Tuesday that his administration had spoken to both Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz, as well as Keith Kellogg, the retired U.S. lieutenant-general who Trump picked to be his special envoy to Ukraine.
Efforts are underway to have a U.S. delegation visit Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
The two leaders had a history prior to Trump's return to the Oval Office, as Zelenskyy's own presidential term began when Trump was in power the first time around. And the content of a phone conversation between them was at the core of Trump's first impeachment trial — for which the U.S. president was acquitted of allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The fighting in Ukraine has claimed thousands of civilian lives since Russia launched its wide-ranging invasion in February 2022. Incoming missiles, glide bombs, shelling and attacks by hostile drones have all put Ukrainian lives at continuing risk.
On Tuesday, five people died and 55 others were injured, after a Russian missile struck a building in the central district of Izium in northeastern Ukraine, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram.
According to figures that Zelenskyy quoted in a newly published interview, the fighting in Ukraine has killed at least 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers and injured another 390,000.
Some estimates from media put the number of the country's war dead higher than what Kyiv has stated.