This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is seeking hundreds of billions of dollars worth of rare earth resources from Ukraine in exchange for Washington’s support in the war against Russia, implying that failing to do so could mean a loss of the country’s sovereignty.
Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News late on February 10 as the White House embarks on a diplomacy offensive in Europe this week just days before the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“I want to have our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars…. I told them I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth and they’ve essentially agreed to do that,” Trump said in the interview.
He added: “And, you know, they may make a deal, they may not make a deal, they may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday, but we’re going to have all this money in there and I say we’re going to want it back.”
Trump said he will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week while his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia will go to Ukraine soon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets leaders from around Europe during a trip to Poland, Belgium, and France.
Zelenskyy appeared ready to accept Trump’s condition, telling The Guardian in an interview published on February 11 that he wants Ukraine to be in a position of strength when it enters peace negotiations and that U.S. companies could be at the forefront of reconstruction efforts.
“Those who are helping us to save Ukraine will [have the chance to] renovate it, with their businesses together with Ukrainian businesses. All these things we are ready to speak about in detail,” he said, adding “Ukraine may swap territories with Russia.”
Trump did not say when the envoy, Keith Kellogg, would visit Ukraine, but CNN reported the trip would take place next week, while AFP quoted a source in the Ukrainian presidency as saying the visit would take place on February 20.
Kellogg is already expected to meet with Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference, which opens on February 14, and the Ukrainian president will meet with Vice President J. D. Vance on the sidelines of the conference, Zelenskyy spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hegseth also are scheduled to be in Munich, while Trump said he was sending Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine this week as part of initial discussions aimed at securing U.S. access to critical minerals.
At his first press conference in Germany, Hegseth told reporters in the city of Stuttgart that he will push European allies to spend more on defense and ruled out the involvement of U.S. troops in Ukraine.
“The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that individual and collective defense,” he said.
Trump is pushing for a swift end to the war, while Zelenskyy is calling for solid security guarantees as part of any deal with Russia.
Kyiv fears any agreement that does not include hard military commitments — such as NATO membership or the deployment of peacekeeping troops — will allow the Kremlin time to regroup and rearm for a fresh attack.
Over the weekend, Trump said he had spoken to Russia’s Vladimir Putin but he declined to specify whether the talks took place before or after he was inaugurated on January 20.
He added that he believes there has been progress toward ending the war but declined to elaborate on what he and Putin spoke about.
The Kremlin has said it could neither confirm nor deny whether Putin and Trump had spoken, but on February 11, it appeared to seize on Trump’s comments on what could happen if Kyiv doesn’t agree to a deal for its resources. saying, “a considerable part of Ukraine wants to be Russia and has already become Russia.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a Moscow news briefing on February 10 that demands set out by Putin last June were unchanged, including that Ukraine drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from all the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
He also warned that relations with Washington “are balancing on the brink of a breakup.”
“We have repeatedly said that they [Russian-U.S. relations] are on the verge of rupture,” he said, adding the “confrontational content” of bilateral relations has intensified.
Concerns that Washington and Moscow may agree on a peace settlement without the involvement of Ukraine are rampant in Kyiv, which insists it be at the negotiating table no matter what.
“It’s essential to understand that when we talk about the principle of ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,’ we mean that decisions shouldn’t be made without Ukraine’s participation,” Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian deputy and the chair of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and interparliamentary relations, told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
“Putin doesn’t want negotiations, and he wants to decide Ukraine’s fate without Ukraine’s participation. He hopes that the United States and Russia will agree on Ukraine’s fate, and Ukraine will become part of Russia’s sphere of influence.”
