Description: Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy has offered US President Donald Trump untampered access to Ukraine’s rare earth metals deposits in exchange for uninterrupted military aid. The offer came as Donald Trump stated last week that the US would be highly interested in accessing Ukraine’s rare earth metals deposits on top of his controversial statement that Ukraine might be Russian one day. Globally, materials such as lithium, titanium, and uranium are highly sought for, and China is the world’s leading rare earth metals producer. The details regarding a potential deal between Ukraine and the US haven’t been disclosed since Russia presently holds more than 40% of the territory where these deposits are located according to geological research from Ukrainian think – tanks. Possible deal would entice the initial end of the war in order to be facilitated. Special envoy Keith Kellog is expected later this week in Ukraine to draft proposals with Ukraine officials regarding the halting of military operations.
Impact: Ukraine’s rare earth metals deposits have become presently the country’s largest bargaining chip in order to ensure high levels of involvement from Europe and the US. The scenario of allowing foreign countries to tap into Ukraine’s deposits is presently impossible since the country is at war and most of the territories containing these deposits are under Russian control. With the outcome of the conflict still unclear Ukraine can’t possibly guarantee future access to these deposit sites and as a result can’t effectively use that in order to ensure US and EU military support. The US would spearhead the race for the deposits since it’s in an effective trade war with multiple countries, while Ukraine would hope on US military involvement on a larger scale in return.