Ukraine rejects US demand for half of its mineral resources

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to five people briefed on the proposal or with direct knowledge of the talks.

The unusual deal would have granted the United States a 50% interest in all of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including graphite, lithium and uranium, as compensation for past and future support in Kyiv’s war effort against Russian invaders, according to two European officials. A Ukrainian official and an energy expert briefed on the proposal said that the Trump administration also sought Ukrainian energy resources.

Negotiations are continuing, according to another Ukrainian official, who, like the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the talks. But the expansiveness of the proposal, and the tense negotiations around it, demonstrate the widening chasm between Ukraine and the United States over both continued U.S. support and a potential end to the war.

The request for half of Ukraine’s minerals was made Wednesday, when U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Zelenskyy in the capital, Kyiv, the first visit by a Trump administration official to Ukraine. The Treasury Department declined to comment about any negotiation.

After seeing the proposal, the Ukrainians decided to review the details and provide a counterproposal when Zelenskyy visited the Munich Security Conference on Friday and met with Vice President JD Vance, according to the official.

It is not clear if a counterproposal was presented.

Zelenskyy, speaking to reporters in Munich on Saturday, acknowledged that he had rejected a proposal from the Trump administration. He did not specify what the terms of the deal were, other than to say that it had not included security guarantees from Washington.

“I don’t see this connection in the document,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s not ready to protect us, our interests.”

The security guarantee is key, because Ukrainians believe the United States and Britain have failed to live up to their obligations to protect the country under an agreement signed at the end of the Cold War, when Ukraine gave up the Russian nuclear weapons on its territory.

European diplomats had another objection. They complained that the negotiation reeked of colonialism, an era when Western countries exploited smaller or weaker nations for commodities.

In Munich, a gulf also appeared between the United States and its European allies over the Trump administration’s plans to end the war. Many of them said they were more confused than before they had arrived.

A Ukrainian official and an energy expert briefed on Bessent’s offer said it covered not just half of Ukraine’s minerals, but also other natural resources such as oil and gas. The official also said the proposal gave the United States a claim to half of Ukraine’s earnings from resource extraction and the sale of new extraction licenses.

Acceding to these demands would deprive the Ukrainian government of millions of dollars in revenue that are currently almost entirely invested in the country’s defense. In the first half of last year, Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas giant, reported a profit exceeding $500 million.

The idea of leveraging Ukraine’s mineral resources began to take shape last summer. Zelenskyy’s government, trying to appeal to President Donald Trump’s business-minded approach and fearing he would follow through on his promises to cut off military and financial aid to Ukraine, decided to pitch a deal that would essentially trade Ukrainian critical minerals for American aid.

The Ukrainian president presented the idea to Trump during a September meeting in New York, and the proposal gained backing from influential political figures, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. It also came after U.S. businessmen — including Ronald S. Lauder, a wealthy friend of Trump’s — showed interest in investing in Ukraine’s mineral resources.

Ukraine had always maintained that access to its natural resources would come in exchange for strong security guarantees from the United States. But one of the Ukrainian officials said that the proposal made no such commitment, instead framing the access to Ukraine’s resources as overdue payment for past American military and financial aid.

Ukraine has 109 significant mineral deposits, including those with ores of titanium, lithium and uranium, according to a list compiled by the Kyiv School of Economics, in addition to oil and natural gas fields. Some, though, are in territory already under Russian occupation or close to the front line.

Their value is uncertain. Apart from the risks of a repeat Russian invasion after a ceasefire — a risk a deal with the United States is intended to reduce — deeply entrenched problems in Ukraine’s business climate have hobbled investment for much of the country’s postindependence history.

These include arcane regulation and insider dealing by Ukrainian businesspeople and politicians, which could limit any profits from the arrangement. Even before the war, few investors were takers on Ukrainian mining deals.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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