By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Wartorn Ukraine has made U.S. President Donald J. Trump an offer the deal-maker-in-chief may find difficult to refuse: In exchange for American military aid, he will have access to Ukraine’s mineral industry, which could provide a valuable source of rare earth elements needed for many kinds of technology.
Kyiv’s announcement came after an interview that aired Monday in which Trump said he wanted such a deal and warned that Ukraine “may be Russian someday.”
“We really have this big potential in the territory which we control,” Andrii Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said in published remarks. “We are interested to work, to develop, with our partners, first of all, with the United States.”
President Trump claims that Ukraine, which has been facing a full-scale Russian military invasion since February 2022, has “essentially agreed” to give America half a trillion dollars worth of rare earth minerals. They would serve as payment for the multi-billion dollar military aid Washington provided Kyiv.
“They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth [minerals], in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want to have our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars [in Ukraine],” Trump told broadcaster Fox News’ “Special Report” program host Bret Baier.
The interview was taped before Sunday’s Super Bowl, America’s most prominent football event.
“They [Ukraine] may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” Trump stressed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed on Trump’s plan, say sources familiar with his thinking, as he seeks to strengthen Kyiv’s hand ahead of future peace negotiations with Moscow.
More than 1 million people are believed to have been killed and injured in Europe’s bloodiest armed conflict since World War II.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
There was concern Friday about the detained wife of Pastor Joseph Shahbazian, who was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for his Christian work in Iran.
Authorities in autocratically-ruled Belarus have banned an organization that united leaders of several denominations to highlight reported persecution of devoted Christians in the country, sources confirmed Friday.
Islamic militants have targeted Christian communities in several states of Nigeria in recent days, killing and injuring numerous believers, Christians told Worthy News early Friday.
Hamas on Thursday firmly rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to take control of Gaza and transform it into a so-called “freedom zone,” dismissing the idea as a nonstarter and asserting Palestinian sovereignty over the territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he is open to a ceasefire with Russia but warned that Moscow seems “not serious” about peace talks.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on May 14 that he has directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a comprehensive review of the abortion pill mifepristone, citing newly surfaced data indicating a significantly higher rate of serious adverse events than previously reported.
President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated a controversial proposal for the United States to take control of Gaza, transforming the war-ravaged territory into what he described as a “freedom zone.”