Trump says Ukraine has "essentially agreed" to US$500 billion mineral deal

US President Donald Trump has stated that Ukraine "essentially agreed" to allow the US access to mineral extraction on its territory in exchange for aid.

As reported by The New York Post, Trump claimed that Ukraine had "essentially agreed" to allow the US access to the extraction of valuable minerals in exchange for military aid and that he is interested in such an agreement.

"I told them that I want the equivalent of like US$500 billion worth of rare earth [minerals – ed.], and they’ve essentially agreed to do that. They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth [minerals – ed.], 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 – ed.]," Trump said.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump added that he expects such a deal regardless of how the war and possible negotiations unfold.

"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 [Ukraine – ed.] and I say, I want it back," he added.

Trump also called it "stupid" to continue assisting Ukraine for free.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that as part of a potential "deal" with Donald Trump's administration, the US and Ukraine could jointly develop mineral resources on Ukrainian territory.

On 10 February, The Telegraph reported that Trump’s administration decided to pause the development of a "peace plan" for Ukraine to hold talks with European partners.