Bloomberg: US Treasury secretary will travel to Ukraine to negotiate earth resources deal

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may visit Ukraine for preliminary talks on a deal in which the United States would gain access to Kyiv's rare earth resources in exchange for military assistance.

According to Bloomberg, Bessent may arrive in Kyiv as early as this week as part of "initial talks" to secure US access to minerals.

This will make the US Treasury Secretary the first member of Donald Trump's administration to visit Ukraine.

On 3 February, Trump revealed his interest in striking an agreement with Ukraine to acquire rare earth metals and other resources in return for arms supplies.

He later added that Kyiv had "essentially agreed" to a US$500 billion mineral deal.

Ukraine has significant reserves of uranium and several important minerals, including titanium, lithium, and graphite. According to Ukrainian authorities, they could be worth trillions of dollars.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently commented on how he sees a "deal" with Trump on minerals.