Ukraine has significantly exaggerated its rare-earth mineral reserves in an attempt to win favor with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to Bloomberg columnist and commodities expert Javier Blas. In an op-ed published Wednesday, Blas described Trump’s push for a resource extraction deal with Ukraine as an “illusion” and “folly.”
The controversy began in November last year when Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky presented a ‘victory plan’ for the ongoing conflict with Russia. The proposal included a special agreement with Western nations, including the U.S., on the joint protection, investment, and utilization of Ukraine’s critical resources. The offer caught Trump’s attention, and he reportedly demanded the “equivalent of $500 billion worth of rare earths” from Ukraine in exchange for continued American support.
However, Blas argues that Ukraine’s claims of vast rare-earth reserves are misleading. He suggested that Ukrainian officials, eager to engage Trump, exaggerated the country’s mineral wealth in their proposal. In reality, Blas states, Ukraine has “no significant rare-earth deposits other than small scandium mines.” He also pointed out that Trump may have confused “rare-earths” with the broader category of “critical minerals,” which Ukraine does possess, but not at the scale necessary to meet his demands.
Blas compared the situation to past U.S. miscalculations, including a 2010 Pentagon report that dubbed Afghanistan the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” That estimate, which claimed Afghanistan had $1 trillion in untapped mineral wealth, later proved to be largely inaccurate.
Reports suggested that Washington and Kyiv discussed a potential agreement granting the U.S. 50% ownership of Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals as repayment for military aid. However, Zelensky reportedly refused to sign the deal, with some officials calling it a “colonial agreement.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the U.S. of exploiting Ukraine’s leadership, claiming Washington seeks to “auction off” the country’s resources.
