Zelenskyy 'not ready' to sign deal giving US access to Ukraine's rare minerals: Report

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “not ready” to sign a deal that would give the United States access to his country’s rare earth minerals, a source told AFP.

Earlier this week, a Reuters report said that the Trump administration is drafting a simplified minerals deal with Ukraine to get a pact in place quickly and later negotiate detailed terms of the agreement.

“In the form in which the draft is now, the president is not ready to accept, we are still trying to make changes and add constructiveness,” a Ukrainian source close to the matter told AFP Saturday.

“There are no American obligations in the agreement regarding guarantees or investments, everything about them is very vague, and they want to extract $500 billion from us.”

“What kind of partnership is this? … And why do we have to give $500 billion, there is no answer,” the source added.

This comes after Zelenskyy rejected a US proposal that sought as much as 50 per cent of Ukraine’s minerals including graphite, uranium, titanium and lithium, the latter a key component in electric car batteries.

Ukraine possesses extensive reserves of essential minerals and elements, including lithium and titanium, which are crucial for modern technology production. Additionally, the country has significant coal, oil, gas, and uranium deposits, though a large portion of these resources is currently located in areas controlled by Russia.

At the same time, Zelenskyy has been tiptoeing with the idea of allowing the US to develop his country’s natural resources so Trump can stick by his side as it continues to face Russian threats.

“The Americans helped the most, and therefore the Americans should earn the most. I would also like to talk about this with President Trump." Zelenskyy told Reuters earlier this month.

Trump has denounced his Ukrainian counterpart as “a dictator without elections” after Zelenskyy said Trump was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble, a response to the US president suggesting Ukraine started the war.

With inputs from agencies