The United States, Ukraine, can still provide “positive” minerals, employees say

The hopes of US President Donald Trump to provide access to the rare minerals of Ukraine hit a wall on Saturday after President Volodimir Zelenski rejected the offer on the grounds that he was too focused on the interests of the United States.

The prospects of an economic pact in exchange for Washington’s support for the war-torn country have gained grip in the last days against the backdrop of conversations about a wider deal to end war, but Zelenski said that the offer does not provide specific security guarantees for his country so far S

“I did not allow the ministers to sign an agreement respectively, because in my opinion it is not ready to protect us, our interest,” Zelenskyy to say The Associated Press on Saturday in Munich. The United States has suggested that they owe 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals, Reuters reports, citing three people familiar with the question.

However, employees of the Munich Security Conference have said there is an opportunity to negotiate a deal that is delicious for both parties.

Republican US Senator Lindsay Graham said on Saturday that such a deal could be a “change of game” when resolving the conflict and a “nightmare” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This deal on minerals between the United States and Ukraine is a change of game because President Trump can go to the US people and say that Ukraine is not a burden, it is a benefit,” Graham said on Saturday.

“If this mineral agreement happens, it is a nightmare for Putin because we have something to defend that we didn’t have before,” he added.

Ukraine is home to huge deposits of noble minerals critical for the production of high -tech products. Kiev Economics School estimates that the country Deposits Of the 20 of the 50 critical raw materials, including titanium, lithium and zirconium.

President Trump said he wanted Such minerals worth $ 500 billion From Ukraine to help reduce the dependence on the United States on China, but Zelenski said any operation would have to be linked to the security guarantees for Ukraine.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons told CNBC on Saturday that the deal could be “positive” for both parties, provided that he made KYIV security guarantees.

“If this is an investment opportunity in which US companies and other companies in Europe will participate in extraction and processing so that we can be independent of the Chinese sources of these strategic minerals – and if it helps to deepen and strengthen our partnership, To help guarantee Ukraine’s security goes ahead … That would be a positive thing, “Coons said.

However, he added that there are some descriptions of the deal that are “quite different from this.”