Analysts from Politico concluded that the "minerals game" that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky's team launched to win the support of Donald Trump has turned into a political disaster for Ukraine.
Points of attention
- The focus on squeezing money out of Ukraine rather than fostering post-war peace has strained the relationship between the two countries, raising concerns about the agreement's true intentions.
- Despite the concerns raised by journalists and analysts, Ukraine is navigating the situation cautiously to avoid provoking further backlash from the US president.
What's wrong with the subsoil deal?
Journalists point out that official Kyiv used the proposal to extract precious metals to push the White House to continue supporting Ukraine amid its war with Russia.
However, the main problem is that Trump is only interested in Ukraine when it comes to squeezing money out of it, not helping to ensure a stable post-war peace.
"The precious metals offer was a clear security point for Ukraine. It has critical resources like titanium, uranium, and others. And if Russia gets those resources, it would be a disaster for Kyiv's allies," one insider said.
According to analysts, what the Trump team is seeking from Ukraine within the framework of the new draft agreement has already turned into a political disaster.
Ukraine may not even get all of the vast resources it promised. Moreover, extracting any minerals would cost billions and could take decades—not the timeframe Trump envisioned.
At the moment, Ukraine does not want to provoke another fit of anger from Trump, so Kyiv is not publicly criticizing this document.
However, Zelensky's team is still trying to carefully tweak the proposed agreement without irritating the US president.
