What minerals does Ukraine have – and why does Donald Trump want them?

Published

3 months ago

February 25, 2025

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Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on his Ukrainian counterpart to sign away up to 50% of its mineral supplies.

Amid concerns Mr Trump would withdraw aid if elected, during a meeting at Trump Tower in September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly proposed a US stake in Ukrainian minerals in exchange for more weapons.

But since Mr Trump’s return to the White House, US-Ukrainian relations have become increasingly strained, with him branding Mr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and excluding Ukraine from negotiations with Russia.

Moscow contradicts Trump over peacekeepers; Ukraine latest

A Ukrainian source told Sky News that Mr Zelenskyy is “not ready” to sign the US agreement due to a “number of problematic issues”, with a leaked draft claiming to ask for 50%. French President Emmanuel Macron has lent his support to the idea.

Here we look at Ukraine’s mineral supply – and why the US wants access to it.

Which minerals does Ukraine have?

Before Russia’s invasion in February 2022, minerals made up 6.1% of Ukraine’s GDP (gross domestic product) and 30% of its exports.

It is home to various ‘critical’ minerals, so called for their use in technology manufacturing, defence systems, and green energy, with examples including copper, nickel, lithium, and titanium.

According to the European Commission, in 2019 Ukraine supplied 7% of global titanium, which is used for building nuclear power plants and planes.

Similarly, it is believed to have more lithium (used to make batteries) than any other European country – a suspected 500,000 tonnes.

Before Russia’s invasion, it was also responsible for a fifth of global graphite, which is a key material for nuclear power stations and electric vehicle batteries.

Other raw materials in good supply include coal, iron ore, and manganese.

Pre-war figures are the most reliable, as up to 40% of Ukrainian metallic minerals are now in areas occupied by Russia – namely the Donbas and neighbouring eastern regions.

For example, two of Ukraine’s lithium deposits are under Russian control – Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk.

Rare earth elements

Rare earth elements (REE) are a group of 17 exotic minerals used to make everything from smartphones and electronic devices, to electric vehicles, wind turbines, and weapons systems.

Examples include europium, a material for control rods at nuclear power plants, and gadolinium, used to make the magnets inside mobile phones – as well as holmium, ytterbium, and dysprosium.

They are not strictly rare – but their extraction and storage are highly energy-intensive.

With the details of war-torn Ukraine’s mineral supplies uncertain – it is not clear which REEs are present there and how much there are of them.

But in a pre-war assessment of 109 critical mineral deposits across the country by the Kyiv School of Economics, three were reported to contain REEs.

Ukrainian mineral data, seen by Reuters, has also cited cerium, neodymium, erbium, yttrium, and lanthanum.

Why does Trump want them?

Donald Trump has not been clear about which minerals he wants from Ukraine.

And as Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway says, there are far greater supplies of lithium, graphite, and titanium elsewhere, including in the US.

But what is far more certain is the role China has to play in Mr Trump’s demands.

As the biggest manufacturer in the world, China processes more REEs than any other country – with its deposits representing between 50% and 75% of global supply, according to estimates.

As a result, both the US and Europe are trying to reduce their dependency on Beijing.

In December as Mr Trump prepared to return to office, China banned the export of some REEs to the US. Under Joe Biden’s administration, it had already restricted its US mineral exports.

In response on 1 February, the Trump administration announced 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports.

Beyond the trade war with China, REEs and critical minerals are fundamental to the global green energy transition.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation, to meet net-zero targets by 2030, we will need three times as much copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt.

This will mean a further 50 lithium, 60 nickel, and 17 cobalt mines globally.

World

Nicusor Dan beats hard-right favourite George Simion in surprise win in Romanian election

Published

2 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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Nicusor Dan beats hard-right favourite George Simion in surprise win in Romanian election

Pro-Western candidate Nicusor Dan has unexpectedly beaten hard-right populist George Simion in the Romanian presidential election.

Mr Simion, 38, and his rival – a centrist who’s mayor of Bucharest – faced off in the second round of the contest.

According to the official tally, Mr Dan was leading by nearly nine percentage points with more than 98% of the votes counted.

After exit polls suggested he wasn’t going to win, Trump-supporting Mr Simion rejected the result and said estimates put him 400,000 votes ahead.

Speaking after voting ended, Mr Simion said his election was “clear” as he posted on Facebook: “I won!!! I am the new President of Romania and I am giving back the power to the Romanians!”

Romania’s last election was annulled after its highest court ruled the leading candidate, nationalist Calin Georgescu, should be disqualified due to claims of electoral interference by Russia.

The result is surprising because in the first round, 38-year-old Mr Simion, founder of the right-wing Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), took 40.96% of the vote – almost 20 points ahead.

An opinion poll on Friday had it much closer, but still suggested the two men were virtually tied.

Mr Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician, is running as an independent and has pledged to clamp down on corruption.

He is also staunchly pro-EU and NATO, and has said Romania’s support for Ukraine is vital for its own security.

When voting closed at 9pm local time, 11.6 million people – about 64% of eligible voters – had cast ballots. About 1.64 million Romanians living abroad also took part.

The election is being closely watched across Europe amid a rise of support for President Donald Trump.

After polls closed, Mr Dan said “elections are not about politicians” but about communities and that in the latest vote “a community of Romanians has won, a community that wants a profound change in Romania”.

“When Romania goes through difficult times, let us remember the strength of this Romanian society,” he said.

“There is also a community that lost today’s elections. A community that is rightly outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania up to now.”

World

Israel to allow ‘basic quantity of food’ into Gaza to avoid ‘starvation crisis’

Published

3 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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Israel to allow 'basic quantity of food' into Gaza to avoid 'starvation crisis'

Israel has said it will allow a “basic quantity of food” into the besieged enclave of Gaza to avoid a “starvation crisis” following a near three-month blockade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas”.

Gaza, where local authorities say more than 53,000 people have died in Israel’s 19-month campaign, has been under a complete blockade on humanitarian aid since 2 March.

It comes as global food security experts warn of famine across the territory and after a UN-backed report issued last Monday which warned one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation.

The statement from the prime minister’s office said it would “allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip”.

“Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas,” it added.

“Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”

It comes after a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.

Israel has just ramped up its offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials reporting at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed troops had begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.

In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.

Israel has launched an escalation to increase pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.

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British surgeon working in Gaza says it is now ‘a slaughterhouse’ amid Israeli bombardment

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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British surgeon working in Gaza says it is now 'a slaughterhouse' amid Israeli bombardment

A British surgeon working in southern Gaza has compared the region to a “slaughterhouse” because of the daily bombardment from Israeli forces.

Dr Tom Potokar, who is based at the European Hospital near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, offered his assessment of Israel’s military offensive after Palestinian health officials reported at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have confirmed their troops have begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.

In a video, Dr Potokar said it was “another day of devastation here in Gaza”, adding: “The stories coming from the north… absolutely horrific… particularly around the Indonesian Hospital.”

“I mean, it’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here… [with the] constant sound of bombardment jets overhead.

“If Cambodia was the killing fields, then Gaza now is the slaughterhouse.”

His reference to Cambodia’s killing fields refers to when more than a million people were murdered in mass executions and buried by the extreme communist guerrilla group, the Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, between 1975 and 1979.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.

Dr Potokar described the impact on those on the ground, saying: “We’ve been operating all morning so far and [treating] awful explosive injuries… [including] one young woman with leg fracture and shoulder fracture and a large wound on her buttock, who came in yesterday and is not yet aware that everyone in our family was killed in the onslaught.”

Israel has launched an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.

On Sunday, it announced and launched “extensive” new ground operations in Gaza.

It came after airstrikes killed more than 100 people, including dozens of children, overnight and into Sunday, hospitals and medics said, and forced northern Gaza’s main hospital to close.

A spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment”.

The ministry also said the bombardment had forced the closure of the Indonesian Hospital, the main hospital serving people in northern Gaza.

Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said more than 48 people – mostly women and children – were killed in the area which includes tents sheltering displaced people.

In Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, at least 12 people were killed in three separate strikes, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and the Nuseirat camp’s Awda Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry and the Palestinian Civil Defence – which operates under the Hamas-run government – reported that 19 people were killed in several strikes in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

Read more from Sky News:
How Israel has escalated Gaza bombing campaign

Ceasefire talks are taking place in Qatar this weekend – with Israel saying they involve discussions on ending the war as well as a truce and hostage deal.

A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any lasting truce must include the demilitarisation of Gaza as well as the exile of Hamas militants.

But a senior Israeli official added there had been little progress so far during talks in Qatar’s capital Doha.

Sky News Arabia reported Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

A Palestinian official close to the discussions said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”