Ukraine appears set to sign a deal that gives the United States access to its mineral supply in exchange for continued military aid.
A Ukrainian government source told Sky News that Kyiv has agreed its terms with Washington.
Mr Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the mineral fund means US taxpayers will “get their money back and then some” for three years of providing weapons against Russia.
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The idea of a deal first emerged in September. With concerns swirling Mr Trump would withdraw support if elected, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly suggested it during a meeting at Trump Tower.
The imminent signing of the deal comes amid strained US-Ukrainian relations since Mr Trump’s return to the White House, with the president branding Mr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and excluding Ukraine from negotiations with Russia.
Here we look at Ukraine’s mineral supply – and why the US wants access to it.
Donald Trump meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower in September 2024. Pic: AP
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.
Source: Institute for the Study of War/Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine
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.
A titanium plant in Armyansk, Crimea. File pic: Reuters
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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.
A graphite pit in Zavallia, Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
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.
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Why does Trump want them?
Donald Trump has not been clear about which minerals he wants from Ukraine, although he referred to the agreement as a “deal on rare earths” on Tuesday.
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.
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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.
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Why did China restrict mineral exports last year?
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.
Iran says “indirect talks” over the country’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme have taken place with US officials, with more to come next week.
The discussions on Saturday took place in Muscat, Oman, with the host nation’s officials mediating between representatives of Iran and the US, who were seated in separate rooms, according to Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry.
After the talks concluded, Oman and Iranian officials reported that Iran and the US had had agreed to hold more negotiations next week.
Oman’s foreign minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi tweeted after the meeting, thanking Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for joining the negotiations aimed at “global peace, security and stability”.
“We will continue to work together and put further efforts to assist in arriving at this goal,” he added.
(L-R) Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi meets his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi. Pic: Iranian foreign ministry/AP
Iranian state media claimed the US and Iranian officials “briefly spoke in the presence of the Omani foreign minister” at the end of the talks – a claim Mr Araghchi echoed in a statement on Telegram.
He added the talks took place in a “constructive atmosphere based on mutual respect” and that they would continue next week.
American officials did not immediately acknowledge the reports from Iran.
Mr Araghchi said before the meeting on Saturday there was a “chance for initial understanding on further negotiations if the other party [US] enters the talks with an equal stance”.
He told Iran’s state TV: “Our intention is to reach a fair and honourable agreement – from an equal footing.
“And if the other side has also entered from the same position, God willing, there will be a chance for an initial agreement that can lead to a path of negotiations.”
Reuters news agency said an Omani source told it the talks were focused on de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges and limited agreements to ease sanctions in exchange for controlling Iran’s nuclear programme.
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President Donald Trump has insisted Tehran cannot get nuclear weapons.
He said on Monday that the talks would be direct, but Tehran officials insisted it would be conducted through an intermediary.
Mr Trump also warned Iran would be in “great danger” if negotiations fail.
“Hopefully those talks will be successful, it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful,” he said. “We hope that’s going to happen.”
He added Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran”.
The comments came after Mr Trump’s previous warnings of possible military action against Iran if there is no deal over its nuclear programme.
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Saturday’s meeting marked the first between the countries since Mr Trump’s second term in the White House began.
During his first term, he withdrew the US from a deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran’s nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief.
He also reimposed US sanctions.
Iran has since far surpassed that deal’s limits on uranium enrichment.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is wholly for civilian energy purposes but Western powers accuse it of having a clandestine agenda.
Mr Witkoff came from talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday, as the US tries to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.
Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the US, an immigration judge has ruled.
Mr Khalil, a postgraduate student at Columbia University’s school of international and public affairs, has been a prominent figure in the university’s pro-Palestinian student protest movement.
The 30-year-old has held a US permanent residency green card since 2024 and his wife is a US citizen.
Mahmoud Khalil. Pic: AP
Mr Khalil was detained at his Columbia apartment building in Manhattan on 8 March, as agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told him his student visa had been revoked.
It marked the first arrest in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza.
Mr Khalil, who acted as a mediator between protesters and university officials during pro-Palestinian demonstrations at New York’s Columbia University last year, is not accused of breaking any laws.
But the Trump administration says noncitizens who participate in demonstrations like he has should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas”.
On Friday, immigration judge Jamee E Comans ruled that the government had the right to deport him, saying its belief that his presence posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” was enough to satisfy requirements for his deportation.
Mr Khalil, centre, surrounded by reporters outside the Columbia University campus in April last year. Pic: AP
He said the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable”.
Mr Khalil’s lawyers have said they plan to fight the ruling via the Board of Immigration Appeals and can also pursue an asylum case on his behalf.
The judge gave them until 23 April to seek a waiver.
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His lawyer Marc van der Hout said after the ruling: “Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponisation of immigration law to suppress dissent.”
Mr Khalil, who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and holds Algerian citizenship, remains in the Louisiana immigration detention centre where federal authorities transferred him after his arrest.
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His defence team has said it is seeking a preliminary injunction from the federal court in New Jersey, which would release him from custody and could block the Trump administration from arresting and detaining people for supporting Palestinian people in Gaza.
The Trump administration has been cracking down on pro-Palestinian protesters at universities across the country.
After his arrest last month, the president said: “This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump administration will not tolerate it.”
There have also been protests over the arrest of Mr Khalil, including by a Jewish group against the war in Gaza who stormed Trump Tower in New York last month.
Local police said 98 were arrested on charges including trespassing, obstruction and resisting arrest.
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