US President Donald Trump claims that Ukraine has agreed to provide access to $500B worth of rare earth metals as payment for military aid and ongoing support.
“They have extremely valuable land in terms of rare earth minerals, oil and gas, etc. I want our money to be safe because we spend hundreds of billions in Ukraine. I told them: We have to get something. We can’t keep paying this money,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
It should be noted that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson believes that Trump is right to demand compensation for the US’ enormous support, not only in the form of a rare earth metals deal but by unlocking the $300B in frozen Russian assets. “This money could be used to compensate for the damages caused by Russia to Ukraine, provided that a significant portion of the funds returns to the US,” he says.