Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, in Kyiv on Wednesday. Photo / AFP
Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, in Kyiv on Wednesday. Photo / AFP
Washington will provide Ukraine with a post-war “security shield” if Kyiv hands over rare earth minerals, US President Donald Trump’s transport secretary has said.
Scott Bessent, the first cabinet-level official on Donald Trump’s team to visit Kyiv, was speaking after Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, said he hoped to reach a ceasefire agreement later this week.
The US President, who wants a rapid end to the war with Russia, has said he wants US$500 billion (NZ$886 billion) in rare earth minerals for continued US support.
Bessent told reporters that the minerals are part of a “larger peace deal that Trump has in mind”, adding that his first visit to Ukraine showed that the war was a top priority for the Trump administration.
“By increasing our economic commitment through a partnership with the government and people of Ukraine, that will provide – once this conflict is over – it will provide a long-term security shield for all Ukrainians,” Bessent said.
Zelenskyy told reporters that he hoped a deal could be reached at the Munich Security Conference later this week.
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent. Photo / AFP
“We had a productive, constructive conversation. For me, the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine is very important, and we talked about minerals in general,” he said.
Ukraine is sitting on more than 20 rare earth elements, including cerium and lanthanum, both vital for a host of modern technologies from flat-screen televisions to low-energy light bulbs.
The country also possesses vast reserves of critical minerals and metals. Titanium, crucial for aerospace and defence industries, and lithium, the backbone of electric vehicle and smartphone batteries, are among Ukraine’s untapped riches.
Trump appears to be eyeing up both. “They’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” he said.
“I want to have the security of rare earths. We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earths. And I want security of the rare earths, and they’re willing to do it.”
Though firm details are unclear, that message will be well received by many Ukrainians watching anxiously at how Trump’s team has been engaging with Vladimir Putin, the Russian President.
Zelenskyy has emphasised throughout the war that Ukraine needs its Western allies to provide it with security guarantees that would prevent Russia using any break in the fighting to regroup and launch another invasion later on.
Zelenskyy told reporters that he could only discuss the subject of US security guarantees for Ukraine with Trump directly.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / Getty Images
It comes as Trump held his first phone call with Vladimir Putin since returning to office and agreed to visit Russia.
The US President said he and the Russian President agreed to “stop the millions of deaths” and start negotiations immediately to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump said the pair discussed “Ukraine, the Middle East, energy, artificial intelligence, the power of the dollar, and various other subjects” and “agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s nations”.
He then spoke with Zelenskyy, who is expected to meet with US Vice-President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, for roughly an hour.
