German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saw the move to tie future military aid to mineral access as appallingly transactional and criticized it as “very egotistic, very self-centered.”
Kyiv realizes, however, that the focus on its minerals is vital to continued U.S. support — and therefore the country’s survival — so it deliberately tailored its message to Trump’s commercial instincts. Knowing he would not be swayed by pleas to protect democracy, Kyiv played up the dangers of metals that are vital for industrial and military technologies falling into Moscow’s — and therefore China’s — grasp.
“Overall, this is a positive signal,” Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the foreign relations committee in the Ukrainian parliament, told POLITICO. “I think that Trump has begun to understand that there is a danger that Ukraine’s strategic resources, if not helped, could end up in the hands of authoritarian regimes, and strengthen these regimes. And not only Russia, but also its strategic partner China,” he added.
After long fearing that Trump’s administration would simply turn its back on Ukraine, Kyiv now has some grounds for very cautious optimism. The U.S. president’s suggestion that he would continue supporting Ukraine in return for minerals follows his appeal to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin last month that he should end the “ridiculous war” or face far tougher sanctions.
Ukraine isn’t wasting time on trying to seal a deal with Trump. Hours after fossil fuel executive Chris Wright was confirmed as Trump’s energy secretary, his Ukrainian counterpart Herman Halushchenko sent him a letter thanking the U.S. for its strategic partnership and saying 50 percent of Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure has been destroyed and sustaining it would be important for Trump to maintain leverage on Moscow.
In the letter, seen by POLITICO, Halushchenko said Ukraine was ready to work with the Trump administration to fashion a strategic commercial stake for the U.S. in Ukraine’s energy sector, stressing that the country possesses some of the world’s largest deposits of oil, gas, uranium and other natural resources.
