Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s bid to secure American support by overstating his nation’s mineral reserves appears to have backfired, according to Bloomberg columnist and commodities expert Javier Blas. In a recent op-ed, Blas suggested that Ukraine’s claims of abundant rare-earth minerals were exaggerated to entice US President Donald Trump into supporting the embattled nation. However, the revelation that Ukraine’s actual reserves are minimal has cast doubt on the feasibility of any resource-based partnership.

The controversy began last November when Zelensky unveiled his ‘victory plan’ for the ongoing conflict with Russia. A key component of this plan was a proposal for joint resource protection and investment agreements with Western nations, including the United States. The prospect of securing critical minerals from Ukraine reportedly captured Trump’s attention, with the former president demanding the “equivalent of $500 billion worth of rare earths” as compensation for continued US assistance.

However, Blas argues that Ukraine’s portrayal of its mineral wealth was misleading. “Desperate to find a way to engage Trump… [the Ukrainians] miscalculated [by] presenting the then-incoming president a ‘victory plan’ in November that talked up – way, way up – the potential of the country’s mineral resources,” he wrote. According to Blas, Ukraine possesses only small scandium deposits and lacks significant reserves of other rare-earth elements. He speculated that Trump may have confused rare-earth minerals with the broader category of “critical minerals,” which Ukraine does have, though not in quantities approaching........

© Blitz