Russia has proposed to the Trump administration a potential agreement under which the United States would gain some ownership of rare earth minerals and other valuable metals in parts of Ukraine controlled by the Russian military, according to two U.S. officials familiar with intelligence on the matter and another person briefed on the proposal.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a similar deal, which Zelenskyy initially rejected, frustrating President Donald Trump.
Top aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin floated Russia’s idea with Trump administration officials last week at a meeting in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. officials and the person briefed on the proposal said.
The options Russia had specifically prepared to discuss with U.S. officials included scenarios that could give the Trump administration access to minerals in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, both of which Russia declared it had annexed in 2022, the two U.S. officials said.
The Trump administration has not committed to a U.S.-Russia deal on rare earth minerals but has not ruled it out, the U.S. officials and the person briefed on the proposal said.
“Trump is transactional, so Putin — understanding that — has come up with this countermove,” a former U.S. diplomat with experience in the region said, adding that the Russians could clearly see both Trump’s interest in Ukraine’s natural resources and Zelenskyy’s hesitation.
Trump suggested an openness Monday to an agreement with Russia.
“We’re trying to do some economic development deals. They have a lot of things that we want,” Trump told reporters, referring to Russia. “You know, they have massive rare earth. It’s … very large. …
“If we could do that, I think it would be a very good thing for world peace and lasting peace,” Trump added. “Just as we’re doing with Ukraine, if we could do some economic development in terms of Russia and getting things that we want, something like that would be possible.”
Putin said in an interview with Russian state television Monday that he is open to offering the United States access to rare minerals in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine, as well as in Russia.
Responding to U.S. negotiations with Ukraine over a possible agreement to share revenues from the country’s mineral resources, Putin said that such a deal would not be cause for concern and that Russia had “significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine.” He also said his government and the United States could collaborate on aluminum extraction and supply.
Asked about Russia’s proposing a deal with the United States on rare earth minerals and other metals, including those in Ukrainian territory that Moscow has seized by invading Ukraine, a spokesperson for the National Security Council pointed to Trump’s remarks Monday.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Zelenskyy had first suggested a possible agreement with “strategic partners” to jointly develop and secure the country’s natural resources as part of a proposed peace plan last year.
The meeting in Saudi Arabia was attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio; national security adviser Mike Waltz; the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff; Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov; and close Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov.
Russia proposed a new economic partnership to the U.S. officials that would involve territory that Moscow seized in its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and that would coincide with the end of the war, the U.S. officials and the person briefed on the proposal said.
It would effectively ensure that Russia would retain swaths of Ukrainian territory that it occupies and hopes to keep as part of a negotiated peace deal. It also is designed to appeal to Trump’s pursuit of a financial cut for the United States in a negotiated end to the war. Trump has pushed for Ukraine to agree to give the United States $500 billion worth of its rare earth minerals, proposing that the two countries split ownership of the minerals evenly, NBC News has reported.
Trump said this week that his administration is close to signing a deal with Ukraine over its rare earth minerals. He has also said he expects to meet with Zelenskyy soon.
A potential motivating factor for Russia may be that U.S. joint ownership of Ukraine’s mineral wealth could change how Trump views America’s interests in Ukraine and undermine Moscow’s goal of dominating the country, the former diplomat with experience in the region said.
Many of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals are in areas controlled or threatened by the Russian military, and Russian oligarchs are already exploiting some of them, according to five U.S. officials.
Accessing rare earth minerals on any Ukrainian territory could be complicated and costly.
James Cowan, the CEO of HALO Trust, a humanitarian de-mining organization working in Ukraine, warned this month at a security conference that as much as 156,000 square kilometers of Ukraine is contaminated with land mines or other explosives.
“Any proposals to tap Ukraine’s mineral wealth will need to incorporate a plan for the clearance of the land mines if it is to be remotely viable,” Cowan, a retired British major general, said at the time.
