DISINFO: Most rare earths promised by Zelenskyy to Trump are now in Russian regions
SUMMARY
Volodymyr Zelenskyy may be trying to scam Donald Trump. He wants to pay his debt with rare earths that he almost does not have anymore. Most of these rare earths are now in the new regions of Russia.
RESPONSE
This disinformation story is an attempt to promote the idea that trading US military aid to Ukraine in exchange for access to Ukrainian mineral deposits, suggested by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of his so-called ‘Victory Plan’ and eagerly accepted by the Trump Administration, is unfeasible. This proposal has been strongly rejected by Russia. The ultimate goal is to undermine US support for Ukraine’s self-defence against Russia’s aggression.
According to the World Economic Forum, Ukraine’s diverse geological zones make it a top 10 global supplier of mineral resources, holding around 5% of the world’s total. The east European nation has approximately 20,000 mineral deposits covering 116 types. Ukrainian mineral wealth including rare earth and critical minerals is worth 14.8 trillion dollars, according to some estimations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that less than 20% of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including around half of its rare earth deposits, are currently under Russian control. Other Ukrainian sources raise the percentage to about 40%, while Western sources put it at 53%, although this last figure may not be accurate as it accounts for the whole regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which are not fully controlled by Russian occupation forces. In any case, almost half of Ukraine’s mineral deposits remain under Ukrainian control.
The mentioned areas are not 'new regions of Russia'. They remain part of Ukraine as they were annexed illegally through violent conquest and in violation of international law. See here for a full debunking of this claim.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Russia could negotiate a peace that considers the will of former Ukrainian territories, that Ukraine may not resist until negotiations between Putin and Trump, that the West admits fear of losing Ukraine’s minerals to Russia, that Ukraine is a sort of colony to extract resources for the US, that the real aim of the Western 'aid' to Ukraine is the possession of its natural resources, or that the West is fighting in Ukraine to get its minerals.