Ukraine possesses the largest reserves of titanium and uranium in Europe—resources worth billions, even trillions—that Russia is intent on seizing, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Reuters.
Recently, US President Donald Trump expressed readiness to negotiate a deal with Ukraine for military aid in exchange for valuable metals. Zelenskyy clarified that Ukraine is offering a partnership with the US to mine these natural resources, not to transfer them. He noted that up to 20% of Ukraine’s mineral resources are already under Russian occupation, and Moscow could grant access to these resources to its allies, North Korea and Iran.
“They are incredibly valuable. That’s why the Russians continuously push to seize Zaporizhzhia Oblast and all of Donetsk Oblast. We are telling the US, ‘Please, bring your business here. Let’s engage in mining and processing. Let’s make money together.’ We would be happy to profit with those who are protecting it,” Zelenskyy stated.
The Ukrainian president also said that Russian forces would not stop after seizing these territories but would attempt to occupy Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
“If we don’t stop them together, they’ll go even further,” Zelenskyy stressed.
He also emphasized the importance of keeping Ukrainian resources under state control, calling it a crucial element of national security and a key point in his “Victory plan”.
“This is what I told Trump when we sat together. I said: this is the victory plan, a victory for everyone. We will protect these trillions of dollars. We won’t allow the extraction of resources to fuel technologies for the ‘axis of evil’ countries,” he added.
Earlier, Zelenskyy revealed that security guarantees would be his top agenda for the proposed meeting with US President Trump.
He expressed his desire to meet with Trump before his potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that otherwise it would amount to “dialogue about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
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