USA Presses Ukraine for Deal on Critical Minerals

On 21 February 2025, sources close to the matter revealed that the USA threatened to cut off internet access to Ukraine which is relying heavily on the Starlink satellite network of SpaceX for the service. The threat came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky turned down a proposal from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Th draft deal would give US ownership of at least half of all Ukraine’s reserves of Critical Minerals. The new deal contains a first right of refusal clause which overrides and takes precedence over any other deal that Ukraine has already signed or will sign in the future.

Shortly after the story broke on Reuters, the boss of SpaceX Elon Musk tweeted a clarification on X denying the threat and declared that the news piece was fake news. A Reuters spokesperson then stated that the news agency believes the information comes from a reliable source.

It is to be recalled that Zelensky dangled the possibility of opening its #CritcalMinerals sector to investments to ally countries last fall. Recently, Trump seized the opportunity and declared that the US could seal a deal with Ukraine for access to Critical Minerals in return for American support.

Trump declared he estimates that US would need at least USD 500 billion worth in #CriticalMinerals in compensation to its military assistance. On the other hand, Zelensky claims that the the total value of US military aid ‘does not even come close to USD 500 billion!’

According to USGS, Ukraine has rich reserves of Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements (#REE) needed for future and strategic industries such as cobalt, #lithium, graphite, niobium, scandium, tantalum and uranium, to name a few.

Of the 34 Critical Minerals listed by EU, Ukraine has significant reserves of 21 of them. In fact, it is estimated that Ukraine might hold 5% of the total reserves of Critical Minerals in the world.