Feb. 22 (UPI) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said postwar Ukraine would benefit greatly from a rear earths minerals deal while better ensuring lasting peace with Russia.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials are working on an economic agreement to boost Ukraine’s economy while helping the United States recoup value from its $350 billion in support to Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression over the past three years.
Much of what has been reported regarding the negotiations between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “has been misrepresented or just plain wrong,” Bessent said in an opinion piece published Saturday by the Financial Times.
He said the support of the U.S. and its citizens “has enabled a historic and valiant defense by the Ukrainian people” and a peace deal is close that would provide security for Ukrainians and Europe.
Bessent said Zelensky in September proposed giving the United States a stake in Ukraine’s rare earths elements and critical minerals while he met with Trump.
“In other words, it was the Ukrainian president himself who proposed to President Trump a future economic partnership with shared benefits to both nations,” Bessent wrote.
U.S. negotiators sought a 50% stake in Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, but Ukrainian officials declined that offer last week, NBC News reported.
“We know Ukraine’s economic future in a time of peace can be more prosperous than at any other point in the nation’s history,” Bessent said, “and a partnership with Americans will ensure its prosperity.”
Bessent said many American companies have been in Ukraine for years and are led by those who are ready to support the Ukrainian economy after ending the war with Russia.
“The terms of this partnership will mobilize American talent, capital and high standards and governance to accelerate Ukraine’s recovery,” Bessent said.
U.S investment in independent Ukraine for lasting peace
A deal also “sends a clear message to Russia that the U.S. is invested in a free and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Bessent said.
The proceeds from the partnership would be re-invested into key Ukrainian sectors and ensure those nations that did not assist Ukraine in its fight for independence from Russia would not profit from the nation’s reconstruction.
“The U.S. has always been creative in finding ways to best support its partners,” Bessent said. “In 1942, the U.S. and [United Kingdom] agreed to ‘promote mutually advantageous economic relations between them and the betterment of worldwide economic relations’ on the basis of the exchange of destroyers for basing rights in the Caribbean.
“This forward-thinking provision helped to lay the financial foundation for the unprecedented economic growth experienced over the last 80 years.”
Bessent said Trump’s approach is a new model for a “productive international partnership.”
The United States would not take ownership of physical assets in Ukraine and would not add to Ukraine’s national debt because that would not advance U.S. or Ukrainian interests, Bessent said,
Instead, the United States would become an economic partner to Ukraine and its people to create even greater value over the long term while ensuring lasting peace with Russia, he added.
Starlink is not part of the U.S.-Ukraine rare earth negotiations
Bessent’s opinion piece ran on the same day that some news reports claimed U.S. negotiators have threatened to block Ukraine’s access to the SpaceX Starlink satellite communications system.
The Kyiv Independent on Saturday cited a Reuters report that relied on unnamed sources claiming U.S. negotiators were threatening to end Ukraine’s access to the SpaceX Starlink global communications satellite system that has helped Ukraine in its defense against Russia.
The report claimed U.S. officials were using Starlink access as leverage to get a better deal for rare-earth minerals mined in Ukraine.
“This is false,” Musk responded on X. “Reuters is lying. They are second only to AP (Associated Propaganda) as legacy news liars.”
The Kyiv Independent afterward reported Musk’s denial of the Reuters report but said Musk provided no evidence that Ukraine’s access to Starlink was in jeopardy but acknowledged the Reuters report relied on “anonymous sources.”