Donald Trump has finally agreed that Russia’s war on Ukraine was a “full-scale” invasion, in an agreed version of the minerals deal leaked to The Telegraph.
The document states: “The United States of America has provided significant financial and material support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion.”
The language will be viewed as a significant win for Kyiv. Mr Trump’s administration had previously labelled the invasion as the “Russia-Ukraine conflict”, refusing to blame Moscow.
The leaked minerals deal also paves the way for future US military assistance paid for using Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth.
It also promises that the US won’t use the deal to block Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union.
Bonuses for new recruits joining the Russian army are costing $21 million a day (£15.6million), according to data.
Moscow’s military is recruiting around 30,000 new soldiers each month, an increase of 5,000 more than in the summer of 2023, with some months reaching up to 40,000.
Its successful recruitment drive is largely down to generous enlistment bonuses as well as military propaganda, while the Russian defence ministry often tells the new volunteers they will not be sent to Ukraine.
Russia’s government spends around 2 billion rubles ($21.5 million) per day on one-time enlistment bonuses, according to calculations by Janis Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, based on data from Russia’s ministry of finance.
Washington and Kyiv on Wednesday signed a deal that will give the US preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
What are rare earths?
Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, missile systems, and other electronics. There are no viable substitutes.
They are among 50 minerals considered to be critical, that are essential for defence, high-tech appliances, aerospace and green energy industries.
Mining analysts and economists say Ukraine currently has no commercially operational rare earth mines. China is the world’s largest producer of rare earths and many other critical minerals.
What does Ukraine have?
Ukraine has deposits of 22 of the 34 minerals identified by the EU as critical.
The country possesses rare earths such as lanthanum and cerium, used in TVs and lighting; neodymium, used in wind turbines and EV batteries; and erbium and yttrium, used in nuclear power to lasers.
The World Economic Forum has said Ukraine is also a key potential supplier of lithium, beryllium, manganese, gallium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite and nickel.
Ukraine also has one of Europe’s largest confirmed reserves of lithium – vital for batteries, ceramics, and glass. It also has significant reserves of coal and 20 per cent of the world’s graphite reserves, a key component in electric vehicle batteries and nuclear reactors.
What Ukrainian resources are under Kyiv’s control?
The bulk of Ukraine’s coal deposits, which powered its steel industry before the war, are concentrated in the east and have been lost to Russia.
About 40 per cent of Ukraine’s metal resources are now reported to be under Russian occupation.
North Korea’s newly unveiled warship could have involved Russian help, South Korea’s military said on Thursday.
Pyongyang recently unveiled a 5,000-ton destroyer-class vessel named Choe Hyon that some analysts said could be equipped with short-range tactical nuclear missiles.
“Looking at the weapons and equipment that were revealed, we believe that there is a possibility that they received technology, funds or assistance from Russia,” Lee Sung-jun, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson, said.
“We are conducting a more detailed analysis.”
Donald Trump will not force Volodymyr Zelensky to hold elections that could oust him from office as the price for peace, the Telegraph can reveal.
The demand has been quietly dropped from the latest set of American proposals for a ceasefire.
The American decision is designed to placate the Ukrainian officials who have argued against swathes of a seven-point peace plan tabled by Mr Trump.
But a European diplomatic source cautioned the concession would be viewed with suspicion as the US president had ratcheted up the pressure on his Ukrainian counterpart elsewhere in the talks.
“We don’t see this as any great concession. A real concession would be Crimea. Trump’s tactic is to do two steps ahead and then one backwards and call it concessions. Lets not fall for that,” the source said.
“I wanted to be protected,” Donald Trump said, referring to the long-contested minerals deal that Washington signed with Kyiv just hours earlier.
Speaking to NewsNation late on Wednesday, the US president said: “We made a deal today where we get, you know, much more in theory, than the $350 billion, but I wanted to be protected… I didn’t want to be out there and look foolish.”
Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed the White House provided Kyiv with sums – in the form of military aid – that far exceed what experts and Ukrainian officials have said to be true.
When asked if the agreement could hinder Vladimir Putin and his three-year invasion of Ukraine, Mr Trump said that “well, it could.”
Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that the signing of a minerals deal between Kyiv and Washington meant Donald Trump had finally forced Ukraine to pay US aid.
“Now they will have to pay for military supplies with the national wealth of a disappearing country,” Mr Medvedev, a anti-Western hawk and Russia’s former prime minister, said on Thursday.
The Kremlin has yet to officially comment on the deal, signed on Wednesday after being heavily promoted by Trump, which will give the US preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump minerals deal blames Putin for invasion – The Telegraph
