What critical materials and minerals does Ukraine have and why is Trump eyeing them?
Ukraine holds significant reserves of the critical raw materials and rare earths needed to develop cutting-edge technology.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/05/what-critical-materials-and-minerals-does-ukraine-have-and-why-is-trump-eyeing-them
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Ukraine holds significant reserves of the critical raw materials and rare earths needed to develop cutting-edge technology.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/05/what-critical-materials-and-minerals-does-ukraine-have-and-why-is-trump-eyeing-them
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00What critical materials and minerals does Ukraine have?
00:08Zelensky says Ukraine is ready to sign a minerals deal with the US
00:13despite his confrontation with Trump in the Oval Office
00:16and the US's pause on military aid.
00:19But Ukraine wants security guarantees
00:21in exchange for privileged access to its mineral wealth.
00:25But why is that access so attractive for Trump?
00:28Ukraine has an estimated 500,000 tonnes of untapped lithium,
00:33which is essential to produce batteries for electric cars.
00:36That's a third of Europe's reserves.
00:39Two major sites are in occupied or conflict areas.
00:42The country has significant deposits of iron, uranium and manganese
00:46and 20% of the world's estimated graphite resources.
00:51It also has titanium used in aerospace, military and medical applications,
00:55for which it controls 6% of global production.
00:59Finally, it also holds up to 5% of global deposits of rare earths.
01:04These are metallic elements used in high-tech devices
01:06such as smartphones, wind turbines and MRIs.
01:10These materials are crucial in the race for technological dominance
01:13and economic competitiveness.
01:16US rival China has a near monopoly in the processing of many critical materials.
01:21But exploiting the materials is not as easy as meets the eye.
01:26Zelensky says 20% of Ukrainian resources are in Russian-controlled territories.
01:31Some experts say it could be more.
01:34Putin is likely to demand full control of the regions
01:37he claims Russia annexed in 2022 as part of any future peace deal.
01:42The mineral wealth of those regions is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions.