A month ago, the United States and Ukraine signed a Rare Earth Minerals Deal. It’s a pact that if it passes over objections from Putin supporters in Congress, could bring an end to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Here’s how that would work.
Even before the ink was dry, Dr. Amit Gupta, a foreign policy expert, told my class that such a deal would likely provide peace and security for Ukraine. “Russia is not going to rain missiles down on Ukraine and risk American casualties,” he told my students, after noting that Americans would likely be moving around everywhere in the country.
The deal also boosted Ukraine’s standing in the eyes of the new Trump Administration, and a recognition of who is almost entirely to blame for the conflict. “U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko were shown signing the agreement in a photo posted on X by the Treasury, which said the deal ‘clearly signals the Trump Administration's commitment to a free, sovereign, prosperous Ukraine.’” That quote comes from Tom Balmforth, Yuliia Dysa and Trevor Hunnicutt with Reuters.
“In announcing the deal, the U.S. Treasury said the partnership recognized ‘the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defense of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion,’” Balmforth, Dysa and Hunnicutt add. The deal also wisely avoids forcing Ukraine to pay back military aid.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has frustrated President Trump, who campaigned on a very swift end to the conflict. According to Kit Maher and Rob Picheta with CNN, Trump wrote “‘I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,’ Trump posted on Truth Social. Hours earlier, Trump had told reporters: ‘I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin.’”
For his part, Putin brushed off Trump, claiming he had an “emotional reaction,” CNN added, as the President was responding to Russia’s “Kiev Blitz,” with civilians hiding in underground tunnels the way the British people did under Hitler’s “London Blitz.” Thousands of Russian bots took to social media to mock Trump as a “clown,” according to Newsweek. The whole business shows that the Russians are good for some insincere flattery, and little else. Perhaps if Trump means to sanction Russia more, he might consider using frozen Russian assets to cover military aid to Ukraine.
Team Trump can expect some opposition in Congress from Ukraine’s harshest critics. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene lambasted the deal, according to Emily Brooks with The Hill. She called Volodimir Zelenskyy a “dictator” and accused him of not holding elections. This charge was made despite evidence that this is not only a legal move according to Ukraine’s own Constitution, but a practical one, given the logistical challenge of holding an election while Russians are slaughtering Ukrainians from the skies, as well as conducting an armed assault on the country. So Trump’s deal with Ukraine is not a done deal in the House and Senate.
Supporters of the U.S.-Ukraine Rare Earth Minerals deal need to contact their members of Congress and tell them to support this plan. It could bring about an end to the conflict, as well as get the U.S. access to vital resources, and stand up to Putin’s plan to slaughter Ukrainians in attacks that resemble the horrors of World War II.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.
