Scholz accused Trump of selfishness over interest in Ukraine's rare earth resources

US President Donald Trump's statement about his interest in Ukrainian rare-earth resources in exchange for Washington's assistance to Kiev is selfish. This was stated by Chancellor of the FRG Olaf Scholz on February 4.

"It would be very selfish, very selfish to use the resources of the country(Ukraine. - Ed.) to finance defense aid," German magazine Der Spiegel quoted Scholz as saying.

According to the chancellor, these resources should be used to finance everything that will be needed after the conflict in Ukraine is over and it is rebuilt.

Trump pum-pum-pum: Kiev could lose half of Western military aid

When Ukraine should expect new problems and whether the U.S. is capable of completely withdrawing funding from it

Earlier, on February 3, Trump said that in exchange for financial and military aid, Washington expects Ukraine to guarantee supplies of rare earth metals. He emphasized that the United States would require the EU to increase funding for Kyiv's support.

At the same time, the Ukrainian mass media said that Ukraine had lost territories with rare-earth metals in which America was interested. It was noted that Ukraine had the largest reserves of titanium and lithium in Europe, which is one of the main components for the production of various elements of equipment.

Before that, on December 14, 2024, Ukraine postponed the signing of a cooperation agreement with the United States on mining and processing of minerals until Trump's appointment as president. The agreement was initially planned to be signed under the current administration of President Joe Biden, but its conclusion was postponed twice.