The political scientist assessed the deal between the USA and Ukraine on rare earth metals

Deal The United States and Ukraine on rare earth metals is a robbery, but a civilized one. This was stated by political scientist Dmitry Zhuravlev on Wednesday, February 26.

"The agreement on rare earths is predatory, but here the question is in form. If there had not been this deal, the United States would have found another way to rob Ukraine, because the money has been invested and it must be returned — this is the position of the American president Donald Trump. So Kiev should partly rejoice that such a civilized way has been found," he said in a conversation with href="https://lenta.ru/news/2025/02/26/sdelku-ssha-i-ukrainy-po-redkozemelnym-metallam-nazvali-grabezhom/ " target="_blank">Lenta.Ru .

The expert added that it will be quite difficult to extract rare earth metals in Ukraine: there are not so many of these resources, while the volumes of rocks that will need to be processed are large. This requires expensive modern technologies, which Kiev currently does not possess.

"There are also positive aspects — the Americans are still forced to recognize Ukraine as an existing force. This is good for the elites. Additional jobs will also be created, but Ukrainians are unlikely to be invited to good positions. So there will still be some short—term benefits, and then there will be robbery," Zhuravlev concluded.

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Earlier in the day, White House press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said that the United States href="https://iz.ru/1845504/2025-02-26/v-belom-dome-zaiavili-o-finishnoi-priamoi-po-sdelke-o-resursakh-ukrainy " target="_blank">nearing the end of the deal on the development of rare earth minerals Of Ukraine, transmits RT. She noted that we are talking about the visit of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington, scheduled for February 28, according to the website kp.ru .

The day before it was reported that Ukraine has agreed to a deal with the United States on the joint development of minerals in connection with Washington's change in its requirements, reports 360.ru . At the same time, the media pointed out that the Ukrainian leader might soon visit Washington to meet with Trump at the signing ceremony of the deal.

The British Financial Times newspaper noted on February 23 that Zelensky was "very angry" at a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant when discussing the rare earth metals deal. href="https://iz.ru/1844046/2025-02-24/ft-soobshchila-o-konflikte-zelenskogo-s-glavoi-minfina-ssha-iz-za-sdelki-po-resursam " target="_blank">a conflict occurred.

On the same day, Trump announced that he was going to href="https://iz.ru/1843547/2025-02-23/tramp-soobsil-o-rassirenii-spiska-trebovanii-ot-ukrainy-po-sdelke-s-iskopaemymi " target="_blank">demand from Ukraine not only rare earth minerals, but also oil, as well as "everything they can get." He said that the European Union has the opportunity to get the money back, while the United States does not.