Researcher Says Ukraine’s $500 Billion Rare Earth Deal Is a Scam to Cancel Debt and Get Blank Checks
March 5, 2025 in News by RBN Staff
Source: NeedToKnow.news
The US has reportedly given $120 billion in direct aid, from American taxpayer money, to Ukraine. Trump said that Ukraine has “tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earths, in terms of oil and gas” and he has proposed a $500-billion payback deal: the US would receive 50% of profits from the extraction of natural resources and get 50% of the value of new licences if Ukraine issues new licences to third parties.
It has been claimed that there are 100 million tons of rare earth minerals and resources worth $500 billion in Ukraine. However, businessman Kevin Walmsley makes the case that this is fraud because there are only trace amounts of rare earth minerals and metals in Ukraine. This scam has been used before; he said, “we’ve seen this movie before in Afghanistan. War planners and politicians who support the wars are looking for solid reasons to keep them going and pretend that wars can pay for themselves. In the case of Afghanistan, it was a giant trove of mineral deposits, including lithium, that went nowhere. A complete fantasy!”
The purpose of the deceit is to make people believe that the war can fund itself. The $500 billion dollar deal for phony reserves will be exchanged for debt forgiveness for everything up to now! And a blank check going forward. But Ukraine doesn’t have the goods.
Reports that Ukraine will pledge its vast reserves of rare earth metals and other strategic minerals in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of loan forgiveness and additional aid have supply chain managers perplexed.
No honest assessment of Ukraine’s mineral assets comes anywhere close to the numbers that top government officials claim. The US Geological Survey, and even publications from Ukraine’s ministries report only trace amounts of rare earth metals anywhere in the country.
Even were we only to consider non-rare earths, other problems become apparent. Many of those reserves are in Russian hands, and much of the rest can not be commercially mined at current market prices. The situation in Ukraine is alarmingly similar to Afghanistan, where Pentagon assessments of Afghan mineral reserves dramatically overstated their actual size and market value, while giving war planners additional time and resources to pursue what was ultimately a losing war effort.
