Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky minerals deal in limbo ahead of Trump address to Congress – UK Times

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said in remarks published today that Moscow and Minsk benefit from how the United States treats Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the rift between Washington and the EU.

In an interview with Mario Nawfal, a media personality on Elon Musk’s X, the Russian ally enthusiastically embraced US president Donald Trump and his approach towards the war in Ukraine.

“It is only because of this administration that the issue of ending the war has become so urgent,” Mr Lukashenko, who in January extended his 31-year reign in a presidential election Western governments rejected as a sham, told Nawfal.

“It benefits us that (Trump) showed Zelensky his place, he should know it.”

The Belarusian leader said that Mr Trump had no goal other than to end wars, which he called a “brilliant” foreign policy.

“I am ready to stand next to him and do everything that is necessary to end the war and improve people’s lives,” Mr Lukashenko said.

European Union leaders will discuss on Thursday how to finance a sharp increase in defence readiness to deter any possible future attack from Russia and become less dependent for security on the United States.

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed several ways to raise the funds that would add up to around 800 billion euros over several years.

But how can they do this?

The Commission proposed that defence spending be exempt from EU laws that put annual spending limits on governments to protect EU public finances and the value of the euro currency.

Not all EU governments support the idea, as they say special treatment for defence spending already exists in the rules. What is missing, they say, is a broader definition of defence investment, an issue they would prefer to focus on.

The Commission estimated that if EU governments were to increase their defence spending by 1.5% of GDP on average, it would create fiscal space of close to 650 billion euros over four years. The downside is that such borrowing would widen budget deficits and could worry bond investors, economists said.

Money from the EU’s 2021-2027 budget

The current seven-year EU budget of 1.2 trillion euros, created well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has no proper funds for defence.

But around one-third of it is earmarked to equalise the standard of living between regions in the 27-nation EU – the so-called cohesion funds – and some of that cash can be used for projects that would be somehow linked to defence, like shelters for civilians or strengthening roads and bridges to allow the passage of tanks.

“We will propose additional possibilities and incentives for Member States that they will decide, if they want to use cohesion policy programmes, to increase defence spending,” the Commission said.

Defence minister John Healey will meet his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in Washington on Thursday to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence said.

Healey’s visit comes as European leaders race to draw up a peace plan to present to Washington after US President Donald Trump paused military aid to Ukraine on Monday following a fallout with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last Friday.

After meetings with world leaders at the weekend, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he would continue to speak with friends and allies to secure a path to a lasting peace.

“We will advance that work in Washington over the coming days,” Healey said in a statement on Wednesday.

With reporting from Reuters

Ukraine is sitting on one of Europe’s largest deposits of critical minerals, including lithium and titanium, much of which is untapped.

According to the Institute of Geology, Ukraine possesses rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium, used in TVs and lighting; neodymium, used in wind turbines and EV batteries; and erbium and yttrium, whose applications range from nuclear power to lasers. The EU-funded research also indicates that Ukraine has scandium reserves but detailed data is classified.

Mr Zelensky has been trying to develop these resources, estimated to be worth more than £12 trillion, based on figures provided by Forbes Ukraine, for years.

In 2021, he offered outside investors tax breaks and investment rights to help mine these minerals. These efforts were suspended when the full-scale invasion started a year later.

Anticipating the notoriously transactional Mr Trump might take an interest in this, Mr Zelensky then placed the mining of these minerals into his victory plan, which was drawn up last year.

The minerals are vital for electric vehicles and other clean energy efforts, as well as defence production.

Estimates based on government documents suggest that Ukraine’s resources are also highly varied. Foreign Policy found that Ukraine held “commercially relevant deposits of 117 of the 120 most-used industrial minerals across more than 8,700 surveyed deposits”.

Included in that is half a million tonnes of lithium, none of which has been tapped. This makes Ukraine the largest lithium resource in Europe.

Ukraine’s reserves of graphite, a key component in electric vehicle batteries and nuclear reactors, represent 20 per cent of global resources. The deposits are in the centre and west.

France’s prime minister decried the U.S. pause on providing military aid to Ukraine as “unbearable” on Tuesday, describing it as tantamount to abandoning Ukrainians and allowing for a possible victory by Russia.

“The word ‘suspension’ fools no one,” Prime Minister François Bayrou said, addressing French senators and mounting what was his second sharp criticism of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump in as many days.

“The suspension in war of assistance to an aggressed country signifies that the aggressed country is being abandoned and that one accepts — or hopes — that its aggressor wins,” he said.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday a rare earths minerals deal with Ukraine is not on the table.

When asked by CBS News if the economic deal was still on the table, Mr Bessent said, “Not at present.”