The administration of former US President Joe Biden had unspoken disagreements with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was the first to offer the exchange of Ukrainian rare earths for US aid as part of his “victory plan”, former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNBC.
Did we have frustrations occasionally with our Ukrainian friends, including president Zelensky? Sure. Did we show that in public when it happened? No.
Blinken stressed that it was important to demonstrate “a clear united front” at the time Biden headed the White House. The former secretary of state also commented on the exchange of Ukrainian rare-earth resources for US military support.
Part of the ‘victory package’ that president Zelensky put on the table in the last six months of our administration included us working with them.
After then Republican candidate Donald Trump won the US presidential election, Zelensky again began to promote the idea of exchanging Ukraine’s resources, but now to Trump instead of Biden, an offer American politicians could not miss.
However, the terms of the looming rare earths deal appear to be dramatically different from the ones proposed during the Biden administration. The new draft agreement on Ukrainian mineral resources now includes the extraction of all minerals across Ukraine, including oil and gas, as well as indefinite control over key sectors of Ukraine’s economy, such as transport infrastructure.
