Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the White House to meet US President Donald Trump. Trump received Zelensky at the door. While shaking hands with Zelensky, he told the media, ‘He has come well prepared today.’ Trump and Zelensky had a conversation in the Oval Office of the White House. In this, Trump said that it would be great if he and Zelensky together stop the war between Russia and Ukraine. On this, Zelensky showed Trump pictures of the war and said that there should be no compromise with Russian President Putin in the peace deal. He also said, ‘I think Trump is with us.’ Highlights of the Trump-Zelensky meeting… Trump backtracked on calling Zelensky a dictator without elections Before this meeting, Trump backtracked from his statement calling Zelensky a ‘dictator’. Trump had said last week that Zelensky is a dictator without elections. He plunged the country into a war just because of his stubbornness and took millions of lives. On Friday, when reporters at the White House asked him about this comment, he said, “Did I say that? I’m not sure I said that.” Not only this, Trump said about his meeting with Zelensky that he has a lot of respect for Zelensky. He said, I think we are going to have a very good meeting tomorrow. We will work together very well. We respect each other very much. They have fought very bravely. After this, on the completion of three years of the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian President Zelensky had said that he is ready to do anything for the sake of peace. If resigning brings peace or Ukraine gets NATO membership, then he is ready to resign. Zelensky agreed to the deal of rare earth material on Trump’s persistent demand. Ukraine has agreed to give rare earth material (rare minerals) to America. Trump had been pressuring the Ukrainian government for about a month to give rare minerals to America. He said that if Ukraine wants American help, it will have to give rare minerals worth $500 billion to America. He had threatened Zelensky that if he did not do so, America would stop giving further help to Ukraine. Initially Zelensky kept rejecting this demand of America. However, later he agreed to the deal. A day earlier, he revealed that Trump is demanding back the approximately $500 billion received from America in the name of help in the war so far. If we do not give them rights over Ukraine’s minerals, 10 generations of Ukraine would have been spent in repaying $500 billion. What is the benefit of America from rare minerals? The rare minerals of Ukraine that Trump wants to take from Ukraine are used in making electric cars, weapons and military equipment. China is currently the biggest player in the global supply chain of rare minerals. According to the Mining Technology report, China produces 69% of the world’s rare minerals, while 90% of rare minerals are processed in China itself. According to the BBC report, Trump wants to increase America’s share in the supply of rare minerals. At present, America is dependent on China for these minerals. This is a matter of concern for Trump, who talks about making America great again. This can weaken America’s bet on economic and military fronts. Russia has occupied Ukraine’s Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. These provinces have 53% of Ukraine’s total mineral reserves, which is worth 6 trillion pounds i.e. 660 lakh crores rupees. Putin has occupied it since September 2022. Ukraine has 5% of the world’s raw material Ukraine has about 5% of the world’s total raw material of rare earth material. This includes about 19 million tonnes of graphite reserves. Apart from this, Ukraine has 33% of Europe’s total lithium reserves. Before the start of the war, Ukraine had a 7% share in global titanium production. Ukraine has many important reserves of rare earth materials. However, after the war, many of these have come under the control of Russia. According to Ukrainian Minister Yulia Sviridenko, there are resources worth $350 billion in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian part. Rare earth material is used in everything from electronics to IT. Rare earth material is a group of 17 elements, which is used in everything from consumer electronics to military equipment. It is used in IT industries, solar energy, chemical industries, modern technical oil refineries and many other industries. ————————— Read this news too… Putin’s offer of business deal to America: Said- We have more rare minerals than Ukraine; Zelensky will visit US this week Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered American companies a business deal with Russia. Putin said in an interview on February 25 that if American companies want, they can help in mining mineral resources in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian area. Along with this, he also offered mining in the Siberian region of Russia. Read the full news here…
