Ukraine will pay $500 billion for assistance with rare earth metals, according to Trump.

President Donald Trump stated that Ukraine has "essentially agreed" to transfer $500 billion worth of minerals to the U.S. as payment for military assistance provided by Washington to Kyiv.

This was reported by The New York Post.

"They have extremely valuable land in terms of rare earth metals, in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want our money to be safe because we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Ukraine," Trump told Fox News.

During the interview, Trump insisted that the U.S. should have access to Ukraine's natural resources regardless of whether a peace agreement is successfully reached between Russia and Ukraine, claiming that the "over $300 billion" the U.S. has provided to Ukraine overshadows contributions from other countries in the military efforts.

"They can make a deal. They may or may not make a deal. They may become Russians someday, or they may not become Russians someday. But we will have all this money in Ukraine, and I say, I want it back," the U.S. president said.

Trump asserted that continuing to provide aid to war-torn Ukraine without any return would be "unwise."

"I told them: 'We need to get something in return. We can't keep paying this money. I told them I need rare earth metals worth about $500 billion, and they essentially agreed to do that,'" he stated.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that Volodymyr Zelensky commented on Trump's statements regarding potential agreements with Ukraine for the supply of rare earth metals in exchange for U.S. assistance. He mentioned that Ukraine is open to American investments in this area.