Ukraine’s security depends on Europe’s courage

If anything was going to make Donald Trump come around to supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, ‘rare earth minerals’ – an issue of increasing geopolitical importance in the global competition with China – would not have made it to the top of most lists. Yet the US president has hinted this could be the key to the continuation of US investment in the nation as Russia’s war rages on. The proposal hasn’t impressed everyone – German chancellor Olaf Scholz has called the plan to make money from the war ‘selfish’ – but President Zelensky is open to the idea.  

That won’t come as much of a surprise, given what Trump had threatened before he became President. Even now, the American press is reporting that Trump’s administration remains split on how to end the Russian war in Ukraine, with his top team swaying between forcing the country to capitulate to Vladimir Putin and forcing Putin to back down.