US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he wants access to Ukraine's rare earth elements in exchange for military aid to the country, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"I want our money to be safe because we spend hundreds of billions of dollars", Trump stressed in an interview with "Fox News". He argued that the Russians and Ukrainians "may have an agreement, but they may not. One day (Ukrainians) may be Russians, or they may not be Russians."
The US president said he had asked Ukraine for rare earth elements worth a total of $500 billion.
At the beginning of last week, Trump had already requested guarantees for these metals, which are used in electronics in particular.
In the interview with "Fox News", the US president also said that he had spoken with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping since taking office last month.