Trump’s promise of ‘very big deal’ with Zelensky undercut by officials’ widespread doubts over Ukraine’s resources

President Donald Trump’s claim that the potential “trillion-dollar deal” he is on the cusp of signing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would offer the US easy access to a bonanza of rare earth minerals is at odds with the widespread assessment of current and former US officials who say there’s little actual evidence of great rare earth and other mineral wealth in Ukraine and much of what does exist will be difficult, even impossible, to exploit in the eastern war-torn part of the country.