Trump Plans To Use Zaporizhzhia NPP To Mine Rare Earth Metals In Ukraine

This issue is being discussed between Washington and Kyiv as part of a resource deal.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering using the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to mine rare earth metals and other minerals in Ukraine, two senior Ukrainian officials told the Financial Times (FT).

A source in Kyiv confirmed to Politico that this issue is being discussed between Washington and Kiev as part of a resource deal. “Mining requires a lot of electricity. This station is the largest in Europe. Therefore, the American side came up with the idea that we can work together to regain control of the station,” the source noted. According to him, Kyiv also intends to regain control of the city of Energodar, where the ZNPP personnel live, which Russia has effectively taken hostage.

During a telephone conversation on March 19, Trump proposed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the United States transfer ownership and management of Ukrainian power plants, including nuclear ones. The White House explained that this would be the “best protection” for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Zelensky later clarified that he was only talking about Zaporizhzhia NPP. The plant is located in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region. Before the Russian invasion, it generated about 20% of Ukraine’s electricity.

Nuclear power facilities had not previously been discussed in the context of the U.S.-Ukraine mineral extraction deal, so Trump’s idea of control over power plants came as a surprise to Ukrainian authorities, former Deputy Energy Minister Oleksiy Ryabchin told the Washington Post. According to him, the future of the Zaporizhzhia NPP will be one of the key issues in the peace talks. “This is very important not only for Ukraine, but also for the EU. “We used to sell a lot of electricity to the European Union, helping it to function and decarbonize,” Ryabchin noted.

In September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia region. After that, he ordered the ZNPP to be taken into federal ownership. Until now, Putin has ruled out the possibility of territorial concessions to Ukraine as part of the settlement of the military conflict. Russia “does not need anything foreign,” but it will not give up “its own,” he emphasized.

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