He discussed this on his blog.
“Russia has offered the U.S. ownership rights to rare earth metals in the Donbas and Zaporizhzhia regions. This is no longer just a rumor; NBC reports that Putin's aides made such a proposal to Trump during their meeting in Saudi Arabia, aiming to retain control over the Donbas and Zaporizhzhia territories. They say Trump is a businessman, so Putin devised this counter-move,” explains Mikhail Sheitelman.
Firstly, he asserts, Trump has no need for such gifts, especially since he will already have access to Ukrainian resources through a contract with Ukraine, and a deal with Russia is unnecessary. Secondly, the expert continues, no American company would venture to develop any rare earth metals or other minerals in occupied territories.
“They don’t need it; it’s not profitable. Suppose they extract a million dollars' worth, but lose a billion in market capitalization. Any company understands that it will lose investors' trust as soon as it steps into occupied territories. Therefore, this is all just Putin's nonsense; it doesn’t even smell right. And I can say with certainty that this will not happen. Even Chinese state-owned companies are not extracting anything there; it’s just some artistic amateurism,” explains Mikhail Sheitelman.
In passing, the expert reminds us that even Russia's "Sberbank" refused to operate in Crimea until 2023, meaning throughout all these years of occupation, because its shares were traded on British and American exchanges. If it had operated in occupied Crimea, he emphasizes, “Sberbank” would have lost tens of billions of dollars, and Putin could do nothing about it.
As reported by Znay.ua, Yali stated that the agreement on rare earth metals holds no more value than the Budapest Memorandum.
Znay.ua also wrote that Dubina shared how much the Ukrainian army has modernized during the war.