In a major mining region of Ukraine, President Trump’s proposal to collect profits from mineral wealth is meeting with a mix of skepticism and weary acceptance.
Kim Barker and
Kim Barker and Oleksandra Mykolyshyn spent two days in the Kirovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine, talking with people about the proposed U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.
“Why didn’t Zelensky ask us before giving away our minerals to the Americans?” he yelled. A woman joined in: “The Americans are coming to take everything.”
“We just need to survive,” Mr. Savytskyi said. “I hope Trump won’t deceive us. I really hope he won’t. I believe the Americans should come, invest their money here, make their profit, but we should also get our fair share — our piece of the pie.”
In the central Ukrainian region of Kirovohrad, one of the country’s leading mining areas, reactions to the proposed deal are a mix of wary hopefulness, fatalism and anger. After years of trying to resist Russian influence and align with the West, many here reflexively view American investment positively, and are willing to use their natural resources to support the country’s most important ordeal, fending off Russia.
And yet, there are signs of growing skepticism about the terms and whether the United States, and specifically the Trump administration, can be trusted. Some people endorse the deal because they see Ukraine as having no other choice.
Russia
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Kharkiv
Kropyvnytskyi
Ukraine
Neopalymivka
Dnipro R.
KIROVOHRAD
Odesa
Sea of
Azov
Crimea
Black
Sea
100 miles
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