Paris – France is also looking for access to Ukraine Critical mineral deposits, with negotiations already in progress, the French defense minister said on Thursday, indicating that The United States is not the only player.
Friday is expected Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House To sign a mineral agreement With the United States. President Donald Trump made the announcement on Wednesday.
But France is also in conversations with Ukraine, pointing, as the United States, to diversify its supplies of vital minerals, said French defense minister Sébastien Lecornu, to the France Info station.
He did not specify exactly what minerals is looking for France. Ukraine has been offering to the United States rare earth elements that are Critic for several technologiesincluding lithium for batteries and uranium for nuclear energy, medical equipment and weapons.
Lecornu said: “We are talking about this issue for our own French needs. I have defense industries that will need access to a certain number of raw materials in the coming years. ”
He said that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, ordered him to begin the discussions and that he has been directly dealing with his Ukrainian counterpart as part of the efforts to increase the number of countries of origin for rare minerals.
“We have to diversify that. Emmanuel Macron has asked him to also begin the discussions with the Ukrainians … I have been doing it since October, ”said the minister.
He said that France could possibly buy Ukraine minerals and that it does not seek access to them as a way to recover the billions of euros (dollars) in military aid and another help that Paris has supplied to strengthen Ukrainian defenses against Russia’s invasion. Trump has Framed Emerging Treatment As an opportunity for Kyiv to pay the help already sent under Democratic President Joe Biden.
“We are not looking for a recovery,” Lecornu said. “But our defense sector will need a certain number of raw materials that are absolutely crucial in our own weapons systems … during the next 30 or 40 years.”
He indicated that discussions are in a preliminary stage, saying: “It is the beginning of history.”
