Why Trump wants Ukraine’s minerals

The US and Russia have agreed to ‘lay the groundwork for future co-operation’ on ending the Ukraine war, and US president Donald Trump has his eyes on Ukrainian mineral deposits. Plus, developers of small modular nuclear reactors have raised at least $1.5bn in funding over the past year thanks to AI data centers.Mentioned in this podcast:US and Russia agree to ‘lay the groundwork’ for ending Ukraine warThe Ukrainian mineral riches in Donald Trump’s sightsBig Tech’s AI ambitions deliver funding boost to nuclear reactor race   Subscription promo: ft.com/briefingsaleThe FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian, Ethan Plotkin, Lulu Smyth, and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Breen Turner, Sam Giovinco, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Our engineer is Joseph Salcedo. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.