US President Donald Trump is demanding concessions from the Ukrainians of the kind usually imposed on defeated enemy states, in exchange for continuing US military commitments in the region.

The media has been reporting the figure of $500 billion worth of critical minerals demanded by Trump, but a leaked document seen by Britain’s Telegraph newspaper shows the reality is even more extreme. It shreds to pieces the lies that the US and NATO powers have been supplying Ukraine with training, weaponry and financial support out of a concern for “democracy” and preserving its “national sovereignty.” Trump’s plan would transform Ukraine into a vassal state.

The article, “Trump’s confidential plan to put Ukraine in a stranglehold,” is based on a February 7 draft of the contract the US administration pressed Zelensky to sign, marked “Privileged and Confidential.” Only sections of the document are quoted. Limited screen captures of the document have also been circulating online.

According to Telegraph author Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, the paper’s world economy editor, US demands go “far beyond US control over the country’s critical minerals.” They are entirely open-ended. The documents states that the desired agreement between the US and Ukraine would cover the “economic value associated with resources of Ukraine,” including “mineral resources, oil and gas resources, ports, other infrastructure (as agreed).”

The US is seeking “50% of the recurring revenues received by the GOU [Government of Ukraine] resulting from licenses that have been issued to extract or otherwise monetize Ukraine’s resources subject to this Agreement, with a lien on such revenues in favour of the USG [United States Government].”

This is revenues, not profits, with the US to be paid before any other party. A source close to the negotiations told the Telegraph, “That clause means ‘pay us first, and then feed your children.’”

The same would apply to all “of the financial value received by the GOU from all new licenses issued to third parties for the future extraction or monetization of resources subject to this Agreement, as well as 50% of GOU revenue from new extraction… including any state-owned enterprises.”

The “percentage of the proceeds” to be directed towards the “reconstruction of Ukraine”—defined as “the development, production, and/or transport of natural resources, ports, and other infrastructure”—the “USG will determine” at a later date.

The US would also be granted “a right of first refusal for the purchase of exportable minerals” and have enormous powers over the direction of Ukraine’s commodity and resource economy, including “the exclusive right to establish the method, selection criteria, terms, and conditions” of all future licences and projects.

In a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, the document states, “This agreement shall be governed by New York law, without regard to conflict of law principles”—that is, conflicts with Ukrainian law. The Telegraph notes that the document “seems to have been written by private [i.e., Trump’s own] lawyers, not the US departments of state or commerce.”

These demands would reduce Ukraine to the status of a US colony, plundered to the point of starvation. Evans-Pritchard’s summary states, “If this draft were accepted, Trump’s demands would amount to a higher share of Ukrainian GDP than reparations imposed on Germany at the Versailles Treaty, later whittled down at the London Conference in 1921, and by the Dawes Plan in 1924.”

The US “offer” was placed on Zelensky’s desk while Trump told Fox News, in his usual gangster fashion, “They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But I want this money back.” This was a reference to the “more than $300 billion dollars, probably 350” Trump claimed was handed over to Ukraine by the Biden administration.

Trump’s actions have produced a torrent of articles decrying his “betrayal” of Ukraine. In fact, he is only dispensing with the fine words about “international law” and “national self-determination” used to cloak the predatory ambitions American and European imperialism have had towards Ukraine from the start.

As the World Socialist Web Site has written in the context of the White House’s policy towards Gaza, where Trump has also proposed a US takeover, ethnic cleansing and its transformation into a luxury “riviera” development on the eastern Mediterranean coast:

With the coming to power of Trump, American imperialism is abandoning any pretense that its foreign policy is governed by international law. It is to be replaced with the law of the jungle, in which the strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must…

Trump’s plan is not a deviation from American foreign policy. Rather, Trump, in the words of Netanyahu, “cuts to the chase.” The American president has dispensed with the endless sacred lies used by imperialism to justify its actions, which everybody is supposed to repeat but nobody believes.

It should be remembered that the fascist-spearheaded Maidan coup in 2014 was launched in response to pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych pulling out of an association agreement with the European Union (EU) which would have involved a savage “restructuring” and “liberalising” of the country’s economy.

Throughout the war, the US and European powers have been positioning themselves for lucrative military and economic partnerships, while Zelensky uses wartime powers to advance long-held plans for slashing social protections and workers’ rights.

Trump’s new gambit has outraged the European powers primarily because it would cut them out of this feeding frenzy, dialling the US demands up to the maximum. As the Telegraph’s industry editor Matt Oliver explains, “The US and EU face a looming conflict over Ukraine’s resources because of their strategic significance.”

For Zelensky, who has always been happy to serve as the imperialists’ puppet, Trump’s deal would amount to signing his own death warrant—politically and quite likely literally—in Ukraine.

This means nothing to Trump, who responded to Zelensky’s complaints about ongoing peace talks with Russia by saying his polling numbers were “not great” and “at some point you need to have elections”. As well as striking a blow against his European competitors, his plan for Ukraine represents a major step in America’s trade and military war plans against China.

Evans-Pritchard heavily plays down the significance of Washington’s grab for Ukraine’s resources as being aimed at “a commodity bonanza that exists chiefly in Trump’s head.” The Guardian writes more honestly:

There is one big reason Trump is so keen to get his hands on Ukraine’s critical minerals: China…

With Trump effectively instigating a trade war with China with his imposition of steep tariffs on Chinese goods, US access to critical minerals is potentially under threat. As mentioned earlier, the world is being gripped by an unseemly scramble for mineral wealth. They are the building blocks of the economy of the future, and if the US doesn’t get its hands on them, someone else will.

The US-NATO war against Russia waged through their Ukrainian proxy was ultimately aimed at the same target, with the imperialist powers spending Ukrainian lives to weaken Russia, undermining the position of a potential Chinese ally. This was the policy championed by Biden and the Democrats.

Trump is now demanding an even higher price from the Ukrainians, presenting the Zelensky government with an offer they can’t refuse: accept US military support and vassalage “willingly” or suffer the consequences of a deal worked out between the US and Russia—for which the Russian oligarchy has always been eager. Such a deal would, Trump hopes, create conditions for the planned assault on China.