Donald Trump made no effort to disguise the potential threat to Ukraine if Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s president, refused to cough up for American protection.

“They may make a deal. They may not make a deal,” the US president told Fox News. “They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday.”

As far as he is concerned, the US has provided “close to $300bn [£237bn]” in aid for Kyiv and it is payback time.

His price? As The Telegraph revealed this week, it is an incredibly steep one. The US has demanded what amounts to an economic colonisation of Ukraine, with significant rights over its mineral resources, oil and gas resources, ports and other infrastructure.

The demands have caused panic in Kyiv and amount to far more than what officials are willing to agree to. However, one bargaining chip Zelensky himself has proffered is access to $500bn of Ukraine’s national resources, including what Trump has called are “tremendously valuable” minerals scattered throughout the country’s sprawling but partially occupied territories.

These minerals offer a tantalising promise: the ability for the US to break its dependence on Chinese supplies of critical minerals that go into everything from wind turbines to iPhones and stealth fighter jets.

With Washington in a “great power” competition with Beijing, Ukraine’s resources – worth an estimated $15 trillion – may theoretically come in handy.