Although I could see the need for Ukraine to cut a deal with the US for continued support, the idea of monetising natural resources in this way struck me as all too akin to the offer to buy Greenland, or turn Gaza into a resort. This is how autocrats do business. And deals with them never end well.

G7 allies froze about €300bn in Central Bank of Russia assets in 2022 after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of which the vast majority — some €190bn — sit in Belgium’s central security depository Euroclear, with smaller amounts held by France, the UK, Japan, Switzerland, and the US.

In parallel, they should expand the model pioneered by Denmark of financing production by Ukraine’s arms industry, which has transformed its capabilities since 2022. That could enable a big boost in production of drones and missiles — helping to turn Ukraine into what the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen called an indigestible “steel porcupine”.

The value of Norway’s war windfall is almost equivalent to all US military and civilian support for Ukraine to date. As the US position on European security becomes increasingly ambiguous, Norway should deploy its windfall to the benefit of the European citizens from whom it came, by allocating it in full to Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction.

Let’s be clear, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is horrible. For 11 years, I have documented the war’s cost. With the full-scale invasion three years ago, my organisation established a network of human rights defenders to record mass atrocities — from the dead on the streets in Bucha to the mass graves in Izium.

After the verbal assault on Volodymyr Zelenskyy by Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance, Ukraine was facing catastrophe. The obvious risk was that Trump would work with Vladimir Putin to force an isolated Ukraine to accept a de facto Russian victory.

“The minerals agreement is only part of the picture. We have heard multiple times from the US administration that it’s part of a bigger picture,” Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and justice minister who has led the negotiations, told the Financial Times on Tuesday.

Europe will work with Ukraine to draw up a plan to “stop the fighting” with Russia before presenting a blueprint for peace to US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Sunday.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has demanded the EU begin “direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire” in the war against Ukraine. Orban also said he opposed efforts