Trump: Ukraine agrees to give $500 billion worth of metals for aid
11 February 10:45
Ukraine has agreed to transfer $500 billion worth of rare earth metals to the United States in exchange for military aid. This was stated by US President Donald Trump in an interview with Fox News, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Trump demanded security guarantees for American investments in Ukraine because “one day it may become part of Russia.”
“They have very valuable land in terms of soil, oil, gas, and so on. I want our money to be protected because we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars. You know, they may or may not make a deal. One day they may or may not become part of Russia, but our money will be there,” he said.
According to the Republican, the United States has allocated more than $300 billion to Ukraine, while Europe has allocated only about $100 billion. Trump said that the US should have access to Ukraine’s natural resources, regardless of whether Kyiv manages to reach a peace deal with Russia.
“But we will have all this money. I say I want it back. I told them I want the equivalent of $500 billion in rare earth metals. And they essentially agreed to that so that we don’t feel like fools. Otherwise, we are fools. I told them that we have to get something. We can’t keep paying this money,” the American president said.
According to CNN, the US President’s Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, will arrive in Ukraine. His visit is scheduled for February 20.
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Trump’s position on Ukraine
During the election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said that he would stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. Sometimes he suggested that this could happen even before that.
Also during the election, the media spread the so-called “Trump Plan”. The idea was that the United States would use its influence to stop the war and maintain the status quo. To do this, Trump would force Putin and Zelenskyy to sit down at the negotiating table. If Putin does not agree to negotiate, the United States will give Ukraine all the weapons it needs to win on the battlefield. If Zelenskyy refuses to negotiate, the United States will completely stop helping Ukraine.
This plan, in its various variations, stipulates that Russia retains the territories it temporarily occupies and that Ukraine does not join NATO.
However, later Trump seemed to “forget” about this plan. In particular, he voiced scenarios in which he would force Russia to capitulate due to the decline in world oil prices.
After Trump was elected President of the United States, one of his advisors, Brian Lanza, said that Ukraine should forget about Crimea. The president-elect’s entourage, however, was quick to deny this statement and said that Lanza could not speak for Trump.
Currently, the future US Special Representative for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is talking about 100 days in which he wants to reach some kind of agreement.
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