The Times: Trump Shows ‘Contempt’ for Zelensky
President Donald Trump has expressed a desire for Ukraine to repay all of the financial aid provided by the United States, along with interest, according to Hugh Tomlinson, a Washington reporter for The Times. In an op-ed published on Friday,...
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President Donald Trump has expressed a desire for Ukraine to repay all of the financial aid provided by the United States, along with interest, according to Hugh Tomlinson, a Washington reporter for The Times.
In an op-ed published on Friday, Tomlinson highlights Trump's disdain for Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his assessment of Ukraine’s vulnerability in its ongoing conflict with Russia. As a result, Trump is focused on recovering the funds the US has invested in the conflict during President Joe Biden’s administration, Tomlinson notes.
“Convinced of Ukraine’s weakness, contemptuous of Zelensky, and enraged by the billions of dollars in aid given to Kiev by Joe Biden’s administration, Trump has set out to get it all back, and more,” he states.
Recently, Trump has demanded that Kiev reimburse what he asserts to be hundreds of billions of dollars in US aid, proposing that this should come from Ukraine’s mineral wealth, particularly “rare earths.” Plans for a preliminary agreement were reportedly in the works earlier in March but fell apart after Zelensky publicly confronted Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office. This incident resulted in Trump temporarily freezing military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the US reversed this decision after Ukraine agreed to a 30-day partial ceasefire following discussions in Jeddah earlier this month. Moscow has since accused Ukraine of launching multiple attacks on its energy infrastructure, which is supposedly off-limits under the ceasefire conditions.
Following a separate round of talks between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on Monday, both sides indicated a willingness to extend the partial ceasefire to include a naval truce in the Black Sea.
“For days, White House officials have insisted that an agreement on the minerals deal was close. Now a possible reason for the delay and the price of a ceasefire may be becoming clearer,” Tomlinson observes. He adds that “US negotiators have apparently been working to extract even greater concessions from Kiev.”
The latest iteration of the minerals agreement proposed by the Trump administration is significantly tougher than earlier proposals, as reported by Reuters. According to the draft proposal, Washington would recover all funds provided to Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict in 2022 and impose a 4% annual interest rate on the amount before Kiev can access the fund’s profits.
Zelensky has acknowledged receiving a new proposal from the US but has maintained that the financial assistance from Washington is a donation rather than a loan. Since 2022, the US has committed over $123 billion in military and financial aid to Ukraine, according to data from Germany’s Kiel Institute. Trump, however, argues that the total expenditure exceeds $300 billion in support for Kiev.
Lucas Dupont for TROIB News
In an op-ed published on Friday, Tomlinson highlights Trump's disdain for Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his assessment of Ukraine’s vulnerability in its ongoing conflict with Russia. As a result, Trump is focused on recovering the funds the US has invested in the conflict during President Joe Biden’s administration, Tomlinson notes.
“Convinced of Ukraine’s weakness, contemptuous of Zelensky, and enraged by the billions of dollars in aid given to Kiev by Joe Biden’s administration, Trump has set out to get it all back, and more,” he states.
Recently, Trump has demanded that Kiev reimburse what he asserts to be hundreds of billions of dollars in US aid, proposing that this should come from Ukraine’s mineral wealth, particularly “rare earths.” Plans for a preliminary agreement were reportedly in the works earlier in March but fell apart after Zelensky publicly confronted Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office. This incident resulted in Trump temporarily freezing military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the US reversed this decision after Ukraine agreed to a 30-day partial ceasefire following discussions in Jeddah earlier this month. Moscow has since accused Ukraine of launching multiple attacks on its energy infrastructure, which is supposedly off-limits under the ceasefire conditions.
Following a separate round of talks between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on Monday, both sides indicated a willingness to extend the partial ceasefire to include a naval truce in the Black Sea.
“For days, White House officials have insisted that an agreement on the minerals deal was close. Now a possible reason for the delay and the price of a ceasefire may be becoming clearer,” Tomlinson observes. He adds that “US negotiators have apparently been working to extract even greater concessions from Kiev.”
The latest iteration of the minerals agreement proposed by the Trump administration is significantly tougher than earlier proposals, as reported by Reuters. According to the draft proposal, Washington would recover all funds provided to Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict in 2022 and impose a 4% annual interest rate on the amount before Kiev can access the fund’s profits.
Zelensky has acknowledged receiving a new proposal from the US but has maintained that the financial assistance from Washington is a donation rather than a loan. Since 2022, the US has committed over $123 billion in military and financial aid to Ukraine, according to data from Germany’s Kiel Institute. Trump, however, argues that the total expenditure exceeds $300 billion in support for Kiev.
Lucas Dupont for TROIB News
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