Trump warns Zelensky of ‘big problems’
The U.S. president has cautioned Kiev against "backing out" of the minerals deal with Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump has advised Vladimir Zelensky to reconsider before rejecting the latest iteration of the proposed minerals deal from...
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The U.S. president has cautioned Kiev against "backing out" of the minerals deal with Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump has advised Vladimir Zelensky to reconsider before rejecting the latest iteration of the proposed minerals deal from Washington, which is significantly stricter than a previous version that fell apart after the Ukrainian leader's outburst at the White House in February.
Trump has consistently insisted that Kiev repay what he alleges are hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. aid through Ukraine’s mineral resources, originally emphasizing rare-earth elements. The earlier draft of the deal was set to be finalized in early March but was abruptly withdrawn following a public clash between Zelensky, Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance during an Oval Office meeting.
After Trump temporarily halted military aid and intelligence sharing with Kiev, Zelensky expressed a willingness to continue negotiations, while maintaining that Kiev does not owe Washington anything.
On Friday, Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had received a new draft proposal but stated, “there are a lot of things that had not been discussed before. And there are also some things that the parties had previously rejected.”
In response, Trump accused Zelensky of attempting to back out of the proposed agreement during comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, as reported by Reuters. “Zelensky, by the way, I see he's trying to back out of the rare earth deal — and if he does that, he's got some problems. Big, big problems.”
Trump continued, “We made a deal on rare earths. And now he is saying: ‘Well, you know, I wanna renegotiate.’ If he is looking to negotiate the deal, he’s got big problems.”
Additionally, Trump reiterated that Ukraine should abandon its ambitions of joining NATO. “He wants to be a member of NATO, but he’s never going to be a member of NATO,” Trump remarked, noting that Zelensky “understands that.”
According to Reuters, the latest version of the minerals deal is considerably more stringent than earlier drafts. If accepted, the U.S. would seek to recover all aid provided to Ukraine since the 2022 escalation of the conflict with Russia and impose a 4% annual interest rate on the total before Kiev could access any profits from the joint extraction fund.
As reported by Germany’s Kiel Institute, the U.S. has allocated over $123 billion in military and financial aid to Ukraine since 2022. However, Trump contends that the actual cost to Washington has surpassed $300 billion.
James del Carmen for TROIB News
U.S. President Donald Trump has advised Vladimir Zelensky to reconsider before rejecting the latest iteration of the proposed minerals deal from Washington, which is significantly stricter than a previous version that fell apart after the Ukrainian leader's outburst at the White House in February.
Trump has consistently insisted that Kiev repay what he alleges are hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. aid through Ukraine’s mineral resources, originally emphasizing rare-earth elements. The earlier draft of the deal was set to be finalized in early March but was abruptly withdrawn following a public clash between Zelensky, Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance during an Oval Office meeting.
After Trump temporarily halted military aid and intelligence sharing with Kiev, Zelensky expressed a willingness to continue negotiations, while maintaining that Kiev does not owe Washington anything.
On Friday, Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had received a new draft proposal but stated, “there are a lot of things that had not been discussed before. And there are also some things that the parties had previously rejected.”
In response, Trump accused Zelensky of attempting to back out of the proposed agreement during comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, as reported by Reuters. “Zelensky, by the way, I see he's trying to back out of the rare earth deal — and if he does that, he's got some problems. Big, big problems.”
Trump continued, “We made a deal on rare earths. And now he is saying: ‘Well, you know, I wanna renegotiate.’ If he is looking to negotiate the deal, he’s got big problems.”
Additionally, Trump reiterated that Ukraine should abandon its ambitions of joining NATO. “He wants to be a member of NATO, but he’s never going to be a member of NATO,” Trump remarked, noting that Zelensky “understands that.”
According to Reuters, the latest version of the minerals deal is considerably more stringent than earlier drafts. If accepted, the U.S. would seek to recover all aid provided to Ukraine since the 2022 escalation of the conflict with Russia and impose a 4% annual interest rate on the total before Kiev could access any profits from the joint extraction fund.
As reported by Germany’s Kiel Institute, the U.S. has allocated over $123 billion in military and financial aid to Ukraine since 2022. However, Trump contends that the actual cost to Washington has surpassed $300 billion.
James del Carmen for TROIB News
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