US President Donald Trump said Wednesday it was up to Europe to offer security guarantees to Ukraine, declining to make US promises as part of a deal for Ukraine’s natural resources.
‘I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,’ Trump said during his first cabinet meeting since his inauguration last month.
‘We’re going to have Europe do that because… Europe is their next-door neighbor, but we’re going to make sure everything goes well.’
He also defiantly stated that the war-torn country ‘could forget about’ joining NATO as he pinned the blame of the war on the alliance, telling reporters: ‘You can forget about it. That’s probably the reason the whole thing started.’
Trump then returned back to the discussion of a critical minerals deal with Ukraine, after telling his cabinet that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy will visit the US on Friday to sign a ‘very big agreement’.
‘The deal we’re making brings us great wealth,’ Trump said. ‘We get back the money that we spent, and we hope that we’re going to be able to settle this up.’
The US leader went on to say it is a ‘great deal for Ukraine too’, suggesting there will be ‘automatic security’ because ‘nobody’s going to be messing around with people when we’re there’.
When quizzed on dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump branded him as ‘cunning’ while claiming he had ‘no intention of settling this war’.
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday it was up to Europe to protect Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy is set to visit the US on Friday to sign a ‘very big agreement’
‘He’s a very smart guy, he’s a very cunning person,’ Trump told reporters.
‘I’ve dealt with some really bad people but I will tell you as far as this is concerned, he had no intention, in my opinion, of settling this war.
‘I think he wanted the whole thing when I got elected, we spoke, and I think we’re going to have a deal.’
Trump went on to say that if he didn’t get elected: ‘I believe he [Putin] would have just continued to go through Ukraine’.
He added: ‘Over a period of time, a lot of people would have been killed.’
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today said a framework economic deal with the United States is ready – but security guarantees that Kyiv views as vital remain to be decided.
A senior Ukrainian official said late Tuesday that Kyiv had agreed on the terms of the deal, which would see the United States jointly develop Ukraine’s mineral resources, and that Zelensky could sign it on Friday in Washington.
A full agreement could hinge on talks in Washington as early as Friday.
‘I would like to have this visit very much,’ Zelensky told reporters on Wednesday.
‘This is just a start, a framework, it can be a big success. The success will depend on our conversation with President Trump,’ he added.
But there is confusion as to whether Zelensky will actually be visiting Washington after a White House official raised doubts about whether an invitation to meet Trump would make sense given Zelensky’s comments that a minerals deal is not complete.
‘If the Ukrainian leader says the deal isn’t finalized, I don’t see why an invitation would make sense,’ the official told Reuters.
‘There’s an expectation that his coming is to recognize a final position (on the minerals deal) and he is not at a final position in his own words in this new wording.’
Zelensky admitted that a major issue could scupper the agreement, saying that Ukraine needed to know where the United States stands on its continued military support.
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He said he expects to have a wide-ranging substantive conversation with US President Donald Trump during a visit to Washington. ‘I want to coordinate with the US,’ Zelensky said.
Zelensky said that the main topics that he wants to discuss with Trump are whether the US plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from America.
Ukraine hopes the deal will improve relations with the Trump administration, which have soured in a war of words between Trump and Zelensky.
Zelensky said that revenues from the resources deal would be deposited in a fund co-owned by Ukraine and the United States, and that Kyiv would not be ‘a debtor’ over aid provided under the Biden administration.
‘This would be unfair to us,’ Zelensky said.
He also said he would ask Trump whether Washington would halt aid altogether, and if so, whether Ukraine could still buy weapons from the United States.
Kyiv also wants security guarantees, though the current draft of the deal does not place any specific security commitments on the United States, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.
Zelensky also wants to know if Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for weapons investments and whether Washington plans to lift sanctions on Russia.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.