President Trump said in an interview that aired on Monday night that Ukraine “may be Russian some day” when pushing his idea for a rare earth mineral deal in exchange for US support.
“[Ukraine] has tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want to have our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars and, you know, they may make a deal, they may not make a deal, they may be Russian some day, or they may not be Russian some day,” Trump said.
The president said that he told the Ukrainians that he wants the equivalent of about $500 billion in rare earth minerals. Trump insisted Ukraine had “essentially agreed” to the idea. “I said to them, we have to get something, we can’t continue to pay this money,” Trump said.
Ukrainian President Volodomy Zelensky has said he’s open to Trump’s idea. “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” he said last week.
Trump administration officials have backed Trump’s calls for a deal that will secure the US access to Ukraine’s natural resources. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said the US needs to “recoup” the cost of the proxy war. “That will be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their rare earth, natural resources, oil, and gas,” he said.
While the deal implies the US will continue providing military aid to Ukraine, Trump also insists he thinks a peace deal to end the war can be reached. Trump has said that he has spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although the Kremlin said it could not confirm or deny the claim.
