The Trump administration has suggested that Ukraine will grant Ukraine 50% ownership of US rare earth minerals, and if there is a contract with Russia, deploying American troops to protect the US troops, according to the four US people. It showed openness to do so. Official.
Rather than paying for the minerals, the ownership contract would be a way for Ukraine to refund the US billions of dollars of weapons and support what has been provided to Kiev since the start of the war in February 2022. , two officials said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent submitted a proposal to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to own half of Ukrainian rare earth minerals in a contract that brought half of Ukrainian rare earth minerals in a meeting on Kyiv on Wednesday.
After that meeting, Bescent said the draft U.S. Ukraine’s rare earth minerals agreement reflected the president’s goals but did not provide details of what the administration proposed.
Zelenskyy refused to sign the document when Bessent presented it during a meeting, saying he needed to study it and consult with others about it, explaining at the meeting Eight US officials said.
The Ukrainian leader said he and his team would “do everything to confirm all the details of the document” before they arrived in Munich. Bystander of the Global Security Conference.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington and the White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Zelenskyy said in a speech at a security meeting Friday that his lawyers made advice and some changes to the documents presented to him on Kyiv. He called the proposal a memorandum between the United States and Ukraine, not a security agreement.
President Donald Trump has expressed interest in signing a contract with Ukraine in recent months to grant important US access to rare earth minerals used to manufacture a variety of technology products.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump hopes the US will acquire $500 billion worth of minerals from Ukrainian rare earth minerals, signaling that Kiev “essentially agreed to do so.” He said he did.
Trump told reporters in his oval office this month that he would view access to minerals as a form of “security.”
“We want to have rare earth safety. We put hundreds of millions of dollars in them. They have big rare earths, and I want rare earth safety.
Much of Ukrainian minerals are in areas currently controlled by Russian troops, three US authorities said.
Ukrainian officials have long supported the idea that Zelenskyy would trade “critical resources” for ongoing US support, and have included some of the “winning plans” he presented to Trump last fall. He says he called.
In an exclusive interview at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Zelensky told NBC News that “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker would be “very, very difficult” for Ukraine to survive without US military support.
“In all difficult circumstances, you have a chance. But we have a low chance. We have a low chance to survive without the support of the US. That’s very important and I think it’s important.” Zelensky said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegses said this week that the US military will not be deployed to Ukraine as part of the national security guarantee. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Vance had said in an interview with the newspaper that if Russia does not negotiate a peace deal in good faith, it would be a “table” for the United States to send troops to Ukraine.
Trump has long been broken by the amount of American support for Ukraine, calling Zelensky “the greatest salesman of all time” in past campaign events.
“Every time Zelenskyy comes to the US, he leaves for $100 billion,” Trump said in September. “I think he’s the greatest salesman on the planet, but unless I become president, we’re stuck in that war.”
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