KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv has been taken off the table, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, indicating a more equitable deal is in the works.
Zelenskyy had earlier declined a U.S. draft agreement on exploitation of his country’s valuable minerals such as lithium used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries because it did not contain security guarantees and came with the $500 billion price tag.
“The question of $500 billion is no longer there,” Zelenskyy told a news conference at a forum of government officials in Kyiv marking the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader said considering aid as a debt to be repaid would be a “Pandora’s box” that would set a precedent requiring Kyiv to reimburse all its backers.
“We do not recognize the debt,” Zelenskyy said. “It will not be in the final format of the agreement.”
No further details were given on the state of negotiations. Ukraine has insisted on security guarantees that it needs to deter any potential Russian aggression in the future.
Yeah for sure, but at least we had a chance of forcing the democrats to do something better. Now, we have to deal with a fucking coup, and all the US allies will suffer for it.