The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, rejected on Wednesday the demands of the United States to Ukraine of US $ 500,000 million in mineral wealth as a return to Washington of the help provided during the war, and said that the US had not supplied that amount so far or offered specific security guarantees in the agreement.
The Ukrainian leader, who is under a great pressure from Trump’s White House, said Washington had supplied US $ 67,000 million to his country in arms and US $ 31.5 billion in direct budget support throughout the war with Russia that lasts almost three years.
“You can’t call this US $ 500,000 million and ask us to return US $ 500,000 million in minerals or something else. It is not a serious conversation,” said Zelenski.
Trump has said that he wants US $ 500,000 million in kyiv’s rare land minerals to ensure the help of Washington and his team proposed last week an agreement that kyiv refused to sign in its current form.
Zelenski has said that the proposed agreement did not contain the security provisions that Ukraine desperately needs to protect from Russian aggression. He said that the draft agreement proposed that the United States had the property of 50% of the critical minerals of Ukraine.
“I defend Ukraine, I can’t sell our country.
“They told me: ‘Only 50%)’. .
The question of how much help has supplied the United States to Ukraine is acquiring an important diplomatic meaningsince kyiv tries to preserve the support of what has been his most important ally.
In his comments on Tuesday, Trump questioned where the money that has been given to Ukraine had gone.
Zelenski, referring to those comments, He said that the combined help of the United States and the European Union amounted to US $ 200,000 million of a total of US $ 320,000 million spent in armament for war effort.
The Ukrainians assumed the rest of the costs, about US $ 120,000 million, he said.
