President Donald J. Trump has suggested that Ukraine “may be Russian someday,” as his vice president, JD Vance, was preparing to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later this week.
Trump shared his thoughts on the Ukraine-Russia war in an interview with Fox News that aired Monday and advocated for an end to the hostilities.
Ukraine “may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But we’re going to have all this money in Ukraine, and I say, I want it back,” Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier.
The president has consistently vowed to negotiate a quick peace deal to bring an end to the nearly three-year-long war, asserting that it would never have started had he been in office in 2022.
Building on his previous suggestion of securing US support for Ukraine in exchange for rare earth minerals, Trump claimed that Kiev had “essentially agreed” to a $500 billion resource deal.
“I told them I want the equivalent of about $500 billion worth of rare earth minerals, and they’ve essentially agreed to that,” Trump said.
Trump asserted that the US had provided more support to Ukraine than its European allies, estimating Washington’s contribution at over $300 billion. Since the start of the full-scale war in 2022, Congress has allocated more than $170 billion to Ukraine, including over $60 billion in military aid. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed last month that less than half of that aid had ever reached Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the EU and its member states have committed $145 billion in financial, military, and humanitarian assistance throughout the duration of the war.
Trump recently disclosed that he had been in communication with President Vladimir Putin and had planned a face-to-face meeting, effectively ending the diplomatic isolation that former President Joe Biden had imposed on the Kremlin leader.
Later this week, President Zelensky is scheduled to meet Trump’s Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference, and later, Trump himself in Washington to explore potential pathways to a resolution.
