US President Donald Trump has come to the idea that Ukraine might “one day be Russian” as his vice president, JD Vance, is preparing to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later this week. Ta.
Promoting to end the nearly three-year war with Russia, Trump discussed the conflict in an interview with broadcaster Fox News on Monday.
“They may trade, they may not trade. They may one day be Russian, and one day they may not be Russian,” he said.
Trump also emphasized that he would acquire investment returns with US aid in Ukraine, suggesting a trade in Kiev’s natural resources, such as rare minerals.
“We’ll have all this money out there and I’ll say I want to get it back, and I want them to have something equivalent, like $500 million worth of rare earth. I said that,” Trump said. “And they essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”
Trump also confirmed on Monday that he would soon be dispatched to his special envoy, Keith Kellogg, to Ukraine.
While Trump is seeking a quick end to the conflict, Zelensky is seeking strict security guarantees from Washington as part of his deal with Russia.
Kyiv fears that settlements that do not include harsh military commitments, such as NATO membership and the deployment of peacekeeping forces, will allow the Kremlin to be reorganized for a fresh attack and reorganized Reimm. Masu.
Zelenskyy spokesman Sergiy Nikiforov told Agence France-Presse that the Ukrainian president will meet with Vance on the sidelines of the Munich security conference this Friday.
Sources at Zelenskyy’s office said Kellogg will arrive in Ukraine on February 20th.
His trip will come a few days before the third anniversary of the Russian invasion on February 24th.
Zelenskyy called for Ukraine’s “true peace and effective security guarantees” on Monday.
“The safety of the people, the security of our nation, the security of our economic relations, and of course, the sustainability of our resources: not just for Ukraine, but for the entire free world,” he said.
“All of this has been decided,” Zelenskyy added to the video address that was published on social media.
Trump says he wants to mediate the end of the war, but has not outlined a detailed proposal to bring both sides to the negotiation table.
Both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin have previously ruled out direct consultations with each other, and there appears to be little ground for the two to make a deal.
Putin has called for Ukraine to withdraw from the south and east belts, demanding that Kiev still be in control, and believes that close ties between Ukraine and NATO are unacceptable.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy refused to make territorial concessions to Moscow, but admits that Ukraine may have to resort to diplomatic means to ensure the return of some territory.
Russia says it annexed five Crimea regions in 2014. In 2022, we merged Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, but we have no complete control over them.
Zelensky said on Monday that a meeting with Trump has been arranged, but Trump said last week that he will “probably” meet Zelensky in the next few days, but will be traveling to Kiev personally. was excluded.
The New York Post said on Saturday that Trump told Putin that he had spoken to a publication that Trump had spoken over the phone to the point that Russian leaders “want to stop dying” to discuss ending the Ukrainian conflict. He reported that he had done so.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to confirm or reject the phone.
In close succession, organizers of the Munich Security Conference confirmed that Zelensky will attend the February 14th-16 summit on Monday.
The US delegation will include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as Kellogg and Vance.
Heusgen said there would be no representatives from the Russian government.
