President Trump has suggested that Ukraine “may be Russian someday,” in an interview aired just days before Vice President JD Vance is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a security summit in Germany.
“They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” Mr. Trump, who repeatedly claimed before taking office for his second term that he would quickly end the war launched almost three years ago by Russia. He made the remarks in a portion of an interview with Fox News that was broadcast on Monday.
Ukraine and many of its European partners have worried that Mr. Trump could try to make good on his vows by pressuring Zelenskyy into a ceasefire agreement with Russia that allows Moscow to maintain control over some of the roughly 25% of Ukrainian territory Vladimir Putin’s forces have occupied.
In exchange for a truce with Russia, Zelenskyy has made it clear that he would want security guarantees from the U.S. — such as backing for Ukrainian NATO membership or an agreement to deploy peacekeeping troops — fearing Russia could regroup and strike again.
Mr. Trump said Monday that his special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, whom the president has tasked with ending the conflict, will be sent to Ukraine in the near future. Vance is set to meet Zelenskyy at a security conference in Munich on Friday.Â
In response to Mr. Trump’s comments, the Kremlin said Tuesday that the situation in Ukraine “largely corresponds to President Trump’s words.”
“The fact that a significant part of Ukraine wants to become Russia, and has already, is a fact,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in an apparent reference to Moscow’s unilateral declaration in September 2022 that four occupied regions in southeast Ukraine had been annexed.
“Any phenomenon can happen with a 50 percent probability — either yes or no,” Peskov said, adding that there was nothing new to report regarding discussions with the U.S. over the Ukraine war.
Trump and Ukraine’s mineral wealth
President Trump has suggested that future American military aid to Ukraine could be dependent on Kyiv committing to a trade agreement that grants U.S. access to its rare earth minerals. He has framed the idea as a return on the U.S. investment made in backing Ukraine’s defensive efforts — aid which has already amounted to more than $65 billion.
“We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth,” Mr. Trump said Monday. “They have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”
Rare earth minerals, of which Ukraine has significant reserves, are vital raw materials for a wide range of technology, including most modern batteries and some military technology.
Zelenskyy has indicated an openness to such an agreement with the U.S., which he appears to understand may be the cost of securing ongoing U.S. financial support and security guarantees. But in an interview with Reuters last week, Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine was not offering to simply give away its “rich land,” even to “strategic partners.”Â
But the Ukrainian leader has said his country is interested in a partnership — an idea that first appeared in Zelenskyy’s “victory plan,” which he presented in Washington during a visit in September.
Zelenskyy, in his interview with Reuters, showed a map indicating the extent of Ukraine’s estimated mineral reserves, concentrated mainly in the east and central parts of the country. He said the Ukrainian land currently occupied by Russian forces holds less than 20% of his country’s mineral wealth, but he added that it is still worth “hundreds of billions” of dollars.
Zelenskyy warned against allowing Russia to maintain control over such valuable and strategic resources, saying Putin was not just grabbing the land and the minerals within it, but that he could then provide the totalitarian regimes in North Korea or Iran access to the vital materials.