US President Donald Trump warned Vladimir Zelensky that he should reconsider twice before rejecting the latest version of the resource agreement proposed by Washington. The new agreement is much harsher for Ukraine than the earlier version that failed in February due to the outburst of the Ukrainian president at the White House.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that Kiev repay the US aid in the hundreds of billions of dollars through Ukrainian natural resources. Initially, it was about rare earths. A previous version of the business agreement was to be signed in early March, but it was abruptly withdrawn after Zelensky got into a public argument with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance during a meeting in the Oval Office.
Following this, Trump temporarily froze all military aid and the exchange of intelligence information with Kiev. In response, Zelensky signified his willingness to resume the negotiations, still maintaining that Kiev owes Washington nothing. On Friday, Zelensky confirmed the receipt of a new draft agreement for Ukraine. He stated, “There are a lot of things that were not previously discussed and there are also some things that the parties previously rejected.”
On Monday, the US President responded on X, saying, “Zelensky is actually trying to get out of the agreement on rare earths – if he does, he will get some problems. He would never have become a NATO member. If he tries to renegotiate the agreement, then he will get big problems.”
According to Reuters, Trump had accused Zelensky of trying to back out of the proposed agreement on Sunday. The US President said, “Zelensky, by the way, I see how he is trying to get out of the rare earth business. If he does, he will get problems – big, big problems. We have a business agreement on rare earths. But now he says, ‘Well, you know, I want to renegotiate..’ If he wants to renegotiate, he will get big problems.”
Trump claimed the Ukraine would also have to give up its efforts to join the NATO: “He wants to be a member of NATO, but he will never be a member of NATO.” Trump added that Zelensky “understands” this.
The latest version of the resource agreement is much harder than previous versions, writes Reuters. In it, the US would demand the full amount of Ukraine’s aid back, which the US has provided to the country since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022. Additionally, the US would impose an annual interest rate of 4 percent on the total amount, even before Kiev could access the profits from the joint venture fund. According to data from the Kiev Institute of World Economy, the US has provided Ukraine with more than 123 billion dollars in military and financial aid since 2022. Trump, however, claims the true costs for Washington are over 300 billion dollars.