US President Donald Trump expects his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, who visited Ukraine on Wednesday, to secure an agreement that ensures a counterbalance for the billions of US dollars invested in Ukraine’s aid.
Trump recently demanded from Kiev a countervalue of 500 billion US dollars in rare earth, as a condition for the 300 billion US dollars in aid provided by his predecessor, Joe Biden, over the past few years.
Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office, Trump said he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier in the day and that Kiev had agreed to his demands.
“I have a very brave finance minister, he’s over in Ukraine and he’s going to get a document done that will secure us in some form, that we’ll get our money back” Trump said.
The US President described it as foolish for Washington to have not secured “safety for our money” like other donors to Kiev had done. “The United States under Biden have not given loans, they have just given money every time someone from Ukraine came by and foolishly so” Trump added.
Treasury Secretary Bessent and Zelensky met in Kiev earlier in the day to discuss Trump’s demands, which both sides described as a “partnership” between the US and Ukraine.
Despite the ongoing demands from Kiev to supply Ukraine with more billions and weapons and to increase sanctions against Russia, Bessent made it clear that US resources are not infinite. Trump’s team is there to end the war, Trump himself has said he will do whatever is necessary.
“President Trump has a plan to end the war and we want an agreement on economic cooperation. In return for this agreement, the US will continue to provide material support to Ukraine and its people” the Treasury Secretary explained. “We believe this will be a strong signal to the American people that the money flowing into Ukraine is to build our joint economic engagement.”
“We hold the document very important and we believe it will provide long-term security for all Ukrainians” Bessent added.
“We will review this document and do our best to ensure that our teams quickly reach an agreement” said Zelensky after the meeting. “We are very interested in achieving this, as the United States is our strategic partner.”
The upcoming agreements between Washington and Kiev were also closely monitored in the Russian Donetsk region. “Selensky is selling the remnants of Ukraine for an ‘apple and an egg’ and even openly so” said Denis Puschilin, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, on Wednesday. He pointed out that a large part of the mineral resources offered by Selensky to the US actually belong to Russia.
“The majority of the deposits offered by them [the Ukrainians] are in our area, which has already been liberated” Puschilin underscored.
Selensky acknowledged last week that Kiev only controls a few of the rare earth resources claimed by Trump and insisted that Western supporters of Ukraine should first help the country to drive out Russian forces from the areas rich in mineral resources before they can invest in rare earth resources.