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Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was trying to get money back for the billions of dollars sent to support Ukraine’s war against Russia.
His comments came as Washington and Kyiv negotiate a mineral resources deal Trump wants as compensation for the wartime aid his predecessor Joe Biden gave Ukraine.
It was the latest twist in a whirlwind first month since he took office, during which he has upended US foreign policy by making diplomatic overtures towards the Kremlin over the heads of Ukraine and Europe.
Trump told delegates at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington: “I’m trying to get the money back, or secured.
“I want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up. We’re asking for rare earth and oil, anything we can get.
“We’re going to get our money back because it’s just not fair. And we will see, but I think we’re pretty close to a deal, and we better be close because that has been a horrible situation.”
Hours earlier, a source said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “not ready” to sign such a deal, despite growing US pressure.


Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg, who met Zelensky earlier this week, said the Ukrainian president understood signing a deal with the US was “critical”.
But the Ukrainian source said Kyiv needed assurances first.
“In the form in which the draft is now, the president is not ready to accept, we are still trying to make changes and add constructiveness,” the source close to the matter said.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko told a news conference in Kyiv that around US$350 billion worth of Ukraine’s critical resources are in areas captured by Russia.
“We have information that, unfortunately, there is about US$350 billion worth of these useful critical materials in temporarily occupied territory,” she said.
Ukraine wants any agreement signed with the US to include security guarantees as it battles Russia’s nearly three-year invasion.
The negotiations between the two countries come amid a deepening war of words between Trump and Zelensky that has raised alarm in Kyiv and Europe.
On Wednesday, Trump branded his Ukrainian counterpart a “dictator” and called for him to “move fast” to end the war, a day after Russian and US officials held talks in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv.
The US has proposed a United Nations resolution on the Ukraine conflict that omitted any mention of Kyiv’s territory occupied by Russia, diplomatic sources said.
Trump has asked for “US$500 billion worth” of rare earth minerals to make up for aid given to Kyiv – a price tag Ukraine has balked at and which is much higher than published US aid figures.
“There are no American obligations in the agreement regarding guarantees or investments, everything about them is very vague, and they want to extract US$500 billion from us,” the Ukrainian source said of the proposed deal.
“What kind of partnership is this? And why do we have to give US$500 billion, there is no answer,” the source said, adding that Ukraine had proposed amendments to the draft.

The United States has given Ukraine US$65.9 billion in military aid since Russia’s invasion, according to official figures – the largest such contribution among Kyiv’s allies but substantially lower than Trump’s figures.
The Kiel Institute, a German economic research body, said that from 2022 until the end of 2024, the United States gave a total of €114.2 billion (US$119.8 billion) in financial, humanitarian and military aid.
A senior Ukrainian official said on Friday that despite the tensions, talks on a possible agreement were “ongoing”. Kellogg praised Zelensky as “courageous” after his visit to Kyiv earlier this week.
The row comes at a critical moment in the conflict. Ukraine marks the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Monday and Kyiv’s forces are slowly ceding ground on the front line.
Moscow’s defence ministry earlier on Saturday claimed the capture of Novolyubivka in the eastern Luhansk region, which is now largely under Russian control.
In a call with Zelensky on Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged the “UK’s ironclad support for Ukraine”.
Zelensky, in response, praised the United Kingdom for showing “leadership” on the war with Russia.
In London, thousands of people marched in support of Ukraine on Saturday, and polls in the UK suggest strong support for Kyiv.


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Ukraine war

Trump wants money back for Ukraine aid: ‘rare earth and oil, anything we can get’

US President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Saturday. Photo: AP

A Ukrainian tank patrols as locals receive humanitarian aid packages in a village near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv area on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Trump says Russia attacked Ukraine in U-turn, predicts deal on minerals soon

People look at the site of a Russian missile strike in Kyiv on February 12. Photo: EPA-EFE

EU leaders to head to Kyiv, Macron to visit Trump in bid to shore up support for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and British prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday for a meeting on the Ukraine war. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / TNS

US refusing to co-sponsor UN motion backing Ukraine ahead of war anniversary, diplomats say

An electronic sign displays the results of a vote by delegations adopting a resolution on Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York in 2023. File photo: Reuters

Ukrainian servicemen fire a captured Russian howitzer in 2022. The war reaches its third anniversary on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ukraine’s Zelensky calls for strong US ties after Trump brands him a dictator

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky greets US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk aboard Marine One on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Ukrainian servicemen conduct a field training exercise in an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region. Photo: AFP

Trump turns against Zelensky – and towards Russia – as US-Ukraine ties fray

US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressing a joint session of Congress in Washington in 2022. File photo: AP

This week’s talks in Saudi Arabia were the first time US and Russian officials met to discuss ways to halt the Ukraine war. Photo: AP

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World

Russia & Central Asia

Diplomacy

Ukraine’s Zelensky is caught in a war of words with the US president, who is pressing him to sign a US$500 billion mineral resources deal


Ukraine’s Zelensky is caught in a war of words with the US president, who is pressing him to sign a US$500 billion mineral resources deal.
