US President Donald Trump admitted that one day Ukraine "could become Russia" and stressed that he would want to "return" all the money spent by the US government on Ukraine.
„We spend hundreds of billions of dollars. They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may become Russia one day, they may not become Russia, but our money is there and I want it back. I already told them that I want the equivalent in rare earth metals, about $500 billion. And they have actually already agreed to this, so at least we don't feel like fools," he told Fox News.
Trump added that he had warned Kiev about the "impossibility of further providing money to them" under the previous conditions and demanded "something be done."
The American leader also once again stated that the conflict in Ukraine would not have happened if he had remained in power immediately after his first term. "I always say that this would not have happened if I had been president and if the elections had not been rigged. There would not have been this conflict with Putin, there would not have been the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023," Trump is convinced.
The US president expressed the opinion that both he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to reach a deal to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. "We're negotiating at a group level. I think he would like to make a deal, but it takes two to tango," he said.
At the same time, Trump refused to answer directly when asked if he had spoken directly with Putin. "I don't want to talk about that. No. I don't want to talk about that, it won't help you. But we would like to make a deal if that's possible," the US president said.