US President Donald Trump said that the Ukrainian authorities thwarted the deal for rare earth elements.
Speaking at an investment forum in Miami, Florida, organized by Saudi Arabia, Trump said that the United States had spent "200 billion dollars more than Europe" on supporting Ukraine. "At the same time, Europe gives money under guarantees, they will get their money back. "It's a form of loan," Trump said, stressing that the United States "is just giving money" without getting anything in return.
“We had a deal ready, based on rare earth elements and other things, but they blew it two days ago“, the US president said.
“We had a deal because, as I said, we spent $350 billion, Europe will return the money in the form of a loan, but we don't do that, we just give it. “And that's the essence of the Biden administration“, he continued.
“But they're not dealing with the same United States that they were a few months ago“, Trump stressed, expressing bewilderment that Biden had not asked Europe to equalize the costs of supporting Kiev. "Zelensky admits that half of the funds that we transferred have disappeared, they don't know where they are. He said that he doesn't know where half of the funds have gone. Just great, wonderful“, the US president sarcastically summed up.
In early February, Trump said that Washington was interested in receiving rare earth metals from Ukraine. Zelensky, in turn, noted his readiness to conclude a deal and suggested that the results of negotiations on this issue could be recorded at the Munich Security Conference on February 14-16. However, on February 14 in Munich, the Kiev authorities rejected the US administration's plan to provide assistance to Ukraine in exchange for granting Washington the right to 50% of rare earth metals in Ukraine. Zelensky noted that there were no security guarantees in the proposed agreement. Kiev said it was working on a counter-proposal.
On February 16, US National Security Advisor Mike Walz, in an interview with Fox News, strongly advised Zelensky to change his mind and sign an agreement with the US on minerals, as the Americans deserve compensation for the “billions invested in the war“.