KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday balked at signing any mineral-rights deal with the US that would be considered repayment for previous aid given under the Biden administration.
President Trump has been demanding such a pact, but Ukraine has been pushing for new security guarantees or fresh military funding in exchange for its minerals.
“I do not recognize [that Kyiv owes the US] even $100 billion,” Zelensky told reporters at a press conference a day before the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of his country.
“We agreed with Biden that this was a grant. A grant is not a debt,” Zelensky said.
Trump has been inaccurately repeating in recent weeks that the US has given Ukraine an estimated $350 billion to defend itself against Russia — and that a deal granting Washington rights to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of critical and rare-earth minerals in Ukraine should serve as backpay for aid offered to Kyiv before he took office.
Fine, no more aid to Ukraine