With Trump bent on bringing Russia’s war to a swift end and recouping some of Washington’s financial aid to Kyiv, Zelensky is hoping that the natural resources deal can secure the US president’s future support, as well as security guarantees for Ukraine.
At a press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky conceded that the deal does not have “concrete steps on security guarantees” because these need to be decided jointly with the US and Europe.
Under the deal, which has spaces for the signatures of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine will contribute to the fund 50% of all revenues earned from the future monetization of state-owned natural resources assets, including hydrocarbons, oil and natural gas, as well as rare earth minerals.
Ukraine ‘grateful’ for US support
Zelensky also said in the press conference that Ukraine will not repay money given to it by the US as part of the natural resources deal.
“I will not accept [even] 10 cents of debt repayment in this deal. Otherwise, it will be a precedent,” he said Wednesday.
Trump had said over the weekend that he is “trying to get the money back” that the Biden administration had given to Ukraine to help it repel Russia’s invasion. Trump falsely claimed that the US has given Ukraine $350 billion since February 2022. The actual figure is around $120 billion, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Trump also falsely claimed that Europe’s support for Ukraine was “in the form of a loan.”
“They get their money back. We gave it in the form of nothing. So I want them to give us something for all of the money that we’ve put up,” Trump said, saying the US had been made to feel “stupid.”
When Trump repeated this claim during talks with Emmanuel Macron on Monday, the French president grabbed Trump’s arm to correct him.
“No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort. It was like the US: loans, guarantees, grants,” Macron said.
Speaking Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine remained “grateful” for US support, but that he will be “very direct” and ask Trump “if the United States will stop support [for Ukraine] or not.”
If the US does not provide more aid, Zelensky said Ukraine could “buy weapons directly” from the US, suggesting that frozen Russian assets – amounting to some $300 billion – could be used to fund the purchases.