Shaun
The US has spent another day sending a barrage of insults at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as Washington urged Zelensky to accept a rare earth mineral deal.
Today’s extraordinary outburst came from US national security adviser Mike Waltz, who used a Fox News TV interview to warn Zelensky to “tone it down” and agree to the deal.
Mr Trump said he wanted $500bn in rare earth minerals from Kyiv as payback for Washington’s military support of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Mr Waltz claimed it would offer the “best security guarantee they could ever hope for” – but Kyiv rejected it and claimed Mr Trump was living in a Russian “disinformation bubble”.
The Ukrainian president said the US had supplied his country with $67bn in weapons and $31.5bn in direct budget support throughout the nearly three-year war with Russia.
“You can’t call this $500bn and ask us to return $500bn in minerals or something else. This is not a serious conversation,” Mr Zelensky said.
Mr Trump responded by hurling insults at Mr Zelensky on Wednesday, accusing him of being a dictator who wanted to keep the “gravy train” of US aid flowing.
Where British troops could be sent as part of Starmer’s ‘peacekeeping force’
Ukraine’s future may well have changed dramatically this week after the US held its first talks on ending the war with Russia.
However, there are concerns that with Kyiv not included in discussions and Donald Trump openly attacking Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, a Washington-Moscow peace deal will only leave the war-torn country disappointed.
As European leaders scramble to secure influence over a potential war settlement – despite being left out of the talks in Riyadh – British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer will reportedly detail a peacekeeping plan involving 30,000 European troops when he visits Mr Trump in Washington next week.
Ukraine has so far refused to agree on giving up any land to the invading Russians. This comes despite US pressure, with defence secretary Pete Hegseth saying earlier this month that Ukraine’s demand for a return to pre-2014 borders is an “unrealistic objective” which will “only prolong the war and cause more suffering”.
