OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:22 PM – Sunday, February 16, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on Sunday that he refused to accept the United States’ proposal which would have provided the U.S. with Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for military aid.
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The proposal, which was pitched on Friday at the Munich Security Conference by Vice President JD Vance, gave the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals “as compensation” for support previously provided by the Biden administration, as well as for future military aid.
Ukraine is particularly rich in graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium, which are critical materials for defense and tech industries.
Zelensky stated that he “didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant because in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest.”
Zelensky has repeatedly stated that any deal handing over valuable minerals to the United States would need to be accompanied by security guarantees to deter any future Russian aggression.
“There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americas, and I always say no,” Zelensky stated on Tuesday. “Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees.”
Meanwhile, White House National Security Council Spokesman Brian Hughes stated that “President Zelensky is being short-sighted about the excellent opportunity the Trump Administration has presented to Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian president also added that Kyiv believes that Russian President Vladamir Putin is gearing up to “wage war against NATO.”
“We know for sure that he is preparing that from the territory of Belarus this year. It can happen in summer, maybe in the beginning, maybe in the end of summer. I do not know when he prepares it. But it will happen,” Zelensky stated.
“There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuanian because we believe – we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO,” he added.
“That is why I told you that, ‘What is he waiting for?’ For a weakening of NATO by, for instance, policy of the United States of America, for example, that the United States of America will think to take its military from Europe. Yes, Putin thinks of that. But I will believe that the United States will not take its forces, its contingents from Europe because that will severely weaken NATO and the European continent. Putin definitely counts on that. And the fact that we receive information that he will think of the invasion against former Soviet republics. And forgive me, but today these are NATO countries.”
Ukraine is now in the process of crafting a “counter proposal” to be delivered to the United States in “the near future,” according to the Associated Press.
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