Mr. Zelensky, who has shown openness to leveraging Ukraine’s mineral resources in negotiations with allies, said he rejected the deal because it did not tie resource access to U.S. security guarantees for Kyiv in its fight against Russia.
The idea of leveraging Ukraine’s mineral resources began to take shape last summer. Mr. Zelensky’s government, trying to appeal to Mr. Trump’s business-minded approach and fearing he would follow through on his promises to cut off military and financial aid to Ukraine, decided to pitch a deal that would essentially trade Ukrainian critical minerals for American aid.
The Ukrainian president presented the idea to Mr. Trump during a September meeting in New York, and the proposal gained backing from influential political figures, including Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican. It also came after U.S. businessmen — including as Ronald S. Lauder, a wealthy friend of Mr. Trump’s — showed interest in investing in Ukraine’s mineral resources.
Kyiv had always maintained that access to its natural resources would come in exchange for strong security guarantees from Washington. But one of the Ukrainian officials said that the proposal made no such commitment, instead framing the access to Ukraine’s resources as overdue payment for past American military and financial aid.
But there is precedent for Ukraine to mix security and business with the United States under Mr. Trump. In his first term, in 2017, he struck a deal for Ukraine to buy coal from Pennsylvania to replace coal from mines in Ukraine lost under Russian occupation after the 2014 invasion.
But the deal under discussion now, he [Kostiantyn Yelisieiev] said, elevates the approach in ways that could hand Russia a propaganda win by casting the war as a battle for natural resources, not Ukrainian independence or democracy.
“It’s more important to say this is about protecting democracies and defeating Putin,” he said.
No shit, what incentive does he have? “Give me half of your mineral resources, and I will let Russia have everything they want from you? Refuse, and I will pull back support and let Russia try to get everything they want from you.”
You know what is next right? This fucking supervillain wannabe is going to flip the script and arm Russian troops or send forces to help Russia take over Ukraine for refusing. At the very least, he will threaten it to get what he wants from Ukraine. Mark my words. We have spent decades building a military that has (ostensibly) policed and defended the world, and now the fucking Blofeld parody dumber than Dr. Evil is at the reigns and will use that military to threaten and extort sovereign nations and allies across the world to gain whatever he wants on this day of the week. This is the worst and stupidest fucking timeline!