POTUS, Donald Trump says US Wants Return on Ukraine Aid Money

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was trying to get money back for the billions of dollars sent to support Ukraine’s war against Russia.

His comments came as Washington and Kyiv negotiate a mineral resources deal Trump wants as compensation for the wartime aid his predecessor Joe Biden gave Ukraine.

It was the latest twist in a whirlwind first month since he took office, during which he has upended US foreign policy by making diplomatic overtures towards the Kremlin over the heads of Ukraine and Europe.

Trump told delegates at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington: “I’m trying to get the money back, or secured.

“I want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up. We’re asking for rare earth and oil, anything we can get.

“We’re going to get our money back because it’s just not fair. And we will see, but I think we’re pretty close to a deal, and we better be close because that has been a horrible situation.”

Hours earlier, a source told AFP that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “not ready” to sign such a deal, despite growing US pressure.

Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg, who met Zelensky this week, said the Ukrainian president understood signing a deal with the United States was “critical.”

But the Ukrainian source told AFP that Kyiv needed assurances first.

The negotiations between the two countries come amid a deepening war of words between Trump and Zelensky that has raised alarm in Kyiv and Europe.

On Wednesday, Trump branded his Ukrainian counterpart a “dictator” and called for him to “move fast” to end the war, a day after Russian and US officials held talks in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv.

Washington has proposed a United Nations resolution on the Ukraine conflict that omitted any mention of Kyiv’s territory occupied by Russia, diplomatic sources told AFP.