Ukraine Will Reject Mineral Deal With Trump If It Threatens European Union Relations
JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not accept any mineral rights deal that threatens its integration with the European Union.
Zelenskyy told reporters Kyiv's legal team needed to review the draft before he could say more about the US offer, whose summary suggests the US is demanding all Ukraine's natural resources income over the years.
Ukrainian president also said Kyiv would not recognize the billions of dollars in advance as a loan, although he did not say whether the request was listed in the latest draft version received by top government officials.
However, Zelenskyy said the text was "completely different" from the previous framework agreement he would sign with Donald Trump before their talks turned into a dispute last month.
"The framework has been changed. Let's study this framework and then we can speak," he said at a press conference in Kyiv.
The latest US proposal requires Kyiv to send all the profits from funds controlling Ukraine's resources to Washington until Ukraine has paid back all American war aids, plus interest, according to a summary reviewed by Reuters.
Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly emphasized the need for a strong relationship with the White House, seems to offend this last element when he said Kyiv did not look at past aid as something that now needs to be paid back.
Finding an acceptable path to a problem like this is a big challenge for Zelenskyy whose rift with Trump last month caused Washington to cut off the previously agreed flow of military aid and stop intelligence sharing.
It is also a very sensitive diplomatic point with Trump trying to immediately end the fighting with Russia, while redirecting Washington's policy to support Moscow's narrative of its three-year war in Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told lawmakers Kyiv would issue his position in the new draft only after consensus. Until then, public discussions will be detrimental, he said.
Another Ukrainian source described the full documents presented by America as "very large".