Donald Trump has said that the Ukrainian president will face “big, big problems” if he pushes for changes to a draft deal on U.S. access to Kyiv’s natural resources.
The provisional U.S.-Ukrainian agreement, widely reported last week, would give Washington vast control over the country’s mineral wealth, including its oil and gas industry and related infrastructure, reportedly for an unspecified period of time.
Subsequent reports have suggested that the Ukrainian government is looking to request amendments to the text, specifically asking for more American investment.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that government lawyers would need to review the proposals before he can publicly comment. But speaking to reporters on the presidential jet on Sunday, President Trump said he thought Zelenskyy was shying away from the agreement.
“I see he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal. And if he does that, he’s got some problems. Big, big problems,” he said.
Trump also dismissed Ukraine’s aspirations to join the NATO military alliance, saying Zelenskyy understood that Kyiv “was never going to be a member of NATO.”
Just hours earlier, Trump had lashed out at Vladimir Putin, threatening to impose oil tariffs on Moscow if he felt that the Russian leader was hampering U.S. efforts to secure a ceasefire.
‘Unfair robbery’
A previous deal on the future of Ukraine’s natural resources was set to be signed last month, but it was shelved following Trump and Zelenskyy’s calamitous falling-out in front of the cameras in the White House.
While the relationship between Washington and Kyiv seems to have stabilized in the meantime, the new draft agreement gives the U.S. far more power over Ukraine than the previous deal did, according to reports.
Ukrainian officials have branded it “unfair” and a “robbery,” noting that it does not provide Kyiv with any security guarantees in return. Trump has framed U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s mineral wealth as payback for the superpower’s military support over the last few years of open conflict with Russia.
Trump ‘pissed off’
Reports suggest that Washington is also preparing to work with Russia to secure minerals. A senior Kremlin official has claimed that U.S.–Russian talks on projects involving rare earth metals are already underway.
Meanwhile, a report last week suggested that one aim of the separate U.S.-Ukrainian deal was to restore the flow of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine.
But the American leader said on Sunday he was “pissed off” that Putin was questioning the Ukrainian president’s legitimacy after the Kremlin called for an interim government to be installed in Kyiv before serious peace talks could go ahead.
Trump said Putin knew he was angry with him, but that the anger would dissipate quickly “if he does the right thing,” adding that the two leaders had a “very good relationship.”
In the past, Trump himself has repeated Putin’s doubts about Zelenskyy’s legitimacy. The Ukrainian leader’s presidential term has, strictly speaking, come to an end. However, no elections can be held in Ukraine under martial law—a position that has been backed by votes in parliament.
Asked about Trump’s comments on Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president remained open to contacts with his U.S. counterpart and that a call between them could be set up at short notice if necessary, although no such call was scheduled for this week.
Peskov added that Moscow and Washington were continuing to work on building up bilateral ties.
