US President Donald Trump has said that Ukraine "may be Russian someday," also not ruling out the possibility that he would want to take back the money invested in Ukraine by the US government.
"They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, in terms of oil and gas. <…> I want our money secured, because we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars. <…> They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday or they may not be Russian someday, but we are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth. And they have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid," he said in an interview with Fox News.
Trump added that he had warned Kiev that the US "can’t continue to pay this money" like it had previously done.
The US leader reiterated that the conflict in Ukraine would not have started if he stayed in office after his first term.
"I say it all the time, this would have never happened if I were president, if the elections weren’t rigged. <…> This [conflict] would have never happened. It wouldn’t happen with [Russian President] Putin, and [the Hamas armed militant’s attack on Israel on] October 7 would have never happened, either," Trump said.
On June 14, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined the conditions for a resolution in Ukraine during a meeting with the leadership of the Foreign Ministry.
These conditions include the withdrawal of the Ukrainian army from Donbass and Novorossiya, and Kiev’s commitment not to join NATO.
The rights, freedoms, and interests of Russian-speaking citizens must also be fully protected in Ukraine. Russia insists on lifting all Western sanctions against it and establishing Ukraine’s non-aligned and nuclear-free status.
