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US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said Ukraine would sign a critical mineral agreement with Washington in “very short term”, even if Kyiv says that several key points must always have agreed.
“Below [Donald] Trump, this war will end and end soon, “Maryland’s conservative political action conference said on Friday. “He is the president of peace.”
Trump called Russian chief Vladimir Putin and the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week in an opening attempt to end the end of the conflict. He then sent senior American officials to meet the Kremlin representatives in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, but Zelenskyy was not invited.
Trump, who this week falsely claimed Zelenskyy had started warincreased the challenges on Friday saying that the leader of Ukraine did not need to be involved in negotiations to end it. He also called Zelenskyy as a “dictator” in an article on social networks.
“I don’t think it’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you,” said Trump. “When Zelenskyy said, oh, he was not invited to a meeting, I mean, it was not a priority because he has done such a bad job to negotiate so far.”
Ukraine has requested security guarantees from the United States, as well as Europe, to ensure that any hard and fair peace agreement, and will dissuade Russia from using an armistice to rest and reorganize, it making it possible to resume your invasion.
Waltz said Zelenskyy to want develop critical minerals With the American investment and said that the leader of Ukraine would accept an agreement with Washington, although he has not provided details on the conditions.
Zelenskyy rejected last week a proposal presented by the American secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent during a visit to kyiv, saying that it was not in the best interest of Ukraine as it is written.
The agreement proposed that the United States would obtain approximately 50% of rights to Ukraine Critical rare and minerals In exchange for previous military assistance and contained no offer of future assistance.
High Ukrainian officials who saw the proposal told Financial Times that Bessent had asked Zelenskyy to sign the agreement in his presence.
Officials said they had spent last week to create a counter-proposition, which they discussed with the American Special Envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in kyiv on Thursday and Friday.
On Friday, Zelenskyy said in a midnight address that “today, the Ukrainian and American teams were working on a draft agreement between our governments. This agreement can add value to our relationships – what matters most is to obtain the details of the law to make sure it really works. »»
A senior Ukrainian official said, “We have never said that we don’t want to sign [the deal]. They do not understand that the draft text cannot violate our constitution and, in fact, we help Trump conclude a real case. »»
The manager added that Kyiv was trying to negotiate a “solid agreement which does not violate our laws and our constitution and which guarantees investments and security”.
Officials knowing negotiations said the United States had presented an improved proposal, but both parties worked on several points.
The rejection of Zelenskyy of the original American agreement and the war of words which followed between him and Trump during last week raised concerns concerning the strategic partnership between the two nations and the US assistance Future, on which Ukraine greatly depends on rejecting the attacks of Russia.
“We want to be productive with the Americans, it is not our choice to discuss,” said the Ukrainian official.
Friday, Waltz told his audience of conservatives outside of Washington that the United States had “an obligation” towards the American taxpayer “to recover the hundreds of billions of dollars which were invested in this war”, drawing applause of The crowd.
He added that Europe was “often” reimbursed for its contributions to Ukraine, so the United States should be too.
“Here is the essential, President Zelenskyy will sign this agreement, and you will see this in the short term,” said Waltz. “And it’s good for Ukraine. What could you have better for Ukraine than being in economic partnership with the United States? . . . What could you have in Ukraine to stop murder? »»
Waltz has also portrayed Trump as a peacemaker. “He will end the war in Europe. He will end the wars in the Middle East. He will reinvest the United States and our leaders in our own hemisphere, from the Arctic to the border in Panama, “he said.
“At the end of all this, we will have the Nobel Peace Prize sitting next to the name of Donald J Trump,” he added.
Cartography of Steven Bernard
