‘An Opportunity For Ukraine’: Trump’s National Security Advisor Pressed On U.S. Pushing Zelensky to Give Up Rare Earth Minerals
President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was asked on Thursday for details about Volodymyr Zelensky rejecting the Trump administration’s deal to give over half of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
“My question is for Mike Waltz. Can you give us a readout of Kellogg’s meeting with Zelensky that just wrapped up? And in particular, Zelensky publicly rejected this deal about the rare earth minerals? Where does that stand?” asked Bloomberg’s White House correspondent.
“Well, we’re going to continue to have. He needs to come back to the table and we’re going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going. Again, we have an obligation to the taxpayer. I think this is an opportunity– the president thinks this is an opportunity for Ukraine going forward,” Waltz replied.
The New York Post reported on Zelensky rejecting the offer earlier in the week, “The $500 billion demand, which was a key part of Zelensky’s meeting with Vice President JD Vance on Friday, did not offer any specific security guarantees for Ukraine down the line, suggesting the minerals were meant as in exchange for America’s support to date — with no promise for the future, according to Ukrainian officials familiar with the talks.”
Waltz added, “There can be, in my view, nothing better for Ukraine’s future and for their security than to have the United States invested in their prosperity long term. And then a key piece of this has also been security guarantees.”
“Look, the reality that we’re talking about here is, is it in Ukraine’s interest? Is it in Europe’s interest? It certainly isn’t in Russia’s interest or in the American people’s interest for this war to grind on forever and ever and ever,” he continued, concluding:
So a key part of his conversation was helping President Zelensky understand this war needs to come to an end. This kind of open-ended mantra that we’ve had under the Biden administration. That’s over. And I think a lot of people are having a hard time accepting that.
And then the other piece is there has been discussions from Prime Minister Starmer and also President Macron about European-led security guarantees. We welcome that. We’ve been asking Europe to step up and secure its own prosperity, safety, and security. So we certainly welcome that and we certainly welcome more European assistance, as I told my counterparts, come to the table with more. If you want a bigger seat at the table and we’ve been asking for that for quite some time.
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
