At a press conference before the government meeting, Trump says that it is Europe – not the USA – that can provide security guarantees to Ukraine.
According to Trump, no larger American promises of such can be given as part of an agreement on Ukrainian natural resources.
We will let Europe do it since Europe is their closest neighbor, but we will make sure everything goes well.
Trump says that the mineral agreement is a good deal for Ukraine as well, since "they get us there, we will work there."
We will be on site and in that way, there will be automatic security since no one will mess with our people when we are there, he says.
Zelenskyj visits the White House
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj announced on Wednesday that an economic framework agreement with the USA is ready, but the question of security guarantees remains. The framework agreement is a first step towards a full agreement to be taken up in Ukraine's parliament.
According to sources, the draft agreement implies that the USA and Ukraine will extract minerals, oil, and gas jointly.
Trump also confirms that Zelenskyj will visit the White House in Washington on Friday. According to a high-ranking Ukrainian source, the hope is that an agreement will be signed then.
Dismisses Nato ambitions
During the press conference, Trump also dismisses Ukraine's ambitions to join the defense alliance Nato.
Nato – you can forget it, Trump responds when asked about a potential agreement to end the war.
He then repeats the Russian stance that the Nato issue "is probably the reason it all started". The large-scale war actually began when Russia attacked its neighboring country in February 2022.
It was already in 2008 that Nato decided that Ukraine should become a member of the alliance, but the plan for this remained vague. In September 2022 – after Russia's full-scale invasion of the country began the same year – the country applied for membership.
At the same time, Trump groundlessly claims that the EU was formed to counteract the USA, while the union's formation was actually encouraged by Washington for decades.
Let's be honest, the European Union was formed to mess with the USA, Trump says and announces plans to introduce 25-percent tariffs against the union.
In addition to the USA's newly appointed government, entrepreneur Elon Musk, who does not hold a ministerial post, also participated in the meeting.
