US President Donald Trump ruled out offering US security guarantees for Ukraine in upcoming peace settlements.
During his first Cabinet meeting in his second term, Trump said he would have Europe offer security guarantees to Ukraine instead when asked by a reporter about “what type of security guarantees” he was willing to make.
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“Well I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond… we’re gonna have Europe do that… cause Europe is their next-door neighbor,” Trump said.
Trump then mentioned the mineral agreement with Ukraine, which he said President Volodymyr Zelensky would go to Washington to sign on Friday.
“We’re gonna make sure everything goes well. As you know… we’ll be partnering with Ukraine in terms of rare earth. We very much need rare earth. They have great rare earth,” Trump said, adding that the US “[doesn’t] have much of it here.”
The US likely has more rare earth reserves than Ukraine. Trump likely referred to other resources, which is stipulated in the latest draft of the deal.
Trump also said later that US presence alone via the mineral deal would equate to some form of “automatic guarantee” since “nobody’s going to mess around with our people when we’re there.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday that security guarantees have to be tied in with the mineral deal.
US-Ukraine Mineral Deal: Zelensky and Trump Confirm Friday Meeting
Trump also, once again, rejected Ukraine’s NATO membership bid.
“NATO you can forget about [it]... I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started,” Trump said, echoing a Russian talking point.
At the press conference, Trump also said he is open to the idea of Europe deploying troops – what he called “so-called peacekeepers” – to Ukraine.
“I know that [the] UK… and France [have] said that they volunteered to put so-called peacekeepers on the site, and I think that’s a good thing,” Trump added.
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