‘F--- Trump and his deal’: Ukraine’s US veterans rail against peace plan Veterans fighting for Zelensky’s foreign legion label president a ‘coward’ who won’t stand up to Putin https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-n...l-putin-us-military-volunteers-ukraine-peace/
To Trump, the Ukraine situation is just an opportunity for large scale grift for himself and his buddies. He basically wants to steal all the natural resources from Ukraine and strip the country leaving it in abject poverty. No different than Putin. Revealed: Trump’s confidential plan to put Ukraine in a stranglehold Panic in Kyiv as US president demands higher share of GDP than Germany’s First World War reparations https://www.telegraph.co.uk/busines...trump-confidential-plan-ukraine-stranglehold/ Donald Trump’s demand for a $500bn (£400bn) “payback” from Ukraine goes far beyond US control over the country’s critical minerals. It covers everything from ports and infrastructure to oil and gas, and the larger resource base of the country. The terms of the contract that landed at Volodymyr Zelensky’s office a week ago amount to the US economic colonisation of Ukraine, in legal perpetuity. It implies a burden of reparations that cannot possibly be achieved. The document has caused consternation and panic in Kyiv. The Telegraph has obtained a draft of the pre-decisional contract, marked “Privileged & Confidential’ and dated Feb 7 2025. It states that the US and Ukraine should form a joint investment fund to ensure that “hostile parties to the conflict do not benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine”. The agreement covers the “economic value associated with resources of Ukraine”, including “mineral resources, oil and gas resources, ports, other infrastructure (as agreed)”, leaving it unclear what else might be encompassed. “This agreement shall be governed by New York law, without regard to conflict of laws principles,” it states. The US will take 50pc of recurring revenues received by Ukraine from extraction of resources, and 50pc of the financial value of “all new licences issued to third parties” for the future monetisation of resources. There will be “a lien on such revenues” in favour of the US. “That clause means ‘pay us first, and then feed your children’,” said one source close to the negotiations. It states that “for all future licences, the US will have a right of first refusal for the purchase of exportable minerals”. Washington will have sovereign immunity and acquire near total control over most of Ukraine’s commodity and resource economy. The fund “shall have the exclusive right to establish the method, selection criteria, terms, and conditions” of all future licences and projects. And so forth, in this vein. It seems to have been written by private lawyers, not the US departments of state or commerce. President Zelensky himself proposed the idea of giving the US a direct stake in Ukraine’s rare earth elements and critical minerals on a visit to Trump Tower in September, hoping to smooth the way for continued arms deliveries. He calculated that it would lead to US companies setting operations on the ground, creating a political tripwire that would deter Vladimir Putin from attacking again. Some mineral basins are near the front line in eastern Ukraine, or in Russian-occupied areas. He has played up the dangers of letting strategic reserves of titanium, tungsten, uranium, graphite and rare earths fall into Russian hands. “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” he said. He probably did not expect to be confronted with terms normally imposed on aggressor states defeated in war. They are worse than the financial penalties imposed on Germany and Japan after their defeat in 1945. Both countries were ultimately net recipients of funds from the victorious allies. A new Versailles If this draft were accepted, Trump’s demands would amount to a higher share of Ukrainian GDP than reparations imposed on Germany at the Versailles Treaty, later whittled down at the London Conference in 1921, and by the Dawes Plan in 1924. At the same time, he seems willing to let Russia off the hook entirely. Donald Trump told Fox News that Ukraine had “essentially agreed” to hand over $500bn. “They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earths, in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things,” he said. He warned that Ukraine would be handed to Putin on a plate if it rejected the terms. “They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But I want this money back,” he said. Trump said the US had spent $300bn on the war so far, adding that it would be “stupid” to hand over any more. In fact the five packages agreed by Congress total $175bn, of which $70bn was spent in the US on weapons production. Some of it is in the form of humanitarian grants, but much of it is lend-lease money that must be repaid. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggested at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend that Trump’s demand was a clever ploy to bolster declining popular support for the Ukrainian cause. “He can go to the American people and say, ‘Ukraine is not a burden, it is a benefit,’” he said. Sen Graham told the Europeans to root hard for the idea because it locks Washington into defending a future settlement. “If we sign this minerals agreement, Putin is screwed, because Trump will defend the deal,” he said. Ukrainian officials had to tiptoe though this minefield at the Munich forum, trying to smile gamely and talking up hopes of a resource deal while at the same pleading that the current text breaches Ukrainian law and needs redrafting. Well, indeed. Talk of Ukraine’s resource wealth has become surreal. A figure of $26 trillion is being cast around for combined mineral reserves and hydrocarbons reserves. The sums are make-believe. Ukraine probably has the largest lithium basin in Europe. But lithium prices have crashed by 88pc since the bubble burst in 2022. Large reserves are being discovered all over the world. The McDermitt Caldera in Nevada is thought to be the biggest lithium deposit on the planet with 40m metric tonnes, alone enough to catapult the US ahead of China. The Thacker Pass project will be operational by next year. The value of lithium is in the processing and the downstream industries. Unprocessed rock deposits sitting in Ukraine are all but useless to the US. It is a similar story for rare earths. They are not rare. Mining companies in the US abandoned the business in the 1990s because profit margins were then too low. The US government was asleep at the wheel and let this happen, waking up to discover that China has acquired a strategic stranglehold over supplies of critical elements needed for hi-tech and advanced weapons. That problem is being resolved. Ukraine has cobalt but most EV batteries now use lithium ferrous phosphate and no longer need cobalt. Furthermore, sodium-ion and sulphur-based batteries will limit the future demand growth for lithium. So will recycling. One could go on. The mineral scarcity story is wildly exaggerated. As for Ukraine’s shale gas, a) some of the Yuzivska field lies under Putin control, and b) the western Carpathian reserves are in complex geology with high drilling costs, causing Chevron to pull out, just as it did in Poland. Ukraine has more potential as an exporter of electricity to Europe from renewables and nuclear expansion, but that is not what is on Donald Trump’s mind. The second violation of Ukraine Ukraine cannot possibly meet his $500bn demand in any meaningful timeframe, leaving aside the larger matter of whether it is honourable to treat a victim nation in this fashion after it has held the battle line for the liberal democracies at enormous sacrifice for three years. Who really has a debt to whom, may one ask? “My style of dealmaking is quite simple and straightforward,” says Trump in his book The Art of the Deal. “I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after.” In genuine commerce the other side can usually walk away. Trump’s demand is iron-fist coercion by a neo-imperial power against a weaker nation with its back to the wall, and all for a commodity bonanza that exists chiefly in Trump’s head. “Often-times the best deal you make is the deal you don’t make,” said Trump, offering another of his pearls. Zelensky does not have that luxury. He has to pick between the military violation of Ukraine by Putin, and the economic violation of Ukraine by his own ally. (Article has pictures, charts and text of the proposed agreement.)
Yeah so that's not gonna happen, the EU will be underwriting enough of UA's bills for non-options like that to be out of play. The sad part is Ukraine would definitely have agreed to a for the US very beneficial arrangement regarding its resources, on the condition of receiving the tools needed to finally kick out Russia. I'd assume that's what Zelensky suggested in Paris, but in the Trump camp that has warped into an insane idea.
As of February 2025, the European Union and its member states have provided approximately €132 billion in total aid to Ukraine since 2014 The total financial assistance Greece received from the EU since 2008 is approximately €380 billion. And someone is asking UA to become their b for $500 Bil
"In fact the five packages agreed by Congress total $175bn, of which $70bn was spent in the US on weapons production." The EU provided more aid to Ukraine than the U.S.
Ukraine, formerly a republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1922–1991, once hosted Soviet nuclear weapons and delivery systems on its territory. While all these weapons were located on Ukrainian territory, they were not under Ukraine's control. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to transfer these weapons to Russia and became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in exchange for assurances from Russia, the United States and United Kingdom to respect the Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders. Russia, one of the parties of the agreement, later invaded Ukraine. Wiki
The Europeans are dumb sticks that is why. Same with Zelensky. When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that NATO membership for Ukraine will not be part of any peace agreement, he did not concede anything to Russia. That is one of the major reasons for the Ukraine war. Before the Russians invaded Ukraine, Putin and even Lavrov had multiple meetings with Joe Biden and his top administration officials as well as Zelensky and his top officials. They came close to averting the war in Turkey. All Russia wanted was NATO neutrality for Ukraine. In comes Boris Johnson (UK prime minister at the time) tells Zelensky to scuttle the agreement and instead fight the Russians. And Zelensky did as he was told. Now, on the issue of Ukraine not regaining lost territory to Russia, that is facts on the ground. The Russians are not about to give up territories they gained from the war at huge cost of 1,500,000 dead Ukrainian and Russia military and civilians at both sides. Again, US did not concede anything to Russia but, state facts as it were. The Europeans were arguing even now that Ukraine membership to NATO should be included in peace talks as well as Ukraine regaining all its territory. So, why would Russia even talk peace with the Europeans or even the US if their reasonable demands are just ignored by the Europeans and Zelensky? Nothing has been agreed to but, these are preliminary talks with Russia to gauge what would be acceptable to Russia. Zelensky is being briefed by President Trump. So, all this talk of being excluded by the Europeans and Zelensky is utter nonsense. If the European NATO officials and Zelensky wanted to be taken seriously by the Russians, they should end their utter BS talks of arming the Ukrainians and continue fighting which is their position even now, that Ukraine is losing badly in this war.