Trump: "The mineral agreement with the U.S. will empower Ukraine to continue its fight."

US President Donald Trump commented to reporters on Tuesday, February 25, regarding Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the US for signing an agreement on mineral extraction.

In response to a question about what Ukraine would receive in exchange for signing the agreement for joint development of natural resources with the US, the president stated: “$350 billion, a lot of equipment, military equipment, and the right to continue fighting.”

“I must say – Ukraine… they are very brave; they are good soldiers. But without the US and their money for military equipment, this war would have ended very quickly. Remember the famous ‘Javelins’? That was me. It wasn’t Obama, it wasn’t Biden, it was me,” Trump declared.

The president was also asked how long supplies of military equipment to Ukraine might last, to which he replied: “Maybe until we have a deal with Russia. We need a deal. Otherwise, everything will continue.”

When asked if a peace agreement would imply that the US would provide military support to Ukraine, Trump responded: “People will do that. I think Europe will largely be responsible for it. European countries will be accountable for this.”

He reiterated that “American taxpayers should get their money back,” and that if he were president, there would have been no war.

Direct quote: “This is a war that would never have happened if I were president. And it didn’t happen for four years. People ask, how do we know? Because it didn’t happen for four years, and it would never have happened.”

“However, this situation arose, and huge sums were spent – $350 billion. Another thing we don’t like is that Europe spent $100 billion while we spent $350 billion.”

“But Europe will get their money back because they provided it as a loan, while we just gave away this money – whether it was $300 billion or $350 billion, nobody knows for sure.”

“They can’t even give me an answer to that question, which means the amount is probably even larger. So now we’re saying: listen, we want guarantees; we want to get this money back.”

“We are helping a country that is going through a very serious crisis, one that probably few have experienced. And, frankly, they shouldn’t have this problem, because it shouldn’t have happened.”

According to the US State Department as of January 20, 2025, just before Trump’s inauguration, the US has provided Ukraine with military assistance amounting to approximately $69.2 billion during the course of the full-scale Russian invasion.

At the same time, the authoritative American think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, estimates the total amount of US aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war at $175 billion.

Background. Recall that French President Emmanuel Macron interrupted Trump during a meeting in the White House and explained that Europe was giving Ukraine money not as a loan, but as aid.

He noted that Ukraine received funds that it would be able to repay from revenues generated from frozen Russian assets.