WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - U.S. negotiators pressing Kyiv for access to Ukraine’s critical minerals have raised the possibility of cutting the country’s access to Elon Musk’s vital Starlink satellite internet system, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
So now they are threatening Ukraine?
President Trump is definitely threatening Ukraine.
Ukraine has already emphasized that by supporting its war effort, the U.S. could get access to the country’s wealth of critical minerals like lithium and uranium.
By Constant Méheut, Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine, The New York Times, Published Feb. 3, 2025
President Trump said Monday he wants to strike a deal with Ukraine whereby Kyiv would supply the United States with rare earths and other minerals in exchange for American aid, offering the clearest sign yet of his transactional approach to supporting the war-torn nation.
“We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” Mr. Trump said from the Oval Office, where he was signing executive orders. “We want a guarantee.”…
Mr. Trump has long voiced reluctance to continue sending billions of dollars in weapons and other equipment to the beleaguered nation, arguing that it costs the U.S. too much… [end quote]
Kyiv wants security guarantees to be tied to any natural resources deal
Christopher Miller in Kyiv and Felicia Schwartz and Henry Foy in Munich, The Financial Times, February 15 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected a US bid to take ownership of around 50 per cent of the rights to his country’s rare earth minerals and is trying to negotiate a better deal, according to several people familiar with the matter. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered Zelenskyy the deal during a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, which came after President Donald Trump suggested the US was owed half a trillion dollars’ worth of Ukraine’s resources in exchange for its assistance to the war-torn country…
But the deal proposed by Trump and delivered by Bessent only referenced the US getting Ukrainian resources in exchange for past military assistance, and did not contain any proposals for similar future assistance,… [end quote]
Trump has been a longtime admirer of Vladimir Putin and is parroting the Russian propaganda. This famous photo shows Trump grinning as Russian President Vladimir Putin (front C) arrived to attend a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on November 11, 2018. Note the scowls on the faces of the French and German presidents.
Trump particularly despises Ukrainian President Zelenskyy since Trump’s first impeachment stemmed from pressure that Trump illegally put on Zelenskyy.
Now Trump has turned U.S. policy against Ukraine, falsely claiming that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was Ukraine’s fault.
By Laurence Norman and
Michael R. Gordon, The Wall Street Journal, Updated Feb. 22, 2025
The diplomatic rift between the Trump administration and Ukraine over Russia’s invasion escalated Saturday after the U.S. pushed to kill a United Nations resolution that Ukraine had crafted with European support marking the war’s third anniversary. Instead, the U.S. submitted its own draft resolution.
The clash pits the U.S. and Russia on one side against Ukraine and Europe on the other, in the most dramatic display of trans-Atlantic tensions in years…
In Europe, friction over Ukraine and other issues is raising deep doubts about the future of trans-Atlantic ties, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance and U.S. pledges to defend the continent if attacked…[end quote]
The Trump administration’s actions are likely to have tremendous Macroeconomic and geopolitical results. Destabilizing the rules-based international economic order can spin out of control.
It’s a fair bet that China will take U.S. abandonment of Ukraine as a green light to invade Taiwan.
The delicate stability of the international order is being destabilized. Risk has risen dramatically.
Wendy
The tactics are a hair’s breadth from extortion, but that is how he rolls. According to other reports I have seen on the wire, Ukraine is willing to accept some sort of a minerals concession, just not the initial USian offer: “give us half your minerals, in perpetuity, with the US giving you nothing in return. shut up and sign here”.
If FDR had treated the UK like that, when the UK ran out of money, instead of pushing “Lend Lease” through Congress?
Steve
Images from the Feb. 18 Riyadh meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his American counterparts showed Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev as a member of the Kremlin delegation and present at the talks, watching away from the main table. Rybolovlev is the Russian oligarch responsible for helping Trump out of a debt crunch by purchasing a Trump Palm Beach property valued at $40 million for $95 million in 2008.
