US will not restore aid to Ukraine after signing mineral deal. Trump wants Zelenskyy to change attitude towards negotiations and elections - NBC News
The United States will not resume military aid to Ukraine after signing a rare earth metals deal with Ukraine.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to NBC News.
The publication recalls that US and Ukrainian officials are preparing to meet in Saudi Arabia this week.
However, President Donald Trump has privately made it clear to aides that the signed minerals agreement between Washington and Kyiv will not be enough to restore aid and intelligence sharing with the war-torn country. This is according to an administration official and another US official.
Trump wants to sign a deal that would give the US a stake in Ukraine's mineral resources. But he also wants to see a change in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's attitude towards peace talks, officials said, including a willingness to make concessions, such as returning territory to Russia. Trump also wants Zelenskyy to make some progress toward Ukraine's elections and possibly resign as his country's leader, officials said.
As a reminder, CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed that the United States has suspended arms sales and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Suspension of US aid
On the morning of March 4, it became known that US President Donald Trump had ordered the suspension of all US military aid to Ukraine in order to force Kyiv to demonstrate a "good faith commitment" to peace.
One U.S. official told CNN that the consequences of the suspension of U.S. military aid will be felt in some time. Perhaps a few days or weeks. However, as soon as the stockpiles of weapons and armaments begin to run out, the country will face serious consequences.
According to journalist Ostap Yarysh, the US decision to suspend assistance to Ukraine will primarily affect the supply of missiles to air defense and ammunition for HIMARS and artillery.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna emphasized that the US decision to temporarily suspend military aid to Ukraine means that Europe must help Ukraine more and faster than before to fill this gap.
The Economist article says that the US decision to suspend aid to Ukraine will lead to more casualties and destruction. The critical elements, the newspaper writes, are weapons, their repair, air defense missiles, the Starlink system, and, perhaps most importantly, intelligence sharing.
Chief National Security Advisor to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, Marius Česnulevičius, said that Washington's decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine was not a surprise. However, Europe is preparing a response.
Later, The Economist wrote that there is currently no official order from Donald Trump to suspend military aid to Ukraine.
