Ukraine will not recognize US military aid as debt – Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would not recognize US military aid as a debt.
He said this at a briefing, Censor.NET reports.
"We have received a draft of a new minerals agreement from the United States, which is a completely different document than the previous framework agreement. We are grateful for the support, but this is not a loan, and we will not allow it," he emphasized.
According to him, the main basic compromise points were outlined in the framework agreement, which Ukraine is ready to accept.
"And so we will base ourselves on clear things that we talked about where we saw an opportunity to build partnerships. If the issue of debts... we will not accept debts. These are absolutely clear things. At least we are talking about the past. If there are any risky things for us, I will communicate all this without any secrets with our society," the president said.
Zelenskyy also said that he was interested in where deputies get information about the minerals deal.
"I don't want to respond to every such message yet, so there are still items in the media, and what deputies somehow got is also interesting to me, I haven't read it yet, but the deputies already know everything that will be in the agreement. Yes, it's strange, I wonder who is passing on this information, it's also very interesting," he added.
Earlier, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of the Voice party and deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada's Tax Committee, said that the United States had handed over a new draft agreement on minerals to Ukraine, which must be ratified by the Verkhovna Rada.
In his opinion, this option is disadvantageous for Ukraine.
According to media reports, Donald Trump's administration has returned to the fossil fuel deal a requirement to reimburse all the assistance the US has provided to Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
