President Donald Trump asserts that Ukraine will pay back the $350 billion the U.S. sent to the country to fight Russia as he moves forward with efforts to bring peace to the region.
While speaking to reporters briefly before flying to Daytona Beach for the Daytona 500, the president announced that the $350 billion sent to the Zelensky regime would be repaid to the U.S.
Trump suggested the funds were allocated without safeguards for U.S. interests, emphasizing the need for “security on our money.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now negotiating the terms under which Ukraine would provide the United States with a significant portion of its rare earth minerals, oil, and gas reserves.
Such resources are vital to industries such as technology and defense and could bolster both strategic interests and the U.S. economy.
Watch:
Here is the transcript.
Reporter: Would you support Zelinsky’s seeding territory or exchanging territory in any agreement to end the war?
President Trump: Well, he’s going to have to do what he has to do, but his poll numbers aren’t particularly great, to put it mildly. He’s got a country where it’s been savaged and attacked, and he’s got an army that’s been very, very brave, actually, despite the fact that we’ve given him, in my opinion, $350 billion. That’s what the number is. You don’t hear that number. And Europe has given, in my opinion, $100 billion. And they’ve done it in the form of a loan.
And I have a Secretary of Treasury right now who’s actually quite brave. He’s over in Ukraine on a train, and there’s a lot of things happening around that train that aren’t so good. And he’s going there to get a document done where we’re going to be assured that we’re going to, in some form, get this money back because we’re putting up far more money than Europe.
And Europe is in far more danger than we are. We have an ocean in between. Europe has nothing in between. You know what they have in between? They have Ukraine in between. So as you know, Europe is putting up money, and they’re getting it in the form of a loan.
And the United States, under Biden, didn’t do loans. They just handed money. Every time somebody walked in from Ukraine, they just handed them money foolishly. This should have never happened. It should have never started. And once it did, other things should have happened. Other things should have taken place. So we’re getting security on our money. We’re going to have it secured by… They have raw earth, and they have oil and gas, and they have a lot of other things. And we’re asking for security on our money. So does it mean you are not sending any more aid to Ukraine? They’ve agreed to it. Ukraine has agreed to it.
Reporter: Does it mean you are not sending any more aid to Ukraine?
President Trump: No, we are, but we want it secured, and the money is going to be secured..
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