US President Donald Trump has expressed the view that Ukraine “could one day be Russian” as his Vice President J.D. Vance prepares to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later this week.
Pushing for an end to the nearly three-year-long war with Russia, Trump discussed the conflict in an interview with broadcaster Fox News that aired on Monday. “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may or may not be Russian one day,” he said.
He stressed the need to reinvest in US aid to Ukraine, suggesting trade for Kyiv’s natural resources, such as rare minerals. “We’ll have all this money there and I say I need it back, and I told them I need the equivalent of five trillion dollars worth of rare earths,” Trump said, “and they’ve essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel like fools.”
Trump also confirmed on Monday that he would soon send his special envoy, Keith Kellogg, to Ukraine. Kellogg has been tasked with preparing proposals to stop the fighting. Trump has been pushing for a quick end to the conflict, while Zelensky has been demanding strong security guarantees from Washington as part of any deal with Russia.
Kiev fears that any agreement that does not include strong military commitments, such as NATO membership or the deployment of peacekeeping forces, will allow the Kremlin to regroup and re-arm for a new offensive. Zelensky’s spokesman, Sergiy Nikiforov, said the Ukrainian president would meet with Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference this Friday.
A source in Zelensky’s office said Kellogg will arrive in Ukraine on February 20, but did not specify which part of the country he will visit. His visit will come just days before the three-year anniversary of the Russian invasion on February 24. Zelenskyy on Monday called for ‘real peace and effective security guarantees’ for Ukraine.
“The security of the people, the security of our state, the security of economic relations and, of course, the sustainability of our resources: not only for Ukraine, but for the entire free world,” Zelensky said in a video address published on social media. “All of this is being decided now.”
Trump’s meetings
Trump has said he wants to end the war but has not presented a detailed proposal to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. Both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin have already refused to hold direct talks with each other, and there seems to be no basis for an agreement between the two sides.
Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the southern and eastern parts of Russia still under Kiev’s control and considers close ties between Ukraine and NATO unacceptable. Meanwhile, Zelensky has refused to make any territorial concessions to Moscow, although he has acknowledged that he may have to rely on diplomatic means to return some territory.
Russia claims to have annexed five regions of Ukraine – Crimea in 2014 and then Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia in 2022. However, it does not have full control over these regions. Zelensky said on Monday that arrangements were being made for a meeting with Trump but that the date had not yet been set. Trump said last week that he would “probably” meet with Zelensky in the coming days but ruled out a personal visit to Kiev.
Trump told the New York Post that he spoke with Putin by phone to discuss ending the conflict in Ukraine, and that the Russian leader told him he “would like to see people stop dying.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm or deny the phone call.
Organizers of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) confirmed on Monday that Zelensky would attend the February 14-16 summit. MSC President Christophe Huysgen told a press conference in Berlin that the US delegation would include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as Kellogg and Vance. He said no representatives of the Russian government would be present.
The meeting comes as Russia advances into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where it has captured several settlements over the past year, many of which have been completely destroyed by months of Russian bombing. Moscow has also waged a months-long bombing campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, claiming the attacks targeted facilities supporting Kiev’s forces.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian energy minister said the energy sector was “under attack” and that Kiev was “immediately implementing emergency electricity supply restrictions to mitigate the possible consequences.”
