The White House said late Monday that President Donald Trump has decided to suspend aid to Ukraine.
“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace,” a senior administration official told VOA in an emailed statement. “We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are suspending and reviewing our assistance to ensure that it is helping to bring about a resolution,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech late Monday that his country needs “a true and just peace” as well as guarantees to ensure that Russia does not threaten Ukraine again in the future.
“It was precisely the lack of security guarantees for Ukraine 11 years ago that allowed Russia to start its invasion of Crimea and the war in Donbas,” Zelensky said. “Then, the lack of security guarantees allowed Russia to launch a full-scale invasion. And now, because there are still no security guarantees, it is Russia that is continuing this war.”
Earlier on Monday, President Trump noted that a rare earth minerals deal is essential to continued U.S. support for Ukraine and said he would make an announcement on the matter Tuesday during a joint session of Congress.
President Trump has pushed for an end to the fighting, but Mr. Zelensky has expressed fears that Mr. Trump is trying to resolve the conflict on terms more favorable to Moscow than to Kiev.
On Monday, the business-minded president reiterated his increasingly blunt stance: If Ukraine wants to survive, Zelensky must make a deal.
“It could happen very quickly,” President Trump said. “Now, maybe someone doesn’t want to make a deal, and if someone doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person isn’t going to be around for very long. That person isn’t going to be around for very long, because I believe that Russia wants to make a deal. I believe that the people of Ukraine certainly want to make a deal. They’ve suffered more than anyone.”
Earlier on Monday, in a social media post, President Trump rejected Mr. Zelensky’s assessment that the end of Russia’s war with his country “is still a long, long way off,” calling it “the worst statement ever.”
“America is not going to put up with that for very long!” he added.
Before Mr. Zelensky arrived in Washington on Friday, the deal had been drafted in broad outline. It was intended to allow American investment in rare earth mineral exploration.
But Mr. Zelensky had insisted on the need for security guarantees from the United States, which were not in the original draft.
“It’s still unclear what Mr. Trump’s plan really is,” Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told VOA in a Zoom interview. “What we can also see, and what came out over the weekend, is that Europe is doing more to counter Russia.”
After the White House meeting broke down after heated exchanges between Mr. Zelensky and President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, Mr. Zelensky flew across the Atlantic to meet with European allies. He was warmly greeted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“Britain will play a leading role, if necessary and together with others, with troops on the ground and aircraft in the air,” Prime Minister Starmer said in Parliament. “Mr. Speaker, it is right that Europe should take on the brunt of the burden of sustaining peace on our continent. But to be successful, this effort must also have the strong support of the United States of America,” he said.
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