Ukraine ‘may be Russian someday,’ Trump says, as the U.S. ups pressure

U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine could lose its sovereignty to Russia, and said he wanted compensation for the aid that Washington had provided to Ukraine.

“[Ukraine] may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But we’re going to have all this money in there [Ukraine] and I say, I want it back,” Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired Monday.

The president also said that the U.S. had “essentially agreed” a deal with Ukraine that would see Washington receive rare earth and mineral resources — which are used predominantly in electronics — in return for ongoing support.

“I told them that I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth (minerals), and they’ve essentially agreed to do that,” Trump told the broadcaster.

Ukraine has not publicly commented on the value of any potential minerals deal with the U.S., although President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated last week that he was ready to “do a deal” with the U.S. over minerals in return for aid. CNBC has reached out to Zelenskyy’s office for comment.

The Ukrainian leader is aware that Trump and senior U.S. foreign and defense officials want to bring the war to its end, and that they’re looking to do a deal with Moscow for that to happen.

That stance has unnerved Ukraine, lending a sense of urgency to Kyiv’s need to appear willing to negotiate and to be amenable to Washington’s proposals on a peace deal.

Amid the perceived weariness of its key ally and with the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fast approaching on Feb.24, the Kyiv leadership has said it is willing to enter peace talks, but has demanded security guarantees as part of any peace deal.

Trump’s comments come as Ukraine’s European allies are likely to come under pressure this week to shoulder more of the burden for supporting Kyiv, going forward.

The U.S. state department says America has so far provided Ukraine with $65.9 billion in military assistance and billions more in financial and humanitarian aid, since Russia launched its invasion in 2022. The EU says its overall military support for Ukraine since the start of the war stands at 48.3 billion euros ($49.8 billion).

The increasingly fraught matter of ongoing support for Ukraine takes center stage this week, with senior U.S. officials — including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy on Ukraine and Russia — travelling to Europe for a flurry of high-profile meetings.

The first of those gatherings will be the “Ukraine Defense Contact Group” (UDCG) in Brussels on Wednesday, during which it is widely expected that the U.S. delegation will call on European allies to take on more of the financial responsibility for supporting Ukraine.

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday that U.S. officials would use the UDCG meeting to pursue a deal with Kyiv regarding aid and to push European partners to bear more responsibility for Ukraine’s future.

“We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their natural resources and their oil and gas and also buying ours,” Waltz said on Sunday.

“Those conversations are going to happen this week. And I think an underlying principle here is that the Europeans have to own this conflict going forward. President Trump is going to end it. And then, in terms of security guarantees, that is squarely going to be with the Europeans.”

In a clear sign that the U.S. wants to step back from its leadership role on Ukraine, it is the U.K. who is convening the UCDG. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is attending the event, but this will mark the first time in the last three years that the holder of his post has not chaired the group.

The Pentagon said in a statement prior to the UDCG meeting that Hegseth “will engage with NATO Allies and partners to discuss the need to boost Allied defense spending, increase European leadership, and expand defense industrial base capacity on both sides of the Atlantic.” 

Hegseth will “reiterate President Trump’s commitment for a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible. He will also highlight the need for increased European leadership on security assistance to Ukraine.”

CNBC asked the Pentagon for further comment, but the defense department would not be drawn on what U.S. officials could demand from their European counterparts this week. A Pentagon spokesman told CNBC that no major policy announcements were expected, however.

U.S. officials are also expected to travel to Kyiv this week before travelling on to Germany for the Munich Security Conference over Feb.14-16. Zelenskyy has said he’s due to meet Vance at the conference and that he hoped to hold talks with President Trump this week.

The U.S. leader on Monday said that Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin were eager to strike a deal. Russia has been more coy about the status of dialogue with the U.S., saying only that it is ready to negotiate. CNBC has requested further comment from the Kremlin.

“He [Zelenskyy] wants to make a deal. I’d say. We’re dealing with him, and I think they both want to make a deal. But we’ll have to see,” Trump told reporters Monday evening, according to NBC News.

“It’s got to be done. It would have never happened if I were president. This would never have happened. Millions of people are dead,” Trump said, confirming Keith Kellogg would also be in Ukraine this week.

President Zelenskyy confirmed talks were taking place, stating on Monday that “our teams are working on our dialogue, on the conversation between me and President Trump. He has spoken about this, and I don’t think there’s any secret about it. The question is when it will happen, depending on the opportunities available to both sides,” he said, according to NBC News.

“As for whether [Putin and Tramp] are communicating — well, we’ll see who, how, and whether it’s actually happening,” Zelenskyy said.