US president says Putin approved peacekeepers in Ukraine
- United States President Donald Trump has marked the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine with a social media post announcing “major” economic deals in the works with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Trump also continued to push Ukraine to offer the US access to its rare earth minerals, in exchange for security aid.
Trump and Macron weigh prospect of European peacekeepers in Ukraine
Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron have discussed the prospect of European troops being deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine.
In response to a question about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept such a proposal, Trump replied in the affirmative.
“Yeah, he will accept that. He will accept that,” Trump said. “I’ve asked him that question.”
He sketched a vision where the troops would only enter Ukraine after a peace deal with Russia has been struck.
“ European troops may go into Ukraine as peacemakers so, when the agreement is done, they can watch that everything is followed properly. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Trump said.
US deserves to ‘recoup’ money sent to Ukraine: Trump
Trump said that “the US has put forth far more aid for Ukraine than any other nation”.
He claimed that the US sent some $300bn to Ukraine, and that Europe sent about $100bn, though critics have pointed out that Trump has consistently inflated US aid to Ukraine.
“That’s a big difference,” Trump added. “We should equalise it. But hopefully we won’t have to worry about that, we have other things happening that maybe will take that out of the realm of necessity.”
Trump said that much of Europe’s contribution came in the form of loans to Ukraine, whereas much of the US’s came in the form of grants.
“The US also deserves to recoup the colossal amounts of money that we sent.”
