Mines near Zaporozhye: The Russian Federation offered the US minerals from the territory of Ukraine - NBC News
The media spoke with three sources that wished to remain anonymous. Two sources are the White House officials who received the intelligence data on the negotiations on February 18 in Saudi Arabia. The third source is a person who knew about the proposal: the position and the country were not specified. According to interlocutors of journalists, the Russians offered a "potential agreement" for minerals located in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The article named two regions that were promised by the United States - Zaporozhye and Donetsk. The journalists did not specify that the areas were only partially occupied by the Russians, so it is not clear: it is about the entire area of the areas or just what the Russians control.
"The variants that Russia specifically prepared for discussion with US officials included scripts that could provide Trump administrations with access to minerals in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya, both of which Russia announced annexation in 2022," the journalists of the Word of Sources were led White House. At the same time, the sources reported that the US delegation, on the one hand, did not take responsibility for the conclusion of the agreement, and on the other - did not give up it.
The unnamed American diplomat said NBC News that the Russians saw the interest of US President Donald Trump in rare earth metals and decided to "play" on it. At the same time, if it is involved on the Ukrainian side, it could also change his attitude to the war, five American officials explained. "Trump is transactional, so Putin - understanding this, came up with this counterchus," the source was given in the article.
NBC News wrote that it was commented on the Russian Embassy in the United States, but has not yet received answers. It should be noted that Donald Trump proposed a mineral resource agreement to Ukraine, with $ 500 billion in the first version. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky refused to sign the agreement, as it did not have security guarantees and referred to the debt of Ukrainians to the Americans. At the same time, the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared.
According to him, the Russians also have a lot of minerals and offer the United States to develop them together. He also mentioned rare earth metals, which, in his words, in the Russian Federation more than in Ukraine. We would like to remind you that the media was told about the possible plan of Donald Trump to complete the war, which should start with a ceasefire. Meanwhile, on February 26, the US head reported that he would meet the Ukrainian President to sign a modified mineral agreement.