The diplomatic delegations of the United States and Ukraine meet again in Saudi Arabia, ten days after Trump’s enclosure to Zelenski in the White House, to resume negotiations on the agreement so that US companies can exploit Ukrainian natural resources that the technological ones need so much.
The new republican administration has raised with condition sine qua non The signing of a mineral agreement to advance in the process and create a table for the possible negotiation of a peace agreement that ends the armed conflict unleashed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, by invading Ukraine a little more than three years ago.
However, as he has remarked this agreement will not be enough for the US to restart aid and the exchange of intelligence with the country devastated by the war, according to an administration official and another US official.
Trump wants the agreement to be signed, which would give the United States a participation in the mineral resources of Ukraine, but also wants to see a change in the attitude of the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, towards the peace conversations, officials said, including the willingness to make concessions such as delivering territory to Russia.
Trump also wants Zelenski to make some movement towards the elections in Ukraine and possibly towards the resignation as leader of his country, officials said, according to the same medium. The elections in Ukraine have been suspended under the constitutional provision of the country on martial law, which has been in force since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
“As President Trump demonstrated by reading President Zelenski’s message in the joint session, the Ukrainians have made positive advances. With meetings in Saudi Arabia, we hope to hear more positive advances than, hopefully, they will finally put an end to this brutal war and bloodshed,” said the National Security Council spokesman for the White House, Brian Hughes, when he asked about Trump’s requirements.
During most of the last three years, the United States has provided Ukraine information on objectives, satellite images and signal intelligence, he said NBC News. European allies now work to overcome some of the deficiencies, but the lack of American intelligence is already having an impact on Ukraine every day, according to a western official. “Every day it hurts to Ukraine and every day gives Russia a more favorable position,” he said.
