Vice President JD Vance of the United States on Monday said that giving Washington an economic interest in the future of Ukraine will serve as a security guarantee for the country that Russia invaded in February 2022.
Recall that President Donald Trump has been seeking a minerals deal with Ukraine, home to a trove of lithium deposits and rare earth minerals, as payback for billions of dollars in US aid to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion.
Trump said he will give more details on the future of that potential deal on Tuesday.
It could be recalled that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s talks with Trump in the White House on Friday broke down in acrimonious exchanges and ended without a formal agreement on that front.
“If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine.
“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years,” Vance said.