White House special envoy Steve Witkoff said over the weekend that a deal is close to being made where the United States will secure mineral rights in Ukraine in exchange for continued security assistance.
Witkoff made the remarks during a Sunday CNN interview on “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper.
He said that the blank checks that the Biden administration was giving to Ukraine are over, especially in light of the deals that other European countries had in place.
“The president came into office and, lo and behold, what did he find out? That we are the majority share of the aid to Ukraine, so we’re funding it, and we were funding it with no arrangement to pay it back,” he said. “Alternatively, the Europeans, who were most affected by this war, were funding the minority share, and they had agreements to pay it back.”
“So, as is typical of the president — he’s very, very sensible,” he continued. “He said to himself, that makes no sense to me. Why would the American public, taxpayers here, be funding the majority share, not get anything back, the Europeans funding the minority share, they get everything back?”
“So this agreement is much about repayment for all that we have done on behalf of the Ukrainian people,” he added. “And that’s the way the president sees it. I expect to see a deal signed this week. You saw President Zelenskyy waver in his commitment towards that a week ago. The president sent a message to him. He’s not wavering anymore.”
He added that he believes that an agreement will be signed this week between the two countries.
WATCH:
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on a rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine: “I expect to see a deal signed this week.” pic.twitter.com/61e1Q8qfvT
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 23, 2025
