‘Ukraine may be Russian someday’: Trump on how Kyiv, Moscow come to peace

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Ukraine might become part of Russia someday as he pushed for trading US aid for Kyiv’s natural resources, such as rare minerals.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said, “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But we are going to have all this money in there and I say I want it back.”

His comments come days after the US president talked with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the phone where he said that the latter “wants to see people stop dying”. After their supposed phone call, POTUS expressed optimism over the end of the war and said that the US was making progress with Moscow.

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Asked whether he had had his conversation with Putin since he became president on January 20 or before, Trump said: “I’ve had it. Let’s just say I’ve had it…And I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended.”

Last week, Trump said that he would “probably” meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, White House officials are expected to meet Zelenskyy this week on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Mr. Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, told The Associated Press that the White House is ironing out details of the highly anticipated talks during the annual summit for international security discussions.

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Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kellogg are among the  Trump administration officials travelling to Germany for the summit, and all could be involved in the critical talks with Zelenskyy and his team on the sidelines of the event.

Trump also has in recent days said he wants to reach an agreement with Ukraine to gain access to the country’s rare earth materials as a condition for continuing U.S. support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia. The President told reporters Monday that his aides were working toward striking such a deal.

With inputs from agencies