21 Feb, 2025 11:31

US has ‘frozen’ weapons sales to Ukraine – MPs

President Donald Trump earlier accused Kiev of misusing aid and demanded reimbursement

The US has halted weapons sales to Ukraine, senior MP Roman Kostenko, who serves as secretary of the Verkhovnaya Rada’s Defense Committee, claimed on Thursday.

Washington has been the biggest source of military aid to Ukraine since the escalation of its conflict with Russia in early 2022, including through weapons and equipment shipments and financial support. Part of the financial aid has been used to pay US arms makers to procure new weapons for Ukraine’s army or replace old ones previously provided.

In an interview with journalist Natalia Moseychuk, Kostenko stated that “according to my information, the weapons that were going up for sale have stopped. Those companies that were ready to transfer these weapons are now waiting because there is no decision [from Washington].”

He claimed that the suspensions were linked to the budding rapprochement between Washington and Moscow, who held their first direct negotiations at senior level in three years in Saudi Arabia this week. According to Kostenko, the fact that Ukraine was not invited to the talks has prompted uncertainty among US arms manufacturers about deliveries to Kiev.

Kostenko said Ukraine is attempting to resolve the issue and has offered to pay for the weapons directly instead of counting on their delivery as part of US aid. His remarks were confirmed by fellow MP Aleksey Goncharenko in a Telegram post on Friday.

“The US has frozen arms sales to Ukraine. Roman Kostenko’s statement yesterday is absolutely true,” Goncharenko wrote, adding that “American companies confirmed this to me.”

Neither Washington nor US arms makers have commented on the reported pause in shipments. Ukrainian MP Alexandra Ustinova, who serves as an adviser to the defense minister, refuted the claims in a post on Facebook, stating that “the US has NOT stopped selling weapons to Ukraine” and advising fellow MPs not to “add fuel to the fire” by voicing unconfirmed information.

The remarks come amid a growing spat between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, the US leader accused Zelensky of mismanaging the conflict with Russia and misusing American financial aid. Trump earlier threatened to cut aid for Ukraine, and has insisted that Kiev must repay Washington for the funding it has received, which the US leader claimed was “more than $300 billion.” He demanded the “equivalent of $500 billion worth of rare earths” from Ukraine in return.

Zelensky has accused the US leader of “living in a disinformation space” supposedly created by Russia. He rejected the proposal for Ukraine’s rare earths, saying last week that it was not “in the interests of sovereign Ukraine.” Zelensky previously refuted Trump’s estimates of the aid provided by Washington, insisting Ukraine had not received even half of that sum.

https://www.rt.com/russia/613103-us-froze-weapons-sales-ukraine/

20 Feb, 2025 23:38

Zelensky ‘fooled’ Trump on rare-earth minerals – Ukrainian MP

The potential was grossly misrepresented, Artyom Dmitruk has told RT

Vladimir Zelensky wildly misled US President Donald Trump when he boasted about Ukraine’s mineral deposits, Artyom Dmitruk, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, has told RT.

Zelensky offered the US a partnership to develop Ukraine’s minerals. “The Americans helped the most, and therefore the Americans should earn the most. And they should have this priority, and they will,” he told Reuters this month. He claimed that Ukraine has Europe’s largest titanium deposits, while Prime Minister Denis Shmigal wrote in an op-ed for Politico that the country’s subsoil contains “22 out of the 30 minerals listed as critical for the EU.”

Speaking to RT on Thursday, Dmitruk explained that Zelensky’s tactic was deceptive. “It is an issue on which Zelensky has once again fooled the whole world, and, more specifically, Donald Trump and his team,” Dmitruk said.

“First, all of these resources, the rare-earth minerals, are currently located on the territories with active combat. Second, no one can say what the price of extracting these resources will be,” he added.

“If these precious resources could have been mined so easily and on such a large scale as Zelensky promised, and if it would have been profitable, the companies in Ukraine would have started doing it long ago. It is yet another lie, another farce that Zelensky attempts to exploit.”

A critic of Zelensky’s government, Dmitruk fled Ukraine in 2024 after being charged with assaulting a police officer. He denies any wrongdoing and insists that the prosecution is politically motivated.

Dmitruk blamed “the party of war” in Kiev for the hostilities with Russia. Ukraine will face “an internal war and destruction” unless “the party of peace” prevails and negotiates a deal with Moscow, he argued.

On Wednesday, Zelensky confirmed that he refused to sign a deal that would have granted the US 50% ownership of Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals. “I cannot sell our country,” he said, stressing that Kiev demands that the West provide security guarantees against Russia.

The feud between Trump and Zelensky escalated this week when the US president labeled him “a dictator without elections” and claimed that he is deeply unpopular at home. Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told Fox News on Thursday that Ukrainians “need to tone it down” and sign the proposed minerals agreement.

In an op-ed for Bloomberg on Wednesday, commodities expert Javier Blas wrote that Trump’s expectations of a deal for Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals are grossly exaggerated. He said Ukraine “has no significant rare-earth deposits other than small scandium mines.”

Zelensky acknowledged earlier this month that around half of its rare-earth deposits are “under Russian occupation,” according to Reuters.

https://www.rt.com/russia/613084-zelensky-fooled-trump-rare-minerals/

20 Feb, 2025 20:28

Zelensky would suffer crushing defeat if elections held now – Economist

Polls show that former Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny would win with 65% of the vote

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky would lose to his former commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, by a large margin if elections were held in Ukraine today, The Economist reports, citing internal polling.

Zelensky’s five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, and he has refused to hold elections since, citing martial law. Speaking late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Zelensky no longer has the legitimacy required to sign official agreements.

In an article on Wednesday, The Economist said, “many Ukrainians are clearly frustrated with their war leader.” According to data cited in the report, Zelensky “would lose a future election by 30% to 65% to Valery Zaluzhny,” if the former commander runs for office. Zaluzhny currently serves as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK.

The Economist further claimed that, in sharp contrast to the 90% popularity he supposedly enjoyed during the early days of the conflict in 2022, Zelensky’s trust ratings hit a low of 52% last month.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s Strana.UA media outlet – which is considered to be in opposition to the country’s government and has come under pressure from the authorities – cited a recent survey conducted by Socis suggesting that only 15.9% would vote for Zelensky, with Zaluzhny enjoying the support of 27.2% of respondents.

The question of Zelensky’s popularity at home was raised by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, when he told reporters that the “leader in Ukraine… he’s down at a 4% approval rating.” He added that calls for new elections are “not a Russia thing,” but rather “something coming from me, and coming from many other countries also.”

Responding to the US president’s claim, Zelensky suggested on Wednesday that Trump had fallen for “Russian disinformation.” He also cited a January poll from the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KMIS) that indicated 57% of Ukrainians trusted him.

The Ukrainian leader’s remarks apparently did not sit well with Trump, who blasted Zelensky in a post on his Truth Social platform later that day as a “dictator without elections.” The US president reiterated his allegation that Zelensky “is very low in Ukrainian Polls,” concluding that he “better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said he is “ready to talk about elections, [but] Ukrainians don’t want this.” He suggested that holding a vote amid the conflict with Moscow would undermine national unity.

https://www.rt.com/russia/613081-zelensky-would-lose-election-ukraine/