US President Donald Trump has rejected a $50 billion deal with Ukraine and refused to supply Kyiv with weapons, including air defense systems, even for money from the EU.
This is reported by Bild.
The publication notes that Trump is more interested in negotiating with Russian dictator Putin than in making money from supplying weapons to Ukraine.
To prevent new tragedies caused by Russian shelling, such as the one at a playground in Kryvyi Rih and in the center of Sumy over the past two weeks, Ukraine urgently needs new air defense systems. 35 people were killed and over 100 wounded when Russia attacked Sumy with ballistic missiles on Palm Sunday.
“Apparently, the current US president is so concerned with the still fruitless negotiations with war criminal Vladimir Putin that he doesn’t even want to make money from Ukraine’s defense,” Bild writes.
Earlier, when asked by a journalist whether he wanted to sell new air defense missiles to Ukraine, Trump replied at the White House: “You know, he always wants to buy missiles. But look, if you start a war, you have to know that you can win it. You can’t start a war against an enemy that’s 20 times bigger and then hope that someone will give you missiles.”
“Not only did Trump cause outrage with his words, as he once again seems to have confused the attacker and the victim of Russian aggression, but economically the decision also looks controversial,” the article says.
Arms exports could bring large profits to the US economy. In Ukraine, Washington’s refusal caused outrage. It shows that the United States is not interested in “ending the bloodshed,” as Trump has repeatedly stated. Instead, according to observers and activists, Trump’s policy further fuels the aggressive war against Ukraine.
Also, in the case of the minerals deal, it seems that Trump is not primarily concerned with money, but rather with symbolism. According to Bloomberg, the US now wants only 100 billion instead of the previous 300 billion in “repayments” for previous aid, which should be covered by mineral revenues.
Since only the United States produces Patriot missiles and President Trump made it clear before taking office that he would no longer provide free aid to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to buy hundreds of Patriot missiles from the United States with EU financial support and frozen Russian assets.
A total of $50 billion (44 billion euros) would be allocated for this, Zelenskiy said three days ago. “Give us a package that includes air defense and other relevant tools – we will pay for it,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.