US secretary of state says Trump “very upset” over Zelenskyy
Pravda Ukraine
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that recent critical remarks by US President Donald Trump towards President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were a result of the American leader being upset by the actions of his Ukrainian counterpart.
Source: European Pravda, citing Rubio in an interview with journalist Catherine Herridge, posted by the press service for the US Department of State
Details: When asked about Trump’s comment calling Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections”, Rubio responded that “Trump is very upset with President Zelenskyy”, particularly due to the lack of gratitude for American aid and the refusal to sign the Ukrainian natural resources deal.
Quote from Rubio: “We had a conversation with President Zelenskyy… And we discussed this issue about the mineral rights, and we explained to them, look, we want to be in a joint venture with you – not because we’re trying to steal from your country, but because we think that’s actually a security guarantee.”
Details: Rubio noted that Zelenskyy had expressed a desire to conclude the deal but added, “I need to run it through my legislative process”.
“Two days later, I read what Zelenskyy said: ‘I read two days later that Zelenskyy is out there saying: I rejected the deal; I told them no way, that we’re not doing that. Well, that’s not what happened in that meeting. So, you start to get upset by somebody – we’re trying to help these guys,” Rubio said.
He noted that he would like to see “some level of gratitude” for the US concern rather than accusing Trump of “living in a world of disinformation”.
Rubio called Zelenskyy’s comments “highly, very counterproductive”.
He is also convinced that Trump is ready to work towards peace “because he cares about Ukraine”.
“He hopes Zelenskyy will be a partner in that and not someone who’s out there putting the sort of counter-messaging to try to hustle us in that regard. That’s not going to be productive here,” Rubio concluded.
Background:
- NBC News suggests that Donald Trump’s administration proposed that Ukraine give the US 50% ownership of the country’s rare earth minerals, a deal that President Zelenskyy has refused to sign.
- Recently, this has prompted harsh comments from Trump, who notably referred to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections“.
- It has recently been reported that the United States has presented Ukraine with a revised version of the minerals development agreement, which considers some of Kyiv’s concerns and stands a better chance of being signed.
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