โI want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up. Weโre asking for rare earth and oil, anything we can get.
โWeโre going to get our money back because itโs just not fair. And we will see, but I think weโre pretty close to a deal, and we better be close because that has been a horrible situation.โ
Hours earlier, a source told AFP that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was โnot readyโ to sign such a deal, despite growing US pressure.
Trumpโs special envoy Keith Kellogg, who met Zelenskyy earlier this week, said the Ukrainian President understood signing a deal with the US was โcriticalโ.
But the Ukrainian source told AFP that Kyiv needed assurances first.
โIn the form in which the draft is now, the President is not ready to accept, we are still trying to make changes and add constructiveness,โ the source close to the matter said.
Ukraine wants any agreement signed with the US to include security guarantees as it battles Russiaโs nearly three-year invasion.
The negotiations between the two countries come amid a deepening war of words between Trump and Zelenskyy that has raised alarm in Kyiv and Europe.
On Wednesday local time, Trump branded his Ukrainian democratically elected counterpart a โdictatorโ and called for him to โmove fastโ to end the war, a day after Russian and US officials held talks in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv.
The US has proposed a United Nations resolution on the Ukraine conflict that omitted any mention of Kyivโs territory occupied by Russia, diplomatic sources told AFP.
Trump has asked for โUS$500 billion [$871b] worthโ of rare earth minerals to make up for aid given to Kyiv โ a price tag Ukraine has balked at and which is much higher than published US aid figures.
โThere are no American obligations in the agreement regarding guarantees or investments, everything about them is very vague, and they want to extract US$500b from us,โ the Ukrainian source told AFP of the proposed deal.
โWhat kind of partnership is this? And why do we have to give US$500b, there is no answer,โ the source said, adding that Ukraine had proposed amendments to the draft.
The US has given Ukraine more than US$60b in military aid since Russiaโs invasion, according to official figures โ the largest such contribution among Kyivโs allies but substantially lower than Trumpโs figures.
The Kiel Institute, a German economic research body, said that from 2022 until the end of 2024, the US gave a total of โฌ114.2b (US$119.8b) in financial, humanitarian, and military aid.
A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that despite the tensions, talks on a possible agreement were โongoingโ. Kellogg praised Zelenskyy as โcourageousโ after his visit to Kyiv earlier this week.
The row comes at a critical moment in the conflict. Ukraine marks the third anniversary of Russiaโs invasion on Monday local time and Kyivโs forces are slowly ceding ground on the frontline.
Moscowโs Defence Ministry earlier today claimed the capture of Novolyubivka in the eastern Luhansk region, which is now largely under Russian control.
In a call with Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged the โUnited Kingdomโs ironclad support for Ukraineโ.
Zelenskyy, in response, praised the UK for showing โleadershipโ on the war with Russia.
In London, thousands of people marched in support of Ukraine, and polls in the UK suggest strong support for Kyiv.
– Agence France-Presse