By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on Monday that giving Washington an economic interest in the future of Ukraine will serve as a security guarantee for the country that Russia invaded in February 2022.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
President Donald Trump has been seeking a minerals deal with Ukraine - home to a trove of lithium deposits and rare earth minerals - as payback for billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Ukraine during Russia’s invasion. Trump said he will give more details on the future of that potential deal on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s talks with Trump in the White House on Friday broke down in acrimonious exchanges and ended without a formal agreement on that front.
KEY QUOTES
"If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine," Vance said in the interview.
"That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years."
Vance also said: "What President Trump has said clearly and consistently is, of course, the door is open, so long as Zelenskiy is willing to seriously talk peace. You can’t come into the Oval Office or anywhere else and refuse to even discuss the details of a peace deal."
CONTEXT
Trump has been pushing for a deal to end the war.
France, Britain and potentially other European countries have offered to send troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire - something Moscow has already rejected. Zelenskiy says a ceasefire must carry explicit security guarantees from the West.