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Ukraine to be led by whoever signs fossil agreement on Trump's terms — legislator

At the same time, Alexander Dubinsky said that Vladimir Zelensky, whose presidential powers officially expired after May 20, 2024, "is as dangerous now as a rabid dog"

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Ukraine's new president will be the one who agrees to sign an agreement on rare minerals on US President Donald Trump's terms, opposition-minded Verkhovna Rada member Alexander Dubinsky has said.

"I do not know whether I make it clear enough or not, but the office of Ukraine’s president will go to the one who will agree to sign a $500-billion deal on mineral resources. And the political parties that agree to ratify it will control parliament," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

At the same time, Dubinsky said that Vladimir Zelensky, whose presidential powers officially expired after May 20 last year, "is as dangerous now as a rabid dog."

On Tuesday, Trump indicated that Ukraine's leadership was unable to explain where up to half of the US funds allocated to the country had gone. Washington wants Kiev to recover about $500 billion through an agreement to hand over half of the rents from Ukraine's natural resources and infrastructure to the United States. On Wednesday, Zelensky dismissed Trump's demand that the US government return the $500 billion spent on Ukraine as not serious.

About the rare earth metals agreement

Back in early February, Trump said that Washington was interested in gaining access to Ukraine’s rare earth metals. Zelensky expressed his readiness to make a deal and suggested that the outcome of negotiations on this issue could be put on record at the Munich conference on February 14-16.

However, on February 14 in Munich, Kiev rejected the US administration's plan to assist Ukraine in exchange for giving Washington the right to half of Ukrainian rare-earth metals. Zelensky at the same time noted that there were no security guarantees in the proposed agreement. Kiev said that it was working on a counterproposal.

On February 16, US presidential national security adviser Mike Waltz, speaking in an interview with Fox News, strongly advised Zelensky to change his mind and sign an agreement with the US on are minerals agreement, as Americans "deserve to have some kind of payback for the billions they have invested in this war.".

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