The new US president has raised the possibility of Ukraine becoming "Russian one day", repeating that he wants Washington to have access to Ukrainian rare earths in exchange for American help against Russia.
"I want our money to be safe because we're spending hundreds of billions of dollars," Donald Trump said Monday in an interview with Fox News.
"They may come to an agreement, they may not come to an agreement. They may be Russian one day, they may not be Russian one day," the Republican added, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview broadcast in full after the first part aired on Sunday, Trump recalled that he had demanded from Kiev the equivalent of 500 billion dollars (485 billion euros) in rare earths, metals used in particular in electronics.
"At least this way we don't feel stupid," he added.
During the election campaign, Trump promised to end the conflict within 24 hours, revising that promise to six months after his inauguration on January 20.
However, Russia and Ukraine remain distant in their positions, although they have taken an unprecedented stance of dialogue since Trump returned to the White House.
Last Monday, Trump indicated that he wants to reach a deal with Ukraine to gain access to the country's rare earth deposits as a condition for Washington's continued support for Kiev.
The remark is in line with elements of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's "victory plan" that he has presented to his allies in Kiev, including the new US leader by the end of 2024.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, arguing that it wanted to protect pro-Russian separatist minorities in the east and "denazify" the neighboring country, independent since 1991 - after the collapse of the Soviet Union - and which has been moving away from Moscow's sphere of influence and closer to Europe and the West.
Negotiations between the two sides have been completely blocked since spring 2022, with Moscow continuing to demand that Ukraine accept the annexation of a part of its territory.
Information about the course of the war released by both sides cannot be immediately independently verified.
