Summary
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he remains “ready to sign” a US-Ukraine minerals deal despite leaving the White House without an agreement following a contentious meeting with Trump.
Speaking in London after a European leaders’ summit, Zelensky emphasized that their fractious meeting only benefited Putin.
Refusing to discuss territorial concessions, he stated the “best security guarantees are a strong Ukrainian army.”
Responding to calls from Senator Graham that he resign, Zelensky quipped he is “exchangeable for NATO” membership, saying this would mean he had “fulfilled my mission.”
I read his statements as attempts to make it clear he’s not the unreasonable “everyone must give Ukraine all the aid we want with no compensation allowed” figure that conservatives in the US now want to paint him as. It makes it clear that Trump isn’t upset that Zelenskyy isn’t open to negotiating compensation for the US, he’s just trying to find an excuse to pivot US foreign policy towards Russia’s goals, and Zelenskyy meanwhile is even willing to discuss something as absurd as signing away Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
I think it’s a good idea for him to call Trump’s bluff. If he railed hard against the deal, it’d become another partisan issue, whether relations with Ukraine broke because of Trump or Zelenskyy being a hardliner. That’s why they’ve been trying to find any excuse at all to say Zelenskyy was somehow rude to Trump while he was sitting there listening to Trump spit out Russian propaganda. Conservatives need some narrative that the US pivot to Russian foreign policy is Ukraine’s fault, and Zelenskyy is denying them that.
I guess, man, but we’re talking about people that seem to have an unlimited capacity to distort reality in order to make the narrative true. Never forget that on J6 the capitol was stormed by righteous patriots trying to save democracy and that they were just on a peaceful tour after being told to go in by capitol police and also that they were a violent antifa mob.
It’s less about bringing Trump and US conservatives around than it is about maintaining the moral high ground for help from Europe.