On Sunday U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Waltz said that Americans want repayment for the billions they spent funding Ukraine’s war. This statement came a day after it was reported that Ukrainian ruler Vladimir Zelensky refused to give up half of his mineral reserves to the U.S. in exchange for even more money.
“The American people deserve to be recouped, deserve to have some type of payback for the billions they have invested in this war,” Waltz said. “I can’t think of anything that would make the American people more comfortable with future investments than if we were able to be in a partnership and have the American people made whole.”
Outside of increasing U.S. confidence that Ukraine is more than just a black hole which sucks up cash, Waltz discussed how the money Europe forked over to the embattled nation was technically a loan.
“And I’ll point out that much of the European aid is actually in the form of a loan. That is repaid. It’s repaid with interest on Russian assets. So President Trump is rethinking the entire dynamic here. That has some people uncomfortable, but I think Zelensky would be very wise to enter into this agreement with the United States,” Waltz said.
Speaking of President Donald Trump ‘rethinking the dynamic’, he recently offered to take half of Ukraine’s natural minerals off its hands in exchange for continuing to dump money on the warring nation. While Zelensky is known to beg for cash, he turned down this proposal.
In 2023 Zelensky ordered America to not cry, but to send all its money to Ukraine.
Zelensky just went on Fox and begged western leaders to send ALL their money to Ukraine
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) December 12, 2023
“Don’t build roads. Spend all your money on weapons, drones, Society and pensions… we have only one enemy: Putin.” pic.twitter.com/gtuGMsMS1e
During Sunday’s interview, Waltz was asked why Zelensky won’t be at the peace negotiations between the U.S. and Russia.
“The Ukrainian people have fought valiantly. They have seen entire cities destroyed. The United States and Europe have supported this effort, but the United States unquestionably has borne the brunt of that support over the years, but now President Trump is clear it needs to come to an end,” he said.
Waltz described the war as a WWI style meat grinder for humans, although Zelensky repeatedly tried to keep this war going indefinitely and is still hoping to get nuclear weapons. It turns out that those in Europe are not doing their fair share to keep the death rate up.
“When a third of NATO members still are not contributing – a third – are still not contributing the minimum they all committed to a decade ago, I think that leaves a lot of Americans questioning the level of their commitment to back the rhetoric we’re seeing,” Waltz said.
