White House frames Ukraine agreement as taxpayer repayment, saying ending war remains ‘overriding agenda'
The White House intends to implement the newly signed US-Ukraine minerals deal "as fast as we possibly can," a senior aide to President Donald Trump said Thursday.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller emphasized the deal's purpose is to repay American taxpayers. "It's meant to pay back the United States" for past economic and military assistance provided to Kyiv, he said.
Miller added that ending the war remains "the overriding agenda" for Trump.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt described the "historic" agreement as evidence of Trump being the "deal maker in chief" and a "first of its kind economic partnership" benefiting both nations.
"This partnership represents the United States taking an economic stake in securing a free, peaceful and sovereign future for Ukraine," she said.
Ukraine insisted the deal include no provisions regarding Ukrainian debt to the US, which Zelenskyy refused to recognize as part of an agreement, though US statements seem to contradict it.
The agreement follows months of challenging negotiations between the two countries. The previously scheduled signing in February collapsed after a heated Oval Office exchange involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The American leaders publicly castigated Zelenskyy, and said he was being ungrateful for years of American assistance.
The deal's planned signing ceremony on Feb. 28 was abruptly called off hours later as the Ukrainian leader left the White House.
A senior Treasury Department official said the deal signed Wednesday is far more comprehensive than what was to be signed two months ago, describing it as "a four- to five-page framework" that was built out in the subsequent months.
"What we have today is really an evolution of where the two sides were on Feb. 28, and this work that we've undertaken over the last two months would have needed to happen after Feb. 28 anyway," said the official, describing the deal as a "very long-term economic partnership" between Washington and Kyiv.
The official said Ukraine's parliament is expected to ratify the pact "within a week," and after the legislature lends its approval "all of the government of Ukraine's commitments under these three documents are effective as of that ratification."
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