OAN Staff James Meyers
2:10 PM – Wednesday, March 19, 2025
President Donald Trump has announced that he is walking away from a potential minerals deal with Ukraine, and is suggesting that the U.S. takes a stake in a nuclear power plant in the war-ridden country instead.
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During the meeting, Trump told Zelensky that the U.S. could be “very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” according to a White House statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz that described the call as “fantastic.”
“We have moved beyond the economic mineral deal,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Post during her press briefing on Wednesday, referring to ongoing discussions of a potential cease-fire between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow.
Meanwhile, the White House has previously said it has particular interest in the fate of the nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhya, which is the largest in Europe, which is located right on the border of a Russian-occupied area.
The plant, which was taken over by Russian forces in March 2022 and has largely been shut down since it has experienced multiple attacks due to the war, has increased fears of a nuclear disaster even greater than the horrific Chernobyl explosion in 1986.
The 47th president had praised the mineral deal as a way to provide Ukraine economic security and had been pressuring Zelensky to sign the deal for weeks, sending Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and special envoy Keith Kellogg to Kyiv last month to get the deal across the finish line.
Despite the heated argument between Zelensky and Trump on February 28th, the multi-billion dollar provisional agreement remained on the table.
The massive mineral deal would have created a joint U.S.-Ukraine fund that would have worked to extract key minerals, which are estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
Trump said this deal was a repayment for all the billions of dollars in aid the U.S. has given to Ukraine over the duration of the war.
The commander-in-chief worked on getting a full cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.
Leavitt reiterated that Russia agreed to a cease-fire on “energy and infrastructure” with Ukraine during Trump’s phone call with Putin on Tuesday, not just “energy infrastructure” as Putin had claimed.
Furthermore, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said he would be heading to Saudi Arabia in the next few days to meet with Russian officials to continue talks.
“The mineral deal was that first set of framework,” Leavitt said. “We are now focused on a long-term peace agreement.”
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