OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:24 PM – Friday, March 21, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shot down President Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to take possession of Ukrainian power plants as negotiations for peace continue.
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“All nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine. These are state-owned nuclear power plants, it is not in private property of Ukraine,” Zelensky stated following a phone call meeting with President Trump.
The proposal follows after Trump recently floated the idea of a mineral deal — with the reason being that U.S. economic investment in Ukraine would make Russia less likely to attack.
“The United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” the White House stated following the call on Wednesday. “American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest of its 15 Soviet-era nuclear reactors, and it has been under Russian occupation for over three years after it was seized in the war — remaining as a bargaining chip for Russia in any peace negotiations.
Additionally, Zelensky denied speaking with President Trump regarding American ownership of the nuclear plants. Rather, he stated that they both spoke about potential “U.S. investment” in the nuclear plants.
“If the Americans are thinking about how to find a way out of this situation, if they want to take it away from the Russians, invest in its restoration, this is an open question,” Zelensky stated, referencing the Russian occupied nuclear power plant.
Ukraine and Russia previously agreed, in principle, to a “limited ceasefire” — although the details surrounding which targets are off-limits to attacks were still being worked out. However, after Thursday’s onslaught of drone attacks from Ukraine, which led to Russia retaliating with their own drones, those chances seem more slim now.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that European countries, led by Britain and France, are getting closer to bringing together a “coalition of the willing” — to defend any future ceasefire agreement.
“Last weekend and two weekends before that, we had groupings of international political leaders coming together to provide the political alignment and the collective agreement that we need to work together to ensure that any deal that is put in place is defended,” Starmer stated.
“It is vitally important that we do that work because we know one thing for certain, which is a deal without anything behind it is something that Putin will breach,” he continued. “We know that because it happened before. I’m absolutely clear in my mind it will happen again.”
Zelensky described the meeting with Trump regarding a potential investment into the plant as “positive steps,” although he is “not sure we will get a result quickly.”
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