A.G. Gancarski
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday in an attempt to wind down ongoing hostilities with Russia. And Donald Trump’s chief diplomat says the U.S. will be positioned to recoup at least some of the money spent backing Kyiv’s cause.
“The U.S. is going to have a stake in Ukraine’s long-term independence, and that should be anchored in an ongoing economic interest,” Rubio said on the “Clay and Buck” Show.
Rubio added that the stake could include “the ability to partner with Ukraine, a joint venture or something like that for their mineral rights, you know, all the natural resources they have.”
He also said “some of that money will go back to pay back the U.S. taxpayer for the billions of dollars that’s been spent there.”
The spend has been substantial. But the benefits could dwarf that.
Through the end of the last fiscal year, Ukraine response funding neared $183 billion. The Trump administration has proposed a deal worth $500 billion, which is under review by the Ukrainian government.
The potential accord comes as peace could be at hand.
Trump said this week that he had a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with an eye toward moves “to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine” with Zelenskyy’s Russian counterpart, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Rubio, along with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, will “lead the negotiations” that Trump believes “will be successful.”
Expect a lot of parties to have a say.
Rubio said Thursday the team is “going to be talking to Ukraine and we’re going to be talking to all of our allies and partners in Europe and around the world regarding this as well.”
10 comments
PeterH
February 13, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Raping a country’s natural resources is economic colonialism! As expected…. Marco trying to placate Trump embarrasses the USA.
Ocean Joe
February 17, 2025 at 6:14 pm
The 1994 Budapest Memoranda arguably provided western security for Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine’s relinquishment of nuclear weapons on its territory. Trump is about to renege. Marco is tempest tossed, he speaks for no one, he waits for Trump to speak and then sits, stays, or rolls over.
The Biden secretary of state was no prize either.
George S
February 13, 2025 at 3:45 pm
“We’ll bleed you dry until election year 2028, and when we’re finished with you, we’ll feed you to the dogs” – Rubio
Michael K
February 13, 2025 at 10:15 pm
Such a transactional administration. No values, no moral core. Greed, avarice, and corruption. The American experiment is dead.
MH/Duuuval
February 13, 2025 at 11:04 pm
There’s a chance the republic can be revived, if Trump is kept from running for a third term.
My take: He gets knocked out of the box with the 25A within 2 years.
PeterH
February 14, 2025 at 7:26 am
Not while Susan Collins and other Republican Senators keep their magical thinking alive on the theory that this president has “learned his lesson!”
MH/Duuuval
February 15, 2025 at 9:52 am
Sad point in US history when Mitch McConnell is the only Senate right winger with integrity. And, only because he is a lame duck.
Ocean Joe
February 14, 2025 at 7:27 am
It’s always the economy. If he persists with his tariff plans instead of simply using them to bluff, and if those tariffs result in higher prices for consumers as economists believe they will, then all the “Day One” Trumpspeak will melt into a recognition that the great flim flam man delivered a weaker, broker America but gave his most ardent supporters the freedom to hate which they seem to crave and savaged the safety net to bankrupt us with another giant tax cut for those who are undertaxed and do not need it.
MH/Duuuval
February 15, 2025 at 9:34 am
Tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, again, are on track in the unserious MAGA House.
MH/Duuuval
February 17, 2025 at 10:28 am
Meanwhile, Musk and the MAGAs are lining up with Germany’s New Model Nazis. That is the bottom line, literally.
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