The USA demands elections and "payment" for aid from Ukraine. What the media say
US President Donald Trump has suggested that Ukraine should receive military aid in exchange for supplies of rare-earth metals. His special envoy Keith Kellogg said it was necessary to hold elections in the country, canceled in 2024 allegedly due to martial law. Arms deliveries to Ukraine were delayed due to internal disagreements and interference from the previous US administration, as well as the reluctance of Republicans to allocate new aid. What the world media write about Ukraine - in Izvestia's digest.
Politico: Ukraine panics over demands to hold elections
US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said that in democratic countries elections are held even during hostilities. Thus Washington urged Kiev to hold elections of the president and the Verkhovna Rada, which caused concern in the country's leadership.
Politico
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "President [Vladimir] Zelensky's term of office has expired." He said that "legitimizing Ukraine's leadership" would be necessary as part of any peace process. Kiev, for its part, fears that holding elections at this stage would threaten Ukraine's unity and open the country to destabilizing campaigns of Russian influence.
The former Ukrainian minister said that "the consistency between the positions of Washington and Moscow on the election issue is worrying." According to him, this indicates that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin want Zelensky's resignation. Earlier, Zelensky said Ukraine could hold elections this year if the fighting stops and security guarantees are agreed upon.
The New York Times: Trump calls for Ukraine's minerals to be exchanged for US aid
Trump has said he wants an agreement with Ukraine under which Kiev would supply the United States with rare earth metals in exchange for American aid, the clearest sign yet of his transactional approach to supporting the country. Ukraine is rich in rare-earth minerals such as lithium, uranium and titanium, which are critical to the production of a wide range of advanced products, including electric motors and wind turbines.
The New York Times
Trump's proposal comes as his new government has suspended foreign aid around the world, forcing many humanitarian organizations in Ukraine to suspend their operations and forcing the Ukrainian government to struggle to find alternative funding for critical programs, including support for its stricken power grid and veterans.
In many ways, Trump's offer to trade aid for rare earth minerals is consistent with the transactional foreign policy strategy he has pursued since returning to the White House. He has used U.S. economic power to pressure allies including Colombia and Mexico to agree to his demands or at least negotiate them.
Reuters: Biden slowed arms shipments to Ukraine in final year of presidency
In the final year of President Joe Biden's term, decisions on key U.S. arms deliveries to Ukraine were slowed not only by congressional and domestic debates about the risks of escalation with Russia, but also by concerns about the adequacy of U.S. stockpiles. Adding to the confusion was a chaotic weapons tracking system in which even the definition of "delivered" differed among U.S. military departments.
Reuters
The biggest delays were during the months it took Congress to pass [a decision to allocate] $60 billion in additional aid for Ukraine, due to opposition from Donald Trump and Republican congressmen amid Trump's successful presidential run. But the process stalled even after the money was approved.
By November 2024, only about half of the total dollar amount the U.S. promised from U.S. stockpiles had been delivered. Only about 30% of the promised armored vehicles had arrived by early December. Average deliveries rose sharply only after Trump won the presidential election, reaching levels not seen since the 2023 midterms.
The New York Times: Ukraine defense agencies' standoff disrupts arms contracts
Ukrainian defense companies say they are unable to sign new contracts or receive payment, potentially jeopardizing future supplies for already struggling troops. Ukrainian defense companies say a standoff between Ukraine's defense minister and an official from Ukraine's Defense Procurement Agency has been going on for more than a week and is beginning to derail arms contracts.
The New York Times
The Ukrainian arms trade group said that more than 80 defense companies, which accounted for about a third of deliveries to the army last year, "cannot get paid for completed orders and sign new contracts." In one such case, a contract to produce 155-millimeter artillery shells, a caliber used in many field guns, has been suspended, the ammunition maker said.
The companies said the standoff is unlikely to have an immediate impact on arms deliveries to Ukrainian troops because current deliveries are under previous contracts. But if it persists, it could jeopardize deliveries in the coming months at a critical time for the Ukrainian army.
BBC News: 18-year-old UK mercenary killed in Ukraine
James Wilton, 18, who volunteered to go to Ukraine just months after leaving college, was killed in a drone attack in the village of Terni on the eastern front. His father Graham Wilton said his son was on his first mission in July 2024 and died running between two trenches in a field with no cover.
BBC News
"He had his whole life ahead of him," Graham said. - 'Tomorrow I'd swap places with him so he could stay at home drinking beer and watching darts. I'm 52, I've lived my life. He was 18, who knows what he could have done? He didn't have a life and that's the worst of it."
James Wilton wanted to join the British Army after leaving school, but ended up enrolling on an animal care course. Towards the end of his studies, he began discussing the possibility of going to Ukraine. Neither his parents nor his sisters wanted him to go, however, they did not change his mind.
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