US President Donald Trump has insisted Ukraine must give up land otherwise it “may not survive”, as Elon Musk has suggested sanctions on Ukrainian oligarchs.
Trump has been calling for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesky to sign a minerals deal, giving the US access to half of Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
However, he has now decided this would not be enough for the US to restart the flow of military aid and intelligence.
Ahead of the beginning of peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia this week, the US President has demanded the Ukrainian leader agrees to cede territory to Russia - a move Zelensky has said he will only consider as a means of joining Nato, which has been ruled out by the US.
The US President once again accused his Ukrainian counterpart of not being “grateful”
REUTERSTrump also reportedly wants Zelensky to hold elections in Ukraine - which have been suspended since the start of the war in 2022 - and potentially step down as leader.
The US President once again accused his Ukrainian counterpart of not being “grateful,” and claimed he has taken money from the US “like candy from a baby”.
When asked if he felt comfortable having “walked away” after suspending aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Trump claimed the country “may not survive anyway.”
Ever since the US removed aid, Russia has been “intensifying offensive operations”, according to the Institute of War Studies.
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They claimed it was “notable” on the battlefield that Ukraine has not been able to shoot down missiles from Russia in the past week.
This comes as billionaire Elon Musk has suggested harsh sanctions on Ukraine’s oligarchs, writing on X: “Place sanctions on the top 10 Ukrainian oligarchs, especially the ones with mansions in Monaco, and this will stop immediately. That is the key to the puzzle.”
While facing criticism for his comments, he hit out at one X user who told him to “stop pretending Putin isn’t the aggressor”, replying: “I literally challenged Putin to one on one physical combat over Ukraine and my Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.”
In response to the claim, Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski responded by saying that it pays about $50m per year for Ukraine’s Starlink and that it may seek alternatives if Musk’s company proves to be “unreliable”.
“The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers,” he wrote.
Musk confirmed that Starlink would never turn off its terminals in Ukraine
REUTERS
In response, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hit out at the foreign minster, claiming he was “making things up”.
He added: “No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink. And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.”
Musk confirmed soon after that Starlink would never turn off its terminals in Ukraine.
He said: "To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals.
"Without Starlink, the Ukrainian lines would collapse, as the Russians can jam all other communications! We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip."
