
Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that the signing of a minerals deal between Ukraine and the United States meant U.S. President Donald Trump had forced Kyiv to pay for future U.S. military aid.
The deal, signed in Washington on Wednesday, will give the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine's reconstruction.
The Kyiv Post, citing diplomatic sources, said the Trump administration had also told Congress on Wednesday of its intention to green-light the export of defence-related products to Ukraine through direct commercial sales of $50 million or more, the first step of its kind since Trump's White House return.
Reuters could not immediately confirm that.
"Trump has broken the Kyiv regime to the point where they will have to pay for U.S. aid with mineral resources," Medvedev, a former Russian president who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, wrote on Telegram.