Zelenskyy Hopes to Receive Air Defence Systems Under Minerals Deal

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Ukraine will receive the required number of air defence systems as a result of the minerals agreement with the United States.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Speaking to journalists on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that the minerals deal with the US ‘is beneficial to both sides’.

According to the president, the agreement will allow Ukraine to protect future US investments, ‘to protect, in particular, our land, our people with air defence’.

‘And so we are ready for air defence systems to contribute to this. I told him (Trump - Ed.) about the number - he told me that they will work on it, these are not free things. And I would like to have the opportunity to have access to the purchase of American weapons,’ Zelenskyy added.

The Ukrainian side has repeatedly asked the US to provide it with air defence systems, and the Trump administration has suggested that the weapons be purchased with the help of European countries.

As The Gaze reported earlier, Ukraine and the United States have signed an agreement to establish the US-Ukraine Recovery Investment Fund, the so-called subsoil deal. Consultations between the parties lasted two months. The final and signed version appeared only on 1 May, when the Ukrainian government published the text of the subsoil agreement with the US in Ukrainian and English.