Trump proposes US take over Ukraine's nuclear power plant
President Trump suggested that Ukraine transfer its energy structure to US ownership for best protection.
According to RIA Novosti, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said that US President Donald Trump had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on March 19 and made new proposals to ensure security for Ukraine.
Accordingly, the US is ready to help Ukraine manage its nuclear power plants and power plants. US ownership of these plants will be the best protection for them and support for Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Ms Levitt said the US administration was tasked with resolving the technical issues involved in establishing and extending the ceasefire, and national security experts were asked to detail the next steps regarding Ukraine as soon as possible.
On the issue of military aid, the US will continue to provide intelligence to Ukraine.
On the rare earths deal, the US is currently focusing on a long-term peace deal, but has not given up on signing a mineral resources deal.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he saw no problem with the possibility of transferring nuclear power plants in Ukraine to US control.
"We have tremendous technical expertise in the United States to manage these plants... if managing nuclear power plants in Ukraine is helpful to the goal of resolving the conflict in Ukraine, then the United States has no problem. We can do it," he said in an interview with Fox News.
According to Wright, if the nuclear power plant in Ukraine is transferred to US control, Washington will not need to send US troops there.
Earlier, the White House boss wrote on the social network Truth Social that he had spoken for about an hour with the head of the Ukrainian government about bringing the negotiating positions of Russia and Ukraine closer together. According to President Trump, Mr. Zelensky agreed to stop attacks on Russian energy facilities.
After a phone call with his US counterpart Donald Trump on March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded positively to the idea of the parties in the conflict jointly refraining from attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days and giving corresponding orders to the military.
However, just hours after these negotiations, the Ukrainian military attacked with three drones the Kavkazskaya oil pumping station in the Krasnodar region, which was involved in transporting oil from rail tanks into the pipeline system of the international company Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
The Russian Defense Ministry has noted that with such steps, the Ukrainian leadership is deliberately sabotaging President Trump's peace initiatives.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the attack was the best indicator that the Kiev government was incapable of negotiations and this was a reason for concern.
The Russian military, on orders from President Putin, stopped all airstrikes and even shot down seven of its own drones that were flying to attack targets in Ukraine's Nikolaev region.