WWIII: JD Vance Admits War In Ukraine Will 'Not End Anytime Soon' While Trump To Send More Weapons After Zelensky Agrees To Minerals Deal, As BlackRock Buys More Land And Resources
“This means joint work with America, based on fair terms, allowing both Ukraine and the United States, which supports us in our defense, to make money in partnership,” Zelensky said.
A groundbreaking deal was made this week after United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the White House announced a new minerals deal with Ukraine, a deal that reportedly does not have any security guarantees that Zelensky was seeking after, though entities such as BlackRock are poised to be the beneficiaries of this latest agreement. But even though the deal is being framed as if the U.S. and Ukraine are acting as economic partners, Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged the war in Western Europe is far from over.
After failing to end the war on the first day in office (and before that even), President Donald Trump first floated out a tentative minerals deal as a means for Ukraine to repay the U.S. for all the money it invested in the war against Russia.
Ukraine is of course a very mineral-rich land. According to a 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF) report, “Ukraine holds immense potential as a major global supplier of critical raw materials essential for these high-profile industries. With vast reserves of minerals, Ukraine can significantly contribute to the global supply chain for many or all of them;” and is “a top 10 global supplier of mineral resources, holding around 5% of the world’s total.”
After negotiations floundered and failed, the Trump administration postured as if they would no longer be supplying aid and intelligence to Ukraine until some sort of deal was reached. However, The WinePress has noted in several reports that this was not true: the U.S. continued to provide Ukraine with shared military intelligence and reinstated military support for Ukraine, as Trump threatened new sanctions and tariffs if Russia did not stop the fighting.
Now, just a little after Trump’s first 100 days in office - the same timeline his envoy to Ukraine/Russia, Keith Kellogg, self-imposed to reach a ceasefire agreement (who also joked about the administration’s claims to end the war on ‘day one’) - the U.S. and Ukraine have agreed to some sort of minerals deal.
Trump and Zelensky met last week to broker some sort of a deal at the Vatican during Pope Francis’ funeral. Zelensky’s desk noted in a post that “the Presidents discussed a range of important and urgent issues. Ukraine is counting on results regarding the matters raised: protecting lives of Ukrainians, a full and unconditional ceasefire, a reliable and lasting peace that will safeguard against a repeat of the war.”
On April 30th, Bessent and the White House announced they have reached and signed a new deal with Ukraine. According to a Treasury press release, the agreement establishes “the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.” “This economic partnership positions our two countries to work collaboratively and invest together to ensure that our mutual assets, talents, and capabilities can accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the Treasury added.
Bessent added:
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term. President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.
“And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
The White House provided some additional details of the deal in a post, explains how this fund will operate:
This partnership between the United States and Ukraine establishes a fund that will receive 50% of royalties, license fees, and other similar payments from natural resource projects in Ukraine.
That money will be invested in new projects in Ukraine, which will generate long term returns for both the American and Ukrainian peoples.
As new projects are identified, resources in the fund can be quickly allocated towards economic growth, job creation, and other key Ukrainian development priorities.
Indirect benefits will include a stronger private sector and more robust, lasting infrastructure for Ukraine’s long-term success.
The partnership will be controlled by a company with equal representation of three Ukrainian and three American board members, who will work together through a collaborative process to make decisions for allocation of fund resources, such as investment and distributions.
The partnership will also bring the highest levels of transparency and accountability to ensure that the people of Ukraine and the United States are able to enjoy the benefits of Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Natural resource projects will include minerals, hydrocarbons, and related infrastructure development.
If the United States decides to acquire these resources for ourselves, we will given first choice to either acquire them or designate the purchaser of our choice.
Economic security is national security, and this important safeguard prevents critical resources from falling into the wrong hands.
Importantly, this partnership sends a strong message to Russia – the United States has skin in the game and is committed to Ukraine’s long-term success.
The White House also emphasized that “no state, company, or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine, including participation in projects supported by fund resources.”
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told Fox Business in a statement: “When America is your friend and America is your partner, your nation is going to be better off, your citizens are going to be better off, and there is a security component just in our presence,” she remarked.
Zelensky confirmed the agreement in an official statement, confirming that this discussion was between him and Trump at the Vatican last week.
“It is now truly an equal partnership – one that creates opportunities for substantial investment in Ukraine, as well as significant modernization of Ukraine’s industries and, equally importantly, its legal practices.
“This means joint work with America, based on fair terms, allowing both Ukraine and the United States, which supports us in our defense, to make money in partnership.”
BlackRock And Western Companies To Benefit
The Kyiv Independent published the full text of the agreement, which can be read here. And though both parties have repeatedly emphasized that neither stands to profit from this, the pact states: “the United States of America and Ukraine seek to create the conditions necessary to, among other objectives, increase investment in mining, energy, and related technology in Ukraine by third parties including, but not limited to, international investors based in the United States of America, the European Union, and other States supporting Ukraine's defense against Russia's full-scale invasion.”
Who are the “international investors?” Well, BlackRock is assuredly going to be one of those benefactors.
Right before the end of 2022, Zelensky announced a deal with BlackRock to help the reconstruction of Ukraine. A blog post on Zelensky’s website said at the time: “Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Larry Fink agreed to focus in the near term on coordinating the efforts of all potential investors and participants in the reconstruction of our country, channelling investment into the most relevant and impactful sectors of the Ukrainian economy.”
In March of last year, it was revealed BlackRock and JP Morgan backed a $15 billion investor fund to rebuild Ukraine. Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman of BlackRock Inc., said the Ukraine Development Fund is poised to secure at least $500 million from countries, development banks, and other grant providers, Quartz reported.
Russian outlet Katehon noted last year that “in reality, it will put an end to the total sale of the Ukrainian state’s main assets: from its black lands to its electricity grids, including international aid funds. The list of Ukrainian assets includes securities of the following companies: Metinvest, DTEK (energy), MJP (agriculture), Naftogaz, Ukrainian Railways, Ukravtodor and Ukrenergo.”
More recently, it was revealed that BlackRock has purchased more black soil in Ukraine and Moldova ahead of the recently announced deal. Per a report by French paper Observateur Continental:
A moratorium on the sale of agricultural land has been in effect in Ukraine, which, however, has not prevented the Ukrainian authorities from transferring several million hectares to "private individuals" close to them under a 27-year lease. Some of them, according to the database Land Matrix Land Transactions, were rented to large Ukrainian companies affiliated with foreign companies.
As a result, by 2020, foreign companies controlled about 25% of Ukraine's black soils. […] Foreigners are still not allowed to purchase it, but there is a loophole in the law in question: as an exception, foreign citizens and companies are allowed to purchase land if they rent it for at least three years. And there are plenty of such plots in Ukraine. In addition, foreigners are not prohibited from entering into long-term land lease agreements. These exceptions have essentially become a form of permission for them.
In May 2022, according to National Review, Three transnational corporations – Cargill, Dupont, and Monsanto – owned 3 of Ukraine's 17 million hectares of agricultural land (about one-third). The three companies' main shareholders include the world's largest financial holding companies: BlackRock, Vanguard, and Blackstone. BlackRock takes the lead. “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to enrich himself and his entourage with the help of BlackRock at the expense of American families,” highlights National Review.
Under Moldovan President Maia Sandu, only large agricultural producers and agro-industrial farms can survive, and a situation similar to Ukraine is currently developing there. The sale of land to foreign citizens and companies is officially banned. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry of Moldova, as well as chernozem. However, government agencies and expert circles acknowledge that in many cases, land acquisition is carried out for foreigners through front men and organizations that have "Moldovan citizenship." The Republic of Moldova has already started selling farmland in BlackRock", headlines the Romanian site BZI.
In 2023, the Oakland Institute published a detailed paper that documented how American and Western oligarchs and megacorporations - citing official American and Ukrainian documents - had increasingly been buying up Ukraine even before the war. The authors wrote:
With 33 million hectares of arable land, Ukraine has large swaths of the most fertile farmland in the world. Misguided privatization and corrupt governance since the early 1990s have concentrated land in the hands of a new oligarchic class. Around 4.3 million hectares are under large-scale agriculture, with the bulk, three million hectares, in the hands of just a dozen large agribusiness firms. In addition, according to the government, about five million hectares – the size of two Crimea – have been “stolen” by private interests from the state of Ukraine. The total amount of land controlled by oligarchs, corrupt individuals, and large agribusinesses is thus over nine million hectares, exceeding 28 percent of the country’s arable land. The rest is used by over eight million Ukrainian farmers.
The largest landholders are a mix of oligarchs and a variety of foreign interests – mostly European and North American, including a US-based private equity fund and the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia. All but one of the ten largest landholding firms are registered overseas, mainly in tax havens such as Cyprus or Luxembourg. Even when run and still largely controlled by an oligarch founder, a number of firms have gone public with Western banks and investment funds now controlling a significant amount of their shares.
The report identifies many prominent investors, including Vanguard Group, Kopernik Global Investors, BNP Asset Management Holding, Goldman Sachs-owned NN Investment Partners Holdings, and Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. A number of large US pension funds, foundations, and university endowments are also invested in Ukrainian land through NCH Capital – a US-based private equity fund, which is the fifth largest landholder in the country.
In recent years, Western countries and institutions have provided massive military and economic assistance to Ukraine, which became the top recipient of US foreign aid – marking the first time since the Marshall Plan that a European country holds this top spot. As of December 2022, less than one year into the war, the US has allocated over US$113 billion to Ukraine, including US$65 billion of military aid, which is more than the entire budget of the State Department and USAID globally (US$58 billion).
The report details how Western aid has been conditioned to a drastic structural adjustment program, which includes austerity measures, cuts in social safety nets, and the privatization of key sectors of the economy. A central condition has been the creation of a land market, put into law in 2020 under President Zelenskyy, despite opposition from a majority of Ukrainians fearing that it will exacerbate corruption in the agricultural sector and reinforce its control by powerful interests.
The War Is Ramping Up
Even though this recent deal with Ukraine was framed as a more economic one, it has since become clear that the U.S. is prepared to reengage with Russia by sending more weapons to Ukraine.
Yesterday, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News the war is “not going to end any time soon.”
“It’s going to be up to them [Russia and Ukraine] to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict. It’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to end anytime soon.
“We’ve got the peace proposal out there and issued, and we’re going to work very hard over the next 100 days to try to bring these guys together. We got them talking… I think we’re in a place where they have got to say ‘weʼre done with the fighting. Weʼre done with losing thousands and thousands of young people.”
At the same time, the Trump administration is now allowing the sale of American military gear again to Ukraine.
The Kyiv Post was the first to break the story.
The outlet reported:
On Wednesday, the Trump administration informed Congress of its intention to green-light the export of defense-related products to Ukraine through direct commercial sales (DCS) of $50 million or more, Kyiv Post has learned from diplomatic sources.
The permission – the first of its kind since Trump returned to the White House over 100 days ago – comes just weeks after the administration paused all Ukraine-related military aid for review, emphasizing a new priority: leveraging US influence to end the conflict through diplomacy rather than prolonged military support.
The $50 million sale license notice, first seen by Kyiv Post, was submitted to Congress via the Arms Export Control Act, a law that authorizes US Presidents to control the import and export of defense articles and services, according to formal notice sent to the Congress from the State Department’s Legislative Affairs office. The proposed sale covers the export of defense articles, including technical data, and defense services to Ukraine.
Colby Badhwar, security assistance analyst at Tochnyi, a research group, told Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent:
“All DCS are quiet; they don’t get announced publicly like Foreign Military Sales. The news here is basically that it [US arms sales] is continuing, despite everyone predicting that Trump would cut Ukraine off completely.”
The revelation comes weeks after Trump announced the country’s first-ever $1 trillion budget. The budget was reaffirmed yesterday, Bloomberg reported, beginning October 1st. “The defense budget will fund the Golden Dome missile defense project, shipbuilding and nuclear modernization, border security among its top priorities. It includes a 3.8% military pay raise,” Bloomberg noted.
Even though untold hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have perished, with some sources reporting the number is well into the millions, as videos continue to spread documenting mass graves throughout Ukraine.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
What an absolute joke; how utterly disgusting! As the old saying goes, “war is a racket,” said two-time Medal of Honor recipient MG. Smedley Butler.
The fact that both parties keep emphasizing that neither side will profit from this MEANS that both sides will profit very handsomely from this!
Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
WinePress readers will recall that I have repeatedly said going back to last year that the war in Ukraine was not going to end anytime soon under President Trump, and that has played out as we called it. Trump reiterated during the campaign that he was going to end the war the first day in office, and even before then. He of course was just bloviating as usual. Then it turned into 100 days. Now right around that time we instead get MORE neo-colonialism by raping and pillaging Ukraine, as the puppet Zelensky sells out even more of the country while the U.S. and NATO come to aid BlackRock and other Western oligarch’s investments.
Ukraine can now officially be said, in my opinion, that it is our latest territory we have acquired, and can now further enslave the Ukrainians to enrich the Western oligarchs.
And where is the outrcy? Where are the Instead of ending the war, or at the very least simply pulling out entirely and cut off intelligence, we are continuing to fund it. Someone PLEASE explain to me how this is ANY different than Biden?!
But let’s not forget the words of Larry Fink last year prior to the election: “I’m tired of hearing this is the biggest election in your lifetime. The reality is over time, it doesn’t matter.”
Prior to becoming President for the first time, Fink had helped manage Trump’s finances, and after a 2017 meeting with his administration, Fink acknowledged his relationship with Trump, noting: “In every meeting we had, he talked about doing more… I didn’t think ‘doing more’ meant [being] the president.” Three years later, Trump called upon Fink once again to oversee the stimulus distribution programs alongside former majority BlackRock shareholder, Bank of America. “I do believe it’s going to continue to bring opportunities for us,” Fink stated during a 2020 earnings call, referring to government assignments.
Trump said during that 2017 meeting:
“Larry did a great job for me. He managed a lot of my money. I have to tell you, he got me great returns.”
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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This was the war that was going to end on day one, right?
Let me guess , it’s a “ Public Private Partnership “ ?