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Throughout a name with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine this week, President Trump floated a extremely uncommon thought: The US could take control of Ukrainian nuclear energy crops.
“He mentioned that america may very well be very useful in working these crops with its electrical energy and utility experience,” the White Home mentioned in a statement after the decision on Wednesday. “American possession of these crops could be the perfect safety for that infrastructure and assist for Ukrainian power infrastructure.”
The concept shocked officers and power specialists in Kyiv. Mr. Zelensky appeared to reject it on Thursday, saying that nuclear crops have been state-owned and couldn’t be privatized, though he welcomed financial cooperation with the U.S. aspect. He added that the difficulty of U.S. possession of the crops had not been straight addressed through the name.
Solely one in every of Ukraine’s 4 nuclear crops — the Zaporizhzhia plant, now beneath Russian management — had been mentioned within the dialog, Mr. Zelensky mentioned.
“If the Individuals are fascinated about discover a means out of this case, in the event that they wish to take it away from the Russians, put money into its restoration, that is an open query,” he told a news conference throughout a go to to Norway.
Past the confusion over what had been mentioned, one factor was clear: Mr. Trump desires a giant financial stake in Ukraine.