To think Britain should have nothing to do with this war

@Ilovelifeverymuch
No. Trump only cares about Trump. He doesn’t care about Ukrainians dying.
Ukraine already signed a treaty in 1994 when they agreed to give up their nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees. This was violated when Putin invaded Crimea in 2014.
If nobody stopped Putin then, who is going to stop him violating a new treaty?
Your mate Trump? Don’t think so.
Trump thinks he can carve a bit of Ukraine for himself (the minerals) and it is his only motivation. And in case you get confused again. By himself I mean him, his corrupt billionaire mates, MAGA hotshots, etc.

Those funds are linked to frozen Russian assets, as part what are called Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans.

The loan will be repaid using the extraordinary profits on those Russian assets, £236bn of which are in Europe alone.

The G7 - a group of seven wealthy democracies including the UK and US - announced $50bn for Ukraine using this type of loan last year, to be paid over time until the end of 2027.

Paid for by frozen Russian assets

NATO means as much as the Budapest memorandum now, so nothing.

Nope. We’re members of NATO it won’t happen.

And what happens when that loan is used up? It’s not going to last long. Another loan which, let’s be honest, is never going to be repaid. Because even if Ukraine by some miracle win this war, they are going to be left with a pile of rubble, and billions of pounds needed to rebuild the country. Neither side is going to give in. So we’re in for a long, long war. For every pound given to the Ukrainians by the West, there’ll be equal amounts of money, and more, going to Russia from China and the Middle East. And so on and on it goes.

Well, yes but I couldn't think of a tidier way of saying it. But yes, early 20th century and then moving on......

It's actually quite depressing when you think of the entire 20th century really.

as @HelplessSoul says

Ukraine is not in the EU.
Ukraine would never do for UK citizens, what the UK has done for theirs.

I would add

Ukraine is not in NATO

We have done what we can, and more than most. We need to stop wasting our munitions.

The US is not going to fight on two continents any more. It is the last nation that can do so, since WW2. That is a withdrawal of an existing well proved ability. Combine that with what is an emerging US policy of America First, then a probable scenario is the US will not intervene with any Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Why should it, taking into account the rise in chip production now elsewhere. Likewise, under a Trump administration (or his like successors) we could see the US withdraw from NATO - and this could happen tomorrow. Trump could see the world as polarised into the Americas (north and south), Russia/ Europe and Asia. Africa will be played out, but Europe will not play any part in that continent.

With the Chinese belt and rail programme in place, with Russia and Iranian support, there is no 'beautiful ocean' between what might be the last bastion of democracy we shall know. It is legitimate to play out a scenario where a withdrawn US will weaken Europe allowing Chinese imperialism to extend into the West via land and air, leveraging on Russia and Iran.

Mid century? Surely earlier than that…

I never said he was vocal about not supporting Ukraine , you're picking and choosing to fit your narrative.

He has been very clear that he wants the war to end for two reasons, to stop the killing and stop the spending of billions of dollars. He has been clear that it's a stalemate and Ukraine cannot win without NATO boots on the ground and that will be WWIII which I'm sure none of us want so the options are continue fighting and spending billions in the hope Russia runs out of money and men or Putin dies, or negotiate a peace agreement with EU and US backing.

In this agreement no one will get everything they want, Ukraine will not join NATO because that's a no no for Putin but they will have US and EU backing, and don't forget that Putin is also more surrounded by NATO after Sweden and Finland joined.

Also don't forget that after all the billions spent fighting Ukraine will need billions more to rebuild. Makes no sense to keep fighting a proxy war when there no clear path to victory.

Does he have an ego, hell yeah but he has also been very clear the US is his priority, is it selfish, yeah sure but he has been consistent.

If you look at history then US has always gone through periods of isolationist policies then open up then go isolationist again. They were reluctant to enter the last world war until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. There are stories of Churchill being very frustrated and trying different schemes to try to get the US to get involved and help

From the BBC

UK to loan Ukraine £2.26bn to bolster defence

The UK and Ukraine have agreed a £2.26bn loan to support Ukraine's defence capabilities, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko says.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Sir Keir Starmer, together with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, held a video call with Marchenko this evening.

Marchenko wrote on social media that the funds are "ensured by frozen Russian assets".

He added that he was "grateful" to the UK for "holding the aggressor accountable for the war".

@Ilovelifeverymuch
That too. But to pump up his ego, to line up the pockets of his cronies, strengthen his position as GOP leader. You said it yourself, he has been vocal about not wanting to support Ukraine anymore. Trump is a selfish narcissist, everything he does is for his own good only.
Wouldn’t put it past him wanting Greenland for himself. I mean after building the Gaza Riviera, he will want to expand his enterprise elsewhere, won’t he?

If only it were that simple ......

Ukraine is not in the EU.

Ukraine would never do for UK citizens, what the UK has done for theirs.

The USA is right to want stop its taxypayer money on this war and likewise, we should stay out of it and not get involved.

We should stop supplying money, support and weapons - thats stuff the UK can use for ourselves.

Those minerals are essential for many industries eg EV batteries, mobile phones etc. this article provided more details: <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20le8jn282o" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20le8jn282o.amp

And yes it is to give the US an advantage to complete which China. China currently has more access to those essential minerals locally in China and through loan deals in Africa etc increasing dependency on China.

Apple just announced plans to bring back some of it's manufacturing back to the US and Trump has been putting pressure on other American companies to do the same so this is part of that larger picture. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/02/apple-will-spend-more-than-500-billion-usd-in-the-us-over-the-next-four-years/

It is also has two goals, gives the US access to these essential minerals and also helps fund Ukraine's development and rebuilding. They will also benefit because it's a 50:50 share of revenue with the US providing the investment required for the infrastructure. Ukraine cannot afford to rebuild its infrastructure without support.

As for Europe, I saw something about the EU also trying to get an agreement but remains to be seen how that plays out.

why does Trump want Ukraine’s minerals? At a guess with those minerals in American hands, China’s economic chokehold weakens, Europe comes crawling for a piece of the pie, and the U.S. gets to dictate the business terms to other companies or counties with the rare earth minerals.

I have no idea what he is pushing the mineral deal for himself means? You mean he plans to steal the proceeds for his personal gain? Makes no sense. Whilst I don't agree with his approach, he has been consistent about the US not continuing to pay for other countries so I don't get how he is supposed to steal $500bn worth of minerals for himself. The minerals are critical for the US to compete with China and he has been very vocal about bringing back US manufacturing capability so again whilst I don't agree with his approach saying he wants the minerals for himself makes no sense.

Greenland, this has actually been a long running policy option for the US, he has only been more vocal about it. Again what do you mean he wants it for himself? As his personal land?

"Internal discussions within the United States government about acquiring Greenland notably occurred in 1867, 1910, 1946, 1955, 2019 and 2025 and acquisition has been advocated by American secretaries of state William H. Seward and James F. Byrnes, privately by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and publicly by ..."

The same way many people only hear about his issue with NATO funding because he has been more vocal but Obama Biden etc all had the same concerns which they raised multiple times but they were just more diplomatic about it.

Trump and Putin will get those resources either by force or by getting a deal with Zelenskyy. Sadly, I think he needs to take the deal now. It will save many people's lives. But I don't like the way Trump gaslit him into feeling guilty for not doing it. It is giving in to a dictator. The way Trump glossed over the fact that Putin started the war and has been continually attacking Ikraine since 2014 and breaking agreements was despicable. On watching the interview again, I've concluded he actually didn't understand what Zelenskyy was saying because he isn't very bright

@Ilovelifeverymuch
No, Trump has pushed for the mineral deal to help himself. The same reason why he is banging on about Greenland. He figured Ukraine will be an easier target as it is already under attack. If he wanted to help, he would have offered Ukraine security in exchange for the minerals.

The US is not out, whilst there is a rift it will be sorted out especially with pressure form NATO and EU leaders on Zelensky to get Trump back on, and the likes of Macron and Starmer have a role to play in bringing them back together. There is a lot of back channel conversations going on right now and I'm hopeful they can meet again soon and sort it out. Politics especially geopolitics can be brutal and messy, the only difference is we got to see it live instead of behind closes doors.

Unfortunately Zelensky and Ukraine need the US so he will have to bury his pride and work things out to end the war.

Having said that the likes of Britain will still be involved to help maintain the peace with US backing. And don't forget Ukraine still needs billions more to rebuild, so expect more funding from the UK, EU and US to help them rebuild. Trump has pushed for the mineral deal to help fund the spending and cover the US, I don't know what the UK will do, maybe loan the money to Ukraine or gift or a combination of both.

You're being rude. The poster I was replying to wasn't complaining about member states not paying their dues. They were very specifically criticising the EU for not pay its dues. The EU doesn't have any dues as it is not a member of NATO. Having the word 'union' in its name doesn't change that or make it a member of NATO. It's very strange that you think it does.