Zelensky says he and Trump discussed Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, but not U.S. ownership
President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing back against White House claims that President Donald Trump proposed bringing Ukrainian nuclear power plants under U.S. ownership.
Following a phone call between the two leaders on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters that Trump had suggested to Zelensky that “American ownership” would be the “best protection” for Ukrainian power plants. This talking point also appeared in a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz.
According to the Ukrainian president, however, no such proposal was discussed on the call. At a press conference in Oslo on Thursday, Zelensky told reporters that he and Trump had only talked about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russian forces, and that the issue of ownership wasn’t raised.
[The Americans] want to take it back from the Russians, and they want to invest and to modernize [the facility]. This is a separate issue. This issue is open to discussion. We can talk about it. But we definitely didn’t discuss the question of ownership with President Trump.
Zelensky also said that he told Trump it would be illegal for the Zaporizhzhia plant to resume operating unless it was returned to Ukraine. “President Trump asked me: ‘What do you think about this plant?’ I told him that it won’t work for anyone unless it’s Ukrainian. It’s illegal,” he said.
