The Kremlin has an interest in preventing the United States and Ukraine from signing a minerals deal, as the deal would commit the United States to long-term investments in Ukraine and Ukraine's sovereignty.
This is stated in its analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Recent official statements by Russia in response to the proposed US-Ukrainian mineral agreement show that the Kremlin is trying to sabotage the agreement through suggestions aimed at Ukrainian and American audiences.
The Kremlin claims that this minerals deal is not beneficial to Ukraine, while at the same time stating that Russia can make a better offer to the United States, indicating that Moscow views the deal as harmful to its goals.
Putin is likely trying to undermine the US-Ukrainian minerals deal to prevent deepening US-Ukrainian ties in the hope that Russia will be able to destroy or wring significant territorial concessions from Ukraine during future negotiations.
This must be done before Russia's military, economic, and force generation problems begin to significantly hamper its ability to advance on the battlefield in 2025. and beyond.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is trying to use discussions between the United States and the European Union about the possible deployment of a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine as part of a future peace agreement to bolster the Kremlin's demands for regime change in Ukraine.
Lavrov also reiterated that NATO has not kept its promises not to expand eastward into the former Soviet Union.
European leaders demonstrated their commitment to Ukraine at a defense summit in London on March 2.
Ahead of and during the summit, European countries announced additional military aid packages for Ukraine. On March 1, the United Kingdom announced a loan worth 2.6 billion. pounds (approximately $3.2 billion) to help Ukraine's defense, backed by profits from frozen Russian assets.
The United Kingdom said the first tranche of the loan would arrive later next week. Zelensky said the UK loan would fund Ukrainian arms production.
On March 2, Starmer announced an additional deal worth £1.6 billion (approximately $2 billion) that would allow Ukraine to purchase 5,000 light multipurpose missiles from the United Kingdom.
On March 1, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced that it would allocate 20 million euros (approximately $20.7 million) to purchase Ukrainian-made weapons for Ukraine and to develop a joint weapons manufacturing plant in Lithuania.
Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, and Russian forces recently advanced near Velika Novosilka.