(28 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 28 February 2025
1. Various of Veselka Ukrainian restaurant in the East Village
2. Jason Birchard, Ukrainian American Owner of Veselka Restaurant, walking through his restaurant
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jason Birchard, Ukrainian American Owner of Veselka Restaurant:
“I have a lot of reservations. I think that Ukraine making this transactional deal with the Trump administration is not what I think Ukraine should be doing. I think we all agreed that the war should come to an end, but we should look at our facts and our history. The US, based in 1991 on the Budapest Memorandum, should be supporting Ukraine unequivocally, regardless of any mineral rights deal. I think this is seen as a money grab. You know, but at the same point, Ukrainians need the U.S. support. And we all I think Ukrainians and Ukrainian Americans want to see an end to this war and whatever deal it needs to make it come to fruition, we’ll do it.”
4. Various of restaurant
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jason Birchard, Ukrainian American Owner of Veselka Restaurant:
“I think we should all understand and read the facts and not listen to rhetoric or propaganda. I mean, this this war or this conflict was a Russian invasion into Ukraine, not a Ukrainian invasion into into Russia. I know there’s some talk about whether Ukraine instigated this by wanting to join NATO, but I think we all should understand that there’s a lot there’s been a lot of loss of blood and lives and that we should think about at what cost has that all been for? And that we should not think of this is a just a Ukrainian, a Russian and Ukrainian conflict that we should think about this as a conflict against democracy. And we have to draw the line in Ukraine.”
6. Various of Ukraine flags on apartment buildings
7. SOUNDBITE (English) William Zwaryczuk, Ukrainian American:
“I got to know more about the mineral deal, he left a lot out. I know the U.S. is going to profit from it. But are the Ukrainian people that are profit from it? That’s supposed to be for rebuilding the country. If the Ukrainian people profit from it also it’s a good deal. But let’s go back to the war. It’s got to end the war. That’s the bottom line. We’ll see how this evolves behind closed doors. Because we’re still right in the middle of talking right now."
8. Signs on front window of Veselka restaurant
STORYLINE:
Ukrainian Americans expressed mixed reactions Friday to the faltering mineral rights deal between Ukraine and the Trump administration, with some questioning the agreement’s benefits for the Ukrainian people and others focusing on the urgent need to end the war with Russia.
Jason Birchard, owner of Veselka, a Ukrainian restaurant in the East Village, criticized the deal as a "money grab," arguing the U.S. should support Ukraine unconditionally based on the 1991 Budapest Memorandum. He also stressed the importance of recognizing the conflict as one of defending democracy.
William Zwaryczuk, another Ukrainian American, said he needed more information about the mineral deal, specifically whether it would benefit ordinary Ukrainians in rebuilding their country, but echoed the sentiment that ending the war was the priority.
On Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump cut short talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after he and and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukraine’s leader in the Oval Office.
Zelenskyy left the White House without signing the critical minerals deal Trump had demanded.
AP video by Ted Shaffrey
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