President Donald Trump offered assurances Thursday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will agree to a rare earth minerals deal ahead of the Ukrainian leader’s visit to the White House on Friday.
As part of negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine War, the Trump administration is angling for Zelenskyy to sign an agreement that would allow the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals in exchange for support the U.S. has provided the country after Russia’s invasion in 2022. Congress has appropriated $175 billion since 2022 for aid to Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Trump said Thursday the minerals agreement would benefit both the U.S. and Ukraine, and would allow the U.S. access to resources like oil and gas that “we need for our country.”
“We’re going to be signing really a very important agreement for both sides, because it’s really going to get us into that country,” Trump told reporters Thursday while meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “We’ll have a lot of people working there and so in that sense, it’s very good.”
Trump also told reporters that a peace negotiation is in the final stages, but no deal is currently secured and hesitated to discuss plans regarding a peacekeeping force in the region until one is signed.
“I think we’re very well advanced on a deal,” Trump said. “But we have not made a deal yet. So I don’t like to talk about peacekeeping until we have a deal. I like to get things done.”
Additionally, Trump said that he didn’t expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to breach any agreement to create peace with Ukraine.
“I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said. “I don’t think he’ll be back when we make a deal. I think the deal is going to hold now.”
Trump also didn’t double-down on previous comments calling Zelenskyy a “dictator,” ahead of the Ukrainian leader’s visit to the White House on Friday.
“Did I say that?” Trump asked. “I can’t believe I said that. Next question.”
The Trump administration has advanced negotiations for a peace deal to end the conflict in Ukraine, and U.S. officials met with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia Feb. 18. However, Ukraine’s absence from the talks prompted Zelenskyy to tell reporters that “nobody decides anything behind our back.”
TRUMP SAYS MINERALS DEAL HAS BEEN ‘PRETTY MUCH’ NEGOTIATED WITH ZELENSKYY, MEETING SLATED FOR FRIDAY
Trump and Zelenskyy proceeded to verbally dish out barbs at one another, with Zelenskyy accusing Trump of advancing Russian “disinformation” and Trump labeling Zelenskyy a “dictator” that has failed his country.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Feb. 19. “In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do.”
Russia has pushed for Ukraine to hold an election as part of a peace deal, nearly a year after Zelenskyy’s five-year term was slated to end.
Zelenskyy has remained in his position leading Kyiv because the Ukrainian constitution prohibits holding elections under martial law. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022.
TRUMP AND ZELENSKYY WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP EVEN AS US LOOKS TO WIND DOWN WAR IN UKRAINE
Starmer, who announced on Feb. 16 the UK is ready to send troops to Ukraine if necessary to ensure peace between Ukraine and Russia, told reporters Thursday that the UK wants to coordinate with the U.S. on a peace negotiation “to make sure that peace deal is enduring, that it lasts, that it’s a deal that goes down as a historic deal, that nobody breaches.”
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed similar sentiments regarding working with the U.S. to secure lasting peace when he visited the White House Monday. However, he also advised the U.S. to exercise caution when dealing with Russia.
“We want peace,” he said in an interview from the Blair House Monday on “Special Report.” “And I think the initiative of President Trump is a very positive one. But my message was to say be careful because we need something substantial for Ukraine.”
“I think the arrival of President Trump is a game-changer. And I think he has the deterrence capacity of the U.S. to reengage with Russia.”
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