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Trump says Kyiv has ‘essentially agreed’ to $500bn deal for rare earth minerals
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Donald Trump said Ukraine may or may not lose its sovereignty to Russia while claiming that the war-hit nation had “essentially agreed” to a rare earth minerals deal with the US.
“They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But we’re going to have all this money in (Ukraine) and I say, I want it back,” the president said in an interview with Fox News.
“I told them that I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earths, and they’ve essentially agreed to do that.”
His remarks came as a Russian official said all of president Vladimir Putin‘s conditions must be met before the war in Ukraine could end.
Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said it would not be possible to reach a peace deal if Mr Trump undermined Mr Putin’s fundamental aims.
“Without solving the problems which were the root causes of what is happening, it will not be possible to reach an agreement,” he said. “So variations and half-measures are not the path we are prepared to go along.”
Donald Trump has said Ukraine may or may not lose its sovereignty to Russia.
The US president has also repeated his pitch for compensation from the war-hit country in return for the aid provided by the US, irrespective of how the war ends.
“They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But we’re going to have all this money in (Ukraine) and I say, I want it back,” Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier.
Donald Trump has claimed that Ukraine has “essentially agreed” to a $500b resource deal.
“I told them that I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth (minerals), and they’ve essentially agreed to do that,” the US president said.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that “serious” members of US president Donald Trump’s team would travel to Ukraine this week for the first time, as diplomatic efforts to end the war with Russia intensify.
“This week, some people from the Trump team, serious ones, will be in Ukraine – even before the Munich conference,” he said in a video released by the UNIAN news agency.
Mr Zelensky also confirmed that he planned to meet US vice president JD Vance at the Munich conference and that his team was trying to set up a meeting with Mr Trump.
“Our teams are also working on dialogue and a meeting with president Trump,” he said, days after the US president said he would “probably” meet with Mr Zelensky this week.
Polish and allied aircraft were activated early today to ensure safety in areas bordering the threatened zones after Russia launched air strikes on Ukraine, the Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said.
“The Operational Command of the Armed Forces is monitoring the current situation, and its forces and resources remain in full readiness for immediate response,” the Command said on X.
Donald Trump claimed during campaign that he would be able to end war in 24 hours but has yet to reveal detailed peace plan
President Donald Trump’s senior advisers are expected to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky this week on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss the path toward ending Russia’s nearly three-year war in Ukraine.
Retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said that the White House is ironing out details of the highly anticipated talks during the annual summit for international security discussions.
US vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and Mr Kellogg are among the Trump administration officials traveling to Germany for the summit, and all could be involved in the critical talks with Zelenskyy and his team on the sidelines of the event.
“Knowing how the process works, it would probably be better for Zelensky if we all met together and talked through it as a group,” Mr Kellogg said in an interview.
Mr Trump yesterday said he’d “probably” speak with the Ukrainian president this week.
Ukraine imposed emergency power restrictions after overnight and morning attacks by Russia on gas infrastructure, said Ukraine energy minister, German Galushchenko.
“The enemy launched an attack on gas infrastructure overnight,” Galushchenko said in a post on social media. “As of this morning, the energy sector continues to be under attack.”
To minimize possible consequences for the energy system, emergency power restrictions were being imposed, he said.
Ukraine’s attack into Kursk has left Vladimir Putin’s forces scrambling
A Russian official has claimed that Russia is sending hundreds of experienced Russian military personnel to North Korea for medical treatment.
The medical treatment, according to Russia’s ambassador to North Korea Aleksandr Matsegora is free, as North Korea has “refused Russia’s offer of financial compensation for the medical care, food, and other expenses related to the Russians’ stay in North Korea”.
The Institute for the Study of War said that the Russian military command has reportedly been “sending wounded personnel back into assault groups without treatment, demonstrating a general disregard for soldiers’ health in the Russian military and calling into question official Russian claims to be sending Russian soldiers abroad for treatment, particularly to North Korea”.
Russia’s air defence units intercepted and destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said today.
Of these, 18 of the drones were destroyed over the Saratov region, the ministry said on its Telegram channel. The rest were downed over four other regions in Russia’s south and west, it said.
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