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Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived for a critical meeting today in Washington DC after Trump suggests he trusts Putin not to invade Ukraine again
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Donald Trump has praised the “brave” Ukrainian soldiers as he meets president Volodymyr Zelensky for a crunch meeting in the White House.
“Your soldiers have been unbelievably brave. We give them great equipment, but they somebody has to use the equipment,” Mr Trump said, adding that he feels “tremendous gratitude” towards Mr Zelensky and his generals.
The pair are due to sign a critical minerals deal this afternoon, as Kyiv works to regain US backing against Russia’s invasion.
Mr Zelensky arrived at the White House after 4pm for talks with the US president aimed at securing a vital US financial interest in Ukraine, which Mr Trump has suggested could in itself deter future Russian aggression.
Having remained non-committal on providing a US peacekeeping force, and repeatedly insisting such a responsibility would fall to Europe alone, Mr Trump said of the minerals deal on Thursday: “I don’t think anybody is going to play around if we’re there [in Ukraine] with a lot of workers.”
Mr Trump has launched a series of extraordinary attacks on Mr Zelensky in recent weeks, even branding him a “dictator” amid tension over bilateral US-Russian talks aimed at ending Moscow’s war.
Asked about his “dictator” jibe, Mr Trump told reporters: “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that”, adding: “We have a lot of respect, I have a lot of respect for him.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has shown Donald Trump a folder of pictures, which he says shows “ladies and men” from Ukraine.
It is unclear exactly what the pictures show, but Mr Zelensky said he did not want to show pictures of children.
Mr Zelensky told the US president: ”Even in the war there are rules. … These guys, they don’t have rules.”
Mr Trump, lamented the deaths of “1000s of soldiers”. He said: “We want to see it stop, and we want to see the money get put to different kinds of use, like rebuilding.
Speaking in the Oval Office meeting, Donald Trump has said its an “honour” to host Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We’ve been working very hard, very well,” Mr Trump said. “So we’ve actually known each other for a long time. We’ve been dealing with each other for a long time very well.”
“We have something that is a very fair deal, and we look forward to getting in, getting some of the rare earth, but it needs to look at the inside, and it’s a big commitment for the United States, and we appreciate working with you very much, and we will continue to do that.” he added.
US president Donald Trump has told his Ukrainian counterpart that there will be no return to fighting after a peace deal is secured.
It comes after he said yesterday that he trusts Russian president Vladimir Putin to abide by the terms of a ceasefire, during a meeting with British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Mr Trump added that the US has held very good discussions with Russia, and told Mr Zelensky that they are fairly close to a ceasefire deal.
Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump are currently speaking in the Oval Office, and some lines are starting to come through.
Mr Zelensky said he will ask Donald Trump what the US is prepared to do for peace, and adds he is hopeful for what the minerals deal may include.
Mr Trump said the deal will be signed today, describing it as very fair.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has just been greeted on the White House doorstep by US president Donald Trump.
It is unclear how well Mr Zelensky will be received, with the US president having described him as a “dictator” in a Truth Social rant just last week.
But Mr Trump, who rolled back on those comments during his meeting with British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer yesterday, is typically jovial and positive with other world leaders when he is with them in person – and leaves the heavy criticism to social media.
The two presidents greeted each other with a handshake, a smile and some brief words, before heading inside after a fist pump from Mr Trump.
The central topic of talks will be the crucial minerals deal between Ukraine and the US, which is expected to be signed today and will establish the joint development of Ukraine’s mineral resources by Kyiv and Washington.
But the deal does not contain the critical security guarantees sought after by Mr Zelensky and Ukraine’s European allies, as efforts towards a peace settlement with Russia push forward.
Yesterday, Mr Trump said the minerals deal could act as a US “backstop” to guarantee Ukraine’s security, words later echoed by Sir Keir Starmer.
But both Sir Keir and French president Emmanuel Macron failed to push Mr Trump into committing to military security guarantees for Kyiv. The US president repeatedly said he wants first to focus on securing a peace deal, while members of his administration have said no US troops will be stationed in Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky will be looking for more than a minerals deal from the US president today, and the stage is set for one of the most consequential days of his leadership.
My colleague Tom Watling reports:
Ukraine is sitting on one of Europe’s largest deposits of critical minerals, including lithium and titanium, much of which is untapped.
According to the Institute of Geology, Ukraine possesses rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium, used in TVs and lighting; neodymium, used in wind turbines and EV batteries; and erbium and yttrium, whose applications range from nuclear power to lasers. The EU-funded research also indicates that Ukraine has scandium reserves but detailed data is classified.
Mr Zelensky has been trying to develop these resources, estimated to be worth more than £12 trillion, based on figures provided by Forbes Ukraine, for years. In 2021, he offered outside investors tax breaks and investment rights to help mine these minerals. These efforts were suspended when the full-scale invasion started a year later.
Anticipating the notoriously transactional Mr Trump might take an interest in this, Mr Zelensky then placed the mining of these minerals into his victory plan, which was drawn up last year.
The minerals are vital for electric vehicles and other clean energy efforts, as well as defence production.
Estimates based on government documents suggest that Ukraine’s resources are also highly varied. Foreign Policy found that Ukraine held “commercially relevant deposits of 117 of the 120 most-used industrial minerals across more than 8,700 surveyed deposits”.
Included in that is half a million tonnes of lithium, none of which has been tapped. This makes Ukraine the largest lithium resource in Europe. Ukraine’s reserves of graphite, a key component in electric vehicle batteries and nuclear reactors, represent 20 per cent of global resources.
Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to arrive at the White House at 4pm GMT, after which the pair will make brief statements to the media and hold a meeting in the Oval Office.
The two leaders will then have a working lunch in the White House Cabinet Room and are due to sign the minerals deal ahead of a joint press conference scheduled for 6pm GMT.
Just hours before Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Donald Trump at the White House, Russia’s foreign ministry has announced that the United States has given Moscow its official blessing to appoint Alexander Darchiyev as its new ambassador to Washington.
The American side had handed over an official note green-lighting Mr Darchiyev’s appointment during talks with Russia in Istanbul on Thursday, the ministry said.
Mr Darchiyev, who is currently head of the foreign ministry’s North America department, will leave for Washington soon. Moscow has not had an envoy in the US since the last ambassador left his post in October.
The meeting in Istanbul on Thursday came days after US and Russian officials convened in Saudi Arabia for their first significant face-to-face meeting since prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That meeting followed a phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin – a move which shocked Washington’s allies and broke with Western efforts to isolate Moscow in response to the war in Ukraine.
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