President Trump has continued his recent criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite his Ukraine envoy referring to him as a “courageous leader of a nation at war”.
Saturday 22 February 2025 10:56, UK
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not ready to accept a minerals deal with the US as Ukraine sees a “number of problematic issues” with the draft agreement, according to a Ukrainian source. Ukraine was also excluded from talks between the top US and Russian diplomats<\/a><\/strong> in Riyadh earlier this week.
Donald Trump had said a deal was close, but a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Sky News the Ukrainian president is not ready to sign.
The US leader has sought an agreement from Ukraine for access to the country’s natural resources in exchange for weapons.
The Ukrainian source said: “The agreement is not yet ready to be signed, there are a number of problematic issues, and in the current form of the draft, the president is not ready to accept it.
“Today, the drafts do not reflect a partnership in the agreement and contain only unilateral commitments by Ukraine.”
On the US side, US national security adviser Mike Waltz said this week that a deal was going to be done.
“Here’s the bottom line, President Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term,” Mr Waltz told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Friday.
It is also believed that US negotiators raised the possibility of cutting Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s vital Starlink satellite internet system if it did not agree to a deal.
Earlier, Mr Trump called French President<\/a><\/strong> Emmanuel Macron a “friend of mine” and UK leader<\/a><\/strong> Sir Keir Starmer a “nice guy” but said Russia had only agreed to negotiate “because of me”.
Mr Trump<\/a><\/strong> made the comments days before both leaders visit the White House for a meeting in which they must try to press Ukraine<\/a><\/strong>‘s case while keeping the US leader onside.
Read more:
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The president also continued his criticism of Mr Zelenskyy, saying he had “no cards” to play.
“I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” he told a Fox radio show<\/a>.<\/strong>
The comments come after he recently called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator without elections”<\/a><\/strong> – apparently in response to Mr Zelenskyy saying his US counterpart was living in a “disinformation space” after Mr Trump claimed Ukraine had started the war.
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They were intended to set the stage for future negotiations on ending the war, which started when Russia launched a full-scale invasion three years ago.
Speaking on Friday evening, Mr Trump denied speculation he could visit Moscow for talks on 9 May – the day Russia<\/a><\/strong> celebrates its victory over the Nazis.
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Mr Trump also told reporters the Russian and Ukrainian leaders needed to “work together” to end the war.
However, the US has already dealt a huge blow to Kyiv’s position in any future talks.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that a return to pre-war borders was “unrealistic”<\/a><\/strong> and ruled out NATO membership as a way to guarantee Kyiv’s security.
President Zelenskyy has insisted he will not accept any deal that his country is not involved in.
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Ukraine’s leader held talks with US envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday, describing it later as a “good discussion”.
Mr Kellogg struck a markedly different tone to President Trump when he called Mr Zelenskyy the “courageous leader of a nation at war”.
However, there are concerns over how much influence Mr Kellogg has, with a Ukrainian source saying there was a sense he had been sidelined.<\/p>\n