Ukraine hosted European leaders on Monday to mark three years of all-out war with Russia, while top U.S. officials stayed away in a clear illustration of President Donald Trump’s lurch towards Moscow since returning to power.
Still reeling from Trump falsely calling President Zelenskyy a “dictator”, Kyiv said it was in the final stages of reaching a deal with Washington to provide U.S. access to its mineral wealth.
After meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said Zelenskyy could travel to Washington this week or next to seal the minerals agreement, which he called “very close,” and suggested that the war in Ukraine could end within weeks.
But he did not elaborate.
“Our focus is on achieving a ceasefire as soon as possible, and ultimately a permanent peace,” Trump said during a joint Press conference with Macron.
The minerals deal is at the heart of Kyiv’s bid to win U.S. support, but officials have wrangled over its wording in the shadow of an extraordinary war of words between Trump and Zelenskyy, who said the U.S. leader was living in a “disinformation bubble”.
Trump’s rush to impose an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine – and his seeming embrace of part of the Kremlin narrative – has stoked fears of far-reaching U.S. concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin that could undermine Kyiv and Europe’s security and alter the geopolitical landscape.
Zelenskyy refused to sign an earlier draft on his country’s mineral deposits as Washington sought $500 billion in natural wealth, protesting that Kyiv had received nowhere near that much U.S. aid and the draft lacked the security guarantees Ukraine needs.
A Ukrainian government source told Reuters that Kyiv awaited U.S. feedback on the “final changes” it had sent.
The source said that the U.S. did not like the idea of including wording about providing security guarantees in the text.
(With inputs from Reuters)
