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UK prime minister has arrived in the White House to meet Donald Trump for crunch talks on US support for Ukraine
Donald Trump has vowed to begin “dig, dig, digging” for minerals in Ukraine after a “historic” minerals deal is signed between Washington and Kyiv.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will meet Mr Trump in the White House tomorrow to discuss the deal and a potential settlement in the war with Russia.
“I think it’s going to be great for Ukraine. We’re going to be at the site, and we’ll be digging. We’ll be dig, dig, digging,” Mr Trump said of the minerals deal, which will see the US and Ukraine jointly develop mineral resources in the country.
“The American taxpayers will now effectively be reimbursed for the money and hundreds of billions of dollars poured into helping Ukraine defend itself,” he added.
Speaking during a press conference with British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, the president also heaped praise on Mr Zelensky – despite branding him a “dictator” during an unhinged Truth Social rant just last week.
“We’re going to get along really well,” Mr Trump said on Thursday. “We have a lot of respect, I have a lot of respect for him.
“We’ve given them a lot of equipment and a lot of money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you figure, they have really fought,” he added.
Donald Trump appeared to make a U-turn after previously describing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator”.
The US President was quizzed about his relations with Zelensky and Vladimir Putin during an Oval Office meeting with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.
He was also asked about his comments calling the Ukrainian president a “dictator” earlier this month.
“Do you still think President Zelensky is a dictator?”, a reporter asked Trump.
The president replied: “Did I say that?
“I can’t believe I said that. Next question please.”
Watch the exchange here
The idea that Russia is ready or able to sweep through western Europe any time in the foreseeable future is not a serious proposition, writes Diane Abbott MP.
Yet Europe is now in a frenzy of warmongering and agitation for higher military spending – and we’re falling for it.
Read the longstanding Labour MP’s comment piece for The Independent here.
Sir Keir Starmer has said he can see the “value” of US president Donald Trump’s pursuit of a deal for Ukrainian minerals.
Speaking to NBC, he said: “I can see the value in the approach in relation to minerals.
“That’s a matter between President Trump and President [Volodymyr] Zelensky. But I can see very clearly the argument that President Trump makes in relation to minerals, and I can also see the validity of his points when he says that if there is a deal on minerals then the U.S. has economic interests in Ukraine, which, if you like, form at least one element of any security guarantee.”
In two broadcast interviews after his meeting with Mr Trump, Sir Keir has repeated the US president’s claim that the minerals deal will form an element of a security guarantee for post-war Ukraine.
Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “concerned” that Russian president Vladimir Putin will breach a future peace agreement in Ukraine.
“I’m concerned about [Putin breaching the agreement] because historically that’s been the case,” Sir Keir told Fox News.
“The deal has been created by the president now, [it] has created that opportunity, we all need to to now come together to defend the deal, if there is a deal – [Trump is] right to say, there’s nothing yet on the table.”
Sir Keir has repeated Donald Trump’s earlier claim that the minerals deal struck between Ukraine and the US can serve as a security guarantee, at least in part.
“We need to defend [the deal]. We need to defend the line, to protect the deal,” he said.
Speaking about Volodymyr Zelensky’s upcoming visit to the White House, he said: “I think the discussion tomorrow about minerals, but as the President has said on a number of occasions, including today, that in itself, is an element of a security guarantee.
“If there is an agreement on minerals, that means there will be US economic interests at stake in Ukraine.”
Sir Keir Starmer is currently speaking in an interview with Fox News.
Asked what a US backstop would look like, the prime minister repeated Donald Trump’s emphasis that “we’ve got to get a deal first”.
He adds: “What I’ve indicated is that, and he agrees with this, the deal must be a lasting deal.
“It’s got to be something that endures. And for that to happen, there needs to be a real sense from Putin that he can’t breach that deal.”
An economic framework agreement between the US and Ukraine is complete, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said.
The framework covers critical minerals, oil and gas and infrastructure assets, he said.
Ukrainian and US presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump will sign the agreement during their meeting in the White House on Friday. No more negotiations will be had on the issue, Mr Bessent added.
„It is a deal on strategic minerals, oil and gas and infrastructure assets. And it’s really a win-win,“ he said. „It shows the American people that there is upside here for them. That we have not squandered the money.“
A Ukrainian restaurateur who employs refugees in her west London bistro who escaped the war torn eastern European country invaded by Russia has banned Donald Trump from entering her establishment.
Olga Tsybytovska found herself stranded in London while on holiday from her native Ukraine as Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded the country in February 2022.
She poured her energies into fundraisers and humanitarian efforts to help Ukrainians before opening Mriya Neo Bistro, nestled in well-heeled South Kensington, with her partner Yurii Kovryzhenko.
As well as the pressures of opening an eatery in one of the gastronomic capitals of the world, Ms Tsybytovska has the daily worry for her family who are in Dnipro.
“It has been three years of crippling anxiety”, Ms Tsybytovska told The Independent as Ukraine’s fourth largest city has been the subject of an intense bombing campaign by Putin’s army.
Barney Davis reports:
Vladimir Putin wants sovereignty not territory, a former leader of the Conservative Party has warned – as he argued that Donald Trump is making a “completely wrong judgement” if he believes otherwise.
Addressing the House of Commons in a debate on Ukraine, Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “The idea that just meeting Putin’s demand for territory – that he may have got or not – at the moment somehow will appease him and will satisfy his requirements is, I think, a completely wrong judgement.
“I noticed in a telephone call between President Trump and Putin this is what President Trump said was important. The truth is Putin is an ex-KGB man. Once KGB, always KGB. He’s not interested in territory, he’s interested in sovereignty.”
He added: “What we have to get lined up in here is the real nature of what Putin wants, and it’s not territory, it’s sovereignty.
“He wants to recreate and has always wanted to recreate the full borders of the old Soviet Union in a greater Russia, we know that. And Ukraine isn’t about 20 per cent of their territory, for him it’s all of Ukraine.
“So you have a peace deal which isn’t stable, he will be back. He’ll build up his armed forces, which he can do quite quickly now with the support of people like North Korea, and he will be back in double quick time.”
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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump vows to get ‘digging’ for minerals in Ukraine – The Independent
