President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to satisfy on the White Home Friday after a disagreement over peace negotiations and an abrupt reversal of American coverage towards Vladimir Putin and Russia.
Because the warfare approached its three-year mark, Trump had referred to as Zelenskyy a “dictator with out elections” and a “modestly profitable comic” whereas being deferential to Putin, saying that the U.S. would negotiate the phrases of a take care of Russia.
That got here after Zelenskyy mentioned Trump was dwelling in a “net of disinformation” after an preliminary spherical of talks Tuesday between prime U.S. and Kremlin officers in Saudi Arabia and Trump falsely suggesting that Ukraine had began the warfare — as an alternative of Russia invading.
The rapid enterprise at hand — which may assist decide the way forward for peace talks — is the signing of a deal that might give the U.S. entry to his Ukraine’s mineral resources — an settlement that Trump has forged a approach to make sure American taxpayers receives a commission again for supporting Ukraine in its warfare with Russia.
“We’ll be digging. We’ll be dig, dig, digging. Dig, we should,” Trump mentioned on Thursday, saying the U.S. could be “doing a considerable quantity of labor” in Ukraine “taking the uncommon earth, which we’d like in our nation very badly.”
“It’s going to be nice for Ukraine,” he continued. “It is like an enormous financial improvement mission. So, it’s going to be good for each international locations.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks throughout a press convention with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) on the White Home in Washington, D.C., Feb. 27, 2025.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Zelenskyy, in the meantime, has spoken concerning the deal in numerous phrases — describing it as a method to an finish: preserving U.S. backing.
Whereas the settlement wouldn’t present the full-fledged navy safety ensures Zelenskyy says are very important to a peace deal, Trump administration officers have mentioned a U.S. financial funding on the bottom in Ukraine may function a sort of barrier to an additional Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks throughout a press convention in Kyiv, Ukraine Feb. 26, 2025.
Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP through Getty Photographs
“I’ll meet with President Trump,” the Ukrainian leader said on Wednesday. “For me, and for all of us on the planet, it’s essential that America’s help isn’t stopped. Energy is crucial on the trail to peace.”
ABC Information spoke to officers and analysts to interrupt down what’s within the deal, and what the settlement may imply for Ukraine’s future and efforts to finish the warfare after three grueling years.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at Trump Tower in New York Metropolis, Sept. 27, 2024.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters, FILE
What’s — and is not — within the deal
Officers acquainted with the negotiations say that beneath the phrases of the deal, the U.S. and the Ukraine will work collectively to unearth deposits of useful minerals and different pure Ukrainian sources.
Not like the unique proposal, this framework doesn’t name for Kyiv to make use of the proceeds from the sale of these sources to pay the U.S. $500 billion — which the Trump administration beforehand characterised as “payback” for the roughly $183 billion spent in response to Russia’s invasion, in keeping with the U.S. particular inspector basic in command of overseeing Ukrainian assist.
As a substitute, the deal goals to create an funding fund for Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction that can be collectively owned by each international locations, they are saying, and that further negotiations on the management of that fund and its operation will happen will happen after the preliminary deal is cemented.
Different elements will rely on the free market.
“The profitability of the fund is fully depending on the success of recent investments in Ukraine’s sources,” mentioned Gracelin Baskaran, the director of the Vital Minerals Safety Program on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research and Meredith Schwartz, a analysis affiliate on the similar program.
“Subsequently, the response of personal trade is vital to the success of the fund and can decide how a lot worth the United States in the end derives,” they added.
However officers say the Ukrainians additionally made concessions. Officers say Kyiv initially wished the phrases of the deal to incorporate concrete safety ensures for Ukraine — one thing the present framework lacks.
“Nonetheless, the thought is that with joint U.S.-Ukraine funding within the nation’s sources, the US will proceed to have a stake in Ukraine’s safety, stability, and lasting peace and subsequently be incentivized to uphold and defend Ukrainian safety,” Baskaran and Schwartz mentioned.
If it proves profitable, Baskaran and Schwartz say the U.S. could enhance its mineral safety — however that the outcomes may take many years to come back to fruition.
“Mining is a long-term effort — so the US could not yield advantages for an additional 20 years,” they mentioned.
Trump himself has acknowledged the uncertainty.
“You understand, you dig and perhaps issues aren’t there such as you suppose they’re there,” he mentioned on Thursday.
President Donald Trump (R) holds a bilateral assembly with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 27, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Photographs
A distinct tune from Trump
After repeatedly bashing Zelenskyy in current days, Trump softened his tone on Thursday.
Requested if he nonetheless believed Zelenskyy was a dictator — an assertion he made simply over every week in the past — Trump answered, “Did I say that? I am unable to consider I mentioned that,” earlier than brusquely shifting on to the following questioner.
Later within the day, Trump additionally supplied reward for Zelenskyy and Ukrainian fighters’ valor on the battlefield.
“We have given him plenty of gear and some huge cash, however they’ve fought very bravely. Regardless of how you work it, they’ve actually fought,” he mentioned. “Someone has to make use of that gear. And so they have been very courageous in that sense.”
Ukrainian officers who’ve been urging Zelenskyy to simply accept the mineral pact are more likely to see this turnaround as proof optimistic for his or her foremost argument — that signing off on Trump’s deal will enhance ties between the Trump administration and Kyiv, whereas drawing out negotiations would additional bitter the president’s view of Zelenskyy.
However whether or not any bonhomie will final is unclear.
“Vital mineral useful resource entry is the newest enviornment for Trump to focus his transactional strategies of diplomacy,” Baskaran and Schwartz argue. “However the viability of the deal stays to be seen as tensions proceed to rise between the 2 world leaders.”
Trump isn’t identified for his persistence, and a few U.S. officers anticipate slow-moving outcomes from the settlement may go away Trump annoyed.
Or, if the 2 conflict throughout their high-stakes White Home assembly, the president may change into embittered towards Zelenskyy once more even sooner the place Trump is more likely to highlight potential advantages the mineral settlement holds for the U.S. and the Ukrainian chief is more likely to push for extra American safety ensures.
However the president shared solely optimistic predictions on the eve of the assembly.
“I feel we’ll have an excellent assembly,” he mentioned. “We’ll get alongside rather well. Okay. We’ve plenty of respect. I’ve plenty of respect for him.”
John E. Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Heart and a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, argues the actual fact that the assembly between Zelenskyy and Trump is happening is an effective signal for Ukraine.
“Zelenskyy’s go to highlights how far he has come from two weeks again, when Trump spoke of seeing Putin as many as 3 times within the close to future, and even final week, when senior Russian and US officers had been assembly in Riyadh,” he mentioned. “But now it’s Zelenskyy, not Putin, within the Oval Workplace.”
The opposite negotiations
Whereas a lot of the general public focus has shifted towards negotiations over the mineral deal in current weeks, talks in the end geared toward in the end ending the warfare in Ukraine have quietly continued on a separate observe.
On Thursday, American and Russian officers met in Istanbul for greater than six hours to debate growing employees at their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington — a transfer Secretary of State Marco Rubio beforehand mentioned was important for furthering potential areas cooperation between the international locations, together with resolving the warfare in Ukraine.
Officers from sides reported a good final result from the assembly, and predict that an bigger diplomatic footprint may create momentum for peace talks and a possible summit between Trump and Russian chief Vladimir Putin.
As a refrain of European leaders have tried to encourage Trump to incorporate American safety ensures for Ukraine to implement a truce with Russia, the president has continued to say he trusts Putin to carry up his finish of a deal.
“I’ve identified him for a very long time now,” Trump mentioned. “I do not consider he’ll violate his phrase. I do not suppose he’ll be again. Once we make a deal, I feel the deal goes to carry.
However forward of his assembly with the U.Okay. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he added a doubtlessly necessary caveat.
“You understand, look, it is, belief and confirm, let’s name it that,” he mentioned.
Clifford D. Might, founder and president of the Basis for Protection of Democracies, argues it is crucial that the president is clear-eyed in his dealings with Putin.
“As President Trump makes an attempt to barter a halt to Russia’s warfare in opposition to Ukraine, it is not unreasonable for him to point out respect for Mr. Putin (as he has been) if he believes that may make Mr. Putin extra more likely to conform to concessions,” he mentioned.
“However it’s crucial that President Trump harbor no illusions about Mr. Putin – about his character, ambitions, ideology, and his abiding hatred for American greatness,” Might added.
