Volodymyr Zelenskyy set to meet Trump Friday with Ukraine minerals on table

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday to finalise a deal giving the US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, hoping to win guarantees of future American support.

Holding his first Cabinet meeting this week, Trump said Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington was “now confirmed”, after days of tension between the two leaders over the minerals deal.

Zelenskyy, who has come under mounting pressure from US officials to sign the accord, told a press conference he would immediately follow his trip to Washington with talks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders in Britain at the weekend.

His comments came just after Russian artillery killed at least five people in Ukraine’s war-battered east and a drone barrage claimed two more lives near Kyiv, including a Ukrainian journalist.

Discussions were fraught on the minerals deal, which would grant the US preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources in exchange for US security support.

Officials said this week they had come to an agreement following protracted negotiations, but Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv that more difficult work lay ahead.

“This is a start, this is a framework agreement,” he told journalists.

Further discussions between US and Ukrainian officials would determine the nature of security guarantees for Ukraine and the exact sums of money at stake in the accords.

“Guarantees of peace and security are the key to preventing Russia from destroying the lives of other nations,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video address.

However, Trump earlier brushed aside Ukraine’s aspirations of joining the Atlantic defence alliance, saying: “Nato, you can forget about.”

“I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started,” he added, referring to the war.

Could be great

Zelenskyy had warned the deal ”could be a great success or simply disappear. Whether it is a big success, I think, depends on our conversation with President Trump. We’ll draw conclusions after”.

Zelenskyy’s refusal to sign a first draft of the accord delivered to him in Kyiv by the US Treasury Secretary was met with anger by Trump, who called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator” afterward.

The Kremlin has also sought to woo Trump by lavishing praise on the US leader and by encouraging American investments in natural resources in Ukrainian territory controlled by Russian forces.

Russian and US diplomats will meet in Istanbul this week to discuss resolving issues related to their embassies, Russia’s Foreign Minister said, as tensions ease between the two countries.

But both Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up aerial attacks on their energy and military facilities, even as Trump pushes for a deal to end the conflict launched by Russia more than three years ago.

Explosions rang out in Kyiv after Russia launched its drone barrage, which the Ukrainian air force later said consisted of 177 drones of various types targeting regions across the country.

Deadly attacks

The Ukrinform news agency announced that its journalist Tetiana Kulyk was among those killed in the attack.

“Her untimely death has shocked her colleagues and is a huge loss for the agency,” it said in a statement.

Energy facilities damaged

Kyiv has stepped up air strikes against energy and military facilities on Russian territory in recent months, in what it says is a response to Moscow’s bombardment of its cities and energy infrastructure.

Drone attacks overnight targeted the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk, according to the ministry.

No major damage was immediately reported by Russian media or authorities.

– Agence France-Presse