Trump said he would meet with Zelensky “this week or next week”

The US President Donald Trump said he could meet with Zelensky to sign a minerals deal "this week or next week".

He told reporters about this during a meeting with French leader Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office, the BBC reports.

"I will meet with President Zelensky. In fact, he may come this week or next week to sign the deal [...] The deal is being worked on now. They are very close to a final decision," Trump says.

He expressed uncertainty about when he would meet with Russian leader Putin, although he had previously said it could happen in Saudi Arabia. Trump ultimately said he would meet with Putin “at some point”.

"I think the war [in Ukraine] could be over soon, within a few weeks, if weʼre smart. If weʼre not smart, itʼs going to go on. We donʼt want that. Remember what I said, it could turn into World War III, we donʼt want that either," Donald Trump added.

Journalists asked whether he believed that Kyiv would have to give up the territory as part of any peace talks.

"Weʼll see. These are negotiations that are just beginning," the American president replied.

Returning Ukrainian land occupied by Moscow is "not an easy task", added Donald Trump.

What kind of agreement on Ukrainian minerals?

The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought a pilot draft of a minerals agreement to Ukraine on February 12. Washington had hoped that Kyiv would sign it immediately. President Zelensky said that he had banned the agreement from being signed because it would not protect Ukraine’s interests — it had no connection to investments, profits, or security guarantees.

Previously, Trump had stated that Ukraine had "essentially agreed" to transfer half a trillion dollars worth of rare earth metals to Washington as payment for American military aid.

Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement on rare earth metals, but Kyiv needs security guarantees, and they were not in the agreement. Zelensky added: "The document was clear in only one thing — we must give 50% of everything that is listed there."

After refusing to sign the document, Washington made the agreement even tougher, writes the NYT. Now the US demands 100% of revenues from natural resources, including minerals, gas and oil, as well as revenues from ports and other infrastructure.

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