The US President Donald Trump said he may meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week.
"Next week I will probably meet with Zelensky. And I will probably talk to Putin," he said.
According to the US president, the meeting may take place in Washington. Trump says he wants to talk to Zelensky about the end of the war and Ukrainian assets, namely rare earth metals, in the context of “security of US spending”. He believes that Europe is investing less in the war and Ukraine than the US, and therefore America wants to get “something in return”. He has previously said that Ukraine could give its minerals in exchange for more US aid.
The American president also stressed that he would ask European countries to match their contributions to aid Ukraine to bring them up to the level of contributions from the United States. According to him, Washington has provided almost $300 billion, and Europe has provided $100 billion.
Trump also announced that he was going to talk to Putin. He once again recalled that he had "always had a good relationship" with him.
Trumpʼs plans for war in Ukraine
During the election campaign, Trump claimed that he could end the war in Ukraine “in one day”. However, after being elected president, his narratives changed. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal wrote that he instructed special envoy Keith Kellogg to end the war in 100 days.
Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stressed that the state will defend its integrity and will not cede its territories to Russia. In September 2024, Zelensky met with Donald Trump and presented him with a victory plan. According to the Ukrainian leader, the meeting was very meaningful.
New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that under Donald Trumpʼs presidency, ending the Russian-Ukrainian war will be the official policy of the United States. He said that he could not give a specific date for the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine, but both sides will have to make some concessions because they will not be able to achieve their maximum goals.
And Trump himself, two days after his inauguration, called on Putin to end the war — otherwise he would impose large taxes and sanctions.
Zelensky said he likes Trumpʼs tactics for ending hostilities. However, he stressed that Trump and Putinʼs talks about a war without Ukraine are dangerous for everyone.
What rare earth minerals are we talking about?
On February 3, the US President Donald Trump said he was considering exchanging Ukrainian rare earth minerals for more American aid.
"Weʼre looking to make a deal with Ukraine where theyʼre going to provide what weʼre giving them with their rare earth minerals and other things," Trump said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the country is open to cooperation.
These minerals are needed to make smartphones, batteries, magnets, lasers, and other modern technologies. Although they are called rare earths, they are actually not that rare, but they are difficult to extract and purify. These include lithium, graphite, uranium, and titanium.
- In the fall of 2024, Volodymyr Zelensky presented a plan for Ukraineʼs victory over Russia. The plan contains five points. The fourth of them, the economic one, proposes concluding an agreement "on the joint protection of critical resources available in Ukraine, joint investment and use". Among such resources, the president named uranium, titanium, graphite and lithium, and estimated their value at "trillions of dollars".
- Babel asked two experts to explain the basics of this topic: journalist Volodymyr Boyko, founder of the publication nadra.info, and Doctor of Geological Sciences Natalia Bariatska, an expert of the State Commission of Ukraine on Mineral Resources.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.