Minerals deal would work as “backstop” for Ukraine — Trump

The US president said this while UK Prime Miniser Keir Starmer visited Trump in the White House, The Guardian reports.

“President Zelenskyy is coming to see me on Friday, and we’re going to be signing really a very important agreement for both sides. It’s a backstop, you could say, I don’t think anybody’s going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers and having to do with rare earths and other things which we need for our country,” Trump said.

Answering a journalist’s question, Trump declined to repeat his claim that Zelenskyy is a dictator.

Asked if he still thought that, Trump replied: “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question”.

One of the journalists shouted out a question about whether the US and Russia were capable of reaching a peace agreement on Ukraine. 

“President Trump, can you get a peace deal done in Ukraine?” one reporter yelled.

“Yes, we can, we will,” Trump responded, flashing a thumbs up.

In his remarks alongside Starmer, Trump again criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden.

He said the talks with Russia about peace in Ukraine would not be happening if he had not won the presidential election. And he said he did not think Russia would launch another attack on Ukraine.