US President Donald Trump has claimed he is “in the middle” of Russia and Ukraine as he greeted Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House for talks on ending the conflict, adding that he was “for both Ukraine and Russia”.
Trump said the Ukrainian president “will have to make compromises”, adding that Kyiv “will not go back to fighting” if a peace deal is struck, according to early media reports from their meeting.
Zelenskyy will use his visit to try to secure a seat at the negotiating table. Trump has blindsided Kyiv and other European capitals by launching direct talks with Putin over ending the conflict.
The leaders are also set to sign a minerals deal that would set up a joint US-Ukrainian “investment fund” that would receive 50 per cent of all revenues from the “future monetisation” of natural resources owned by Kyiv.
The text lacks explicit US security guarantees that Zelenskyy had sought, but Trump has said the presence of American workers and economic interests in Ukraine would be a sufficient deterrent to possible Russian aggression.
On Friday, Trump described the deal as “very fair”.
