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US-Ukraine mining deal not yet closed, Trump wants more

President Trump aims for a more extensive agreement, while the Kremlin applauds Zelensky’s openness to negotiations. Lukashenko proposes Minsk as negotiating venue

The agreement on the exploitation of mineral resources between the US and Ukraine has not yet been fully finalised. Several American sources, quoted by CBS, report that US President Donald Trump wants to reach ‘a bigger and better deal’ after Volodymir Zelensky’s debacle in the Oval Office of the White House last Friday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday that a signing of the agreement ‘was not on the agenda’, without giving further details.

The Kremlin’s reaction

The Kremlin welcomed Volodymir Zelensky’s decision to sit at the negotiating table. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov deemed the Ukrainian president’s openness to negotiations with Russia ‘positive’, but recalled that a law prohibiting such talks remains in force in Ukraine. ‘I assess Zelensky’s openness positively. The question, however, is with whom to sit at the negotiating table. For now, the legal ban on the Ukrainian president holding talks with the Russian side remains in place,’ Peskov said when meeting the press. ‘Overall, the approach is positive, but the nuances have not yet changed,’ he added.

Minsk: the ideal place for negotiations?

According to Peskov, Minsk, the capital of Belarus, would be the most suitable place to host negotiations on peace in Ukraine. Calling Belarus ‘Russia’s main ally’, the Kremlin spokesman pointed out that the venue for possible talks ‘has not been discussed in any way. But, of course, for us Minsk is the best place’ for negotiations.

Lukashenko’s invitation

Earlier, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky to Belarus to hold talks. Lukashenko explicitly stated that Trump, in his opinion, would be a more independent interlocutor than the current President Biden.

A possible alliance between Russia and the US?

According to the Belarusian president, ‘an alliance between Russia and the United States is possible and very important, in order to stabilise the planet, so that there are no more devastating wars in the Middle East or Ukraine, so that there are no conflicts’. ‘It is possible. Nothing is impossible. Russia will always be an ally for the US, after all it is the dominant country militarily, but not against anyone,’ he explained in an interview with an American blogger, stressing that both countries would benefit greatly from such a relationship.

The idea of an EU-US summit

The idea of holding a summit between the EU and the US with the aim of keeping the West united on Ukraine, put forward by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, ‘is welcome’ and in Brussels ‘we are ready. It could be useful: we will see when the conditions are met by the US’. This was explained by a senior EU official in Brussels on the eve of the extraordinary European Council meeting.

Medvedev’s criticism

The peace plans for Ukraine on which British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are working are ‘unrealistic and stupid’. This was claimed by Russian Security Council deputy head Dmitry Medvedev, who called the informal summit of European leaders held in London on Sunday ‘a farce’. ‘Old lady Europe decided to show her teeth and warm up the shabby dog in Kiev that is looking for a new master. The recent ‘summit’ in London was a fiasco, because it was supposed to lead to drawing up a ‘European plan’ to end the conflict as quickly as possible, regardless of its content,’ Medvedev wrote on his page on the social network “VKontakte”.

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