Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says Zelensky will sign minerals deal on Friday

In his nightly address posted on social media, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has made an appeal for US support to continue flowing.

“Peace and security guarantees are the key to ensuring that Russia can no longer destroy the lives of other nations,” he said.

“I will meet with @POTUS. For me and for all of us in the world, it’s important that U.S. support is not stopped. Strength is needed on the path to peace.”

Ukraine and the US are nearing a deal regarding Ukraine’s rare earth minerals to secure US support amid the war. The US had initially sought half of Ukraine’s revenues from critical minerals and key infrastructure through a joint investment fund. A preliminary agreement involves Ukraine contributing 50 per cent of proceeds from state-owned mineral resources to a fund for Ukrainian projects, with the US committed to supporting Ukraine’s economic development. Ukraine possesses significant untapped deposits of critical minerals like lithium and titanium, estimated to be worth over £12 trillion, much of which are located in regions annexed or occupied by Russia. Zelensky is scheduled to meet with Trump to finalize the deal, but challenges remain, including regulatory hurdles, access to geological data, and security concerns for companies operating in Ukraine.

In the wake of Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that defence spending will rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2026-27 and head towards 3 per cent by 2033, leading defence analyst Francis Tusa writes:

There needs to be some careful thought about what this extra money is, what it can be used for, and what it will do as regards the shape and capabilities of the services, and UK defence as a whole.

In the immediate aftermath of the defence budget increase, there has been an online boom in people “pre-spending” the extra cash, seeing pet programmes as now being funded. If only life were that simple.

There is no defence cash-and-carry warehouse where you can load up pallets of ships, fighters, or tanks, pay for them and walk off … Even with this extra money being devoted to defence, anyone expecting to see anything dramatically different in a year’s time to what they look like today is going to be disappointed.

Eliminating the capability gaps in all of the services, the holes, and the chasms will be the work of many years, even if everything is to be done at the fastest possible speed.

President Zelensky says Ukraine will not repay any debts to the US under the wording of a deal agreed on his country’s minerals.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his country and the US had reached a preliminary agreement on a broad economic deal that includes American access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

After days of negotiations, Ukraine and the US will sign the preliminary agreement, although further details of a full agreement – including US security guarantees that Kyiv officials view as vital – are still to be worked out, Mr Shmyhal said on Ukrainian public television.

A preliminary economic agreement between Ukraine and the United States would ensure long-term U.S. involvement in rebuilding the country, but the deal leaves the question of security guarantees sought by Kyiv to future negotiations.

The agreement comes after two weeks of back-and-forth between Kyiv and Washington over how the U.S. could gain access to Ukraine’s natural resources. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted that specific assurances for Ukrainian security must accompany a deal on those resources.

U.S. President Donald Trump planned to meet with Zelenskyy on Friday at the White House to sign the pact, which will closely tie the two countries together for years to come.

Read about what the deal says here:

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky plans to meet Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders in London on the weekend.

Mr Zelensky plans to make the trip after flying to Washington on Friday to meet US president Donald Trump.

Sir Keir said earlier on Wednesday he will host leaders of Italy, Germany, Poland and other allies on Sunday to discuss their response to Donald Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine.

Later on Saturday, an Elysee source confirmed French president Emmanuel Macron – who met with Mr Trump earlier in the week – will also attend the talks in London.

Political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

The number of British personnel working on an international training program for Ukrainian soldiers has fallen by more than 1,000 in the last 2.5 years, new figures reveal.

The decline marks a 73 per cent reduction in the UK staffing of the British-led Operation Interflex that has trained over 51,000 Ukrainian soldiers to resist Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Just one month after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the US president has thrown whatever hopes Kyiv had for future American support into chaos.

In the last week alone he has launched repeated attacks on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, falsely branding him a “dictator” and wrongly accusing Ukraine of “starting” the war.

And so Ukraine now finds itself fighting a war on two fronts: the grind against the Russian invaders to the east, and the battle to keep Mr Trump on side to the west.

Here, The Independent looks at the very real costs of three years of war in Europe – financially, militarily and on the lives of the men and women who continue to fight for their freedom.

Alicja Hagopian and Tom Watling report:

Romanian prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation against pro-Russia former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu.

Georgescu was the far-right frontrunner in last year’s cancelled presidential election, a ballot which was cancelled due to suspected Russian interference in the 62-year-old’s favour.

Prosecutors have now launched an investigation amid accusations of wrongdoing ranging from campaign funding fraud and promoting antisemitism and hate speech to acts against the constitutional order.

After questioning Georgescu for several hours on Wednesday, prosecutors said they were formally investigating him on accusations of forming an antisemitic organisation, promoting war criminals and fascist organisations, and communicating false information.