Trump Plans To Announce Mineral Deal Tonight as Zelensky Switches Gears, Calling Oval Office Clash ‘Regrettable’

Grappling with a cutoff of American military aid, President Zelensky switched gears today and said: “We want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the U.S. to agree a strong final deal.” Without explicitly apologizing for the Oval Office blowup that prompted President Trump to suspend aid, the Ukrainian leader called Friday’s televised confrontation “regrettable.”“It is time to make things right,” he posted on X. “We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.” He said he is ready to sign a contract that would give America access to billions of dollars of rare earth deposits, largely in eastern Ukraine. President Trump’s pressure tactics appear to be working. Tonight at his 9 p.m. address to Congress, the president is expected to announce that the minerals deal will be signed by Ukraine. The deal, as written last week, contains no explicit security guarantees for Ukraine. It gives America access to future revenues from Ukraine’s natural resources. Mr. Trump believes the presence of American mining companies will deter the Kremlin from sending its tanks further west. It is unclear if and when American arms shipments will resume.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke approvingly today of Washington’s unilateral suspension of arms deliveries to Ukraine. He told Russia’s state news agency TASS: “The fact that so far the United States has been the main supplier of this war is obvious. If the United States ceases to be one, or suspends supplies, this will probably be the best contribution to peace.”Russian markets greeted the news with joy. The MOEX, the Russian market’s main ruble-denominated stock index, jumped by 3 percent, making for a 42 percent rise since December 17. The ruble also strengthened on news of Mr. Trump’s peace efforts. Since the start of the year, the ruble has strengthened by 21 percent against the dollar, trading today at 90 rubles to the dollar. Fueling markets, reports from Washington say the Trump Administration has asked the State and Treasury departments for a list of sanctions that could be lifted after talks with Moscow.The exiled Russian chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, reacted sourly today to these moves, posting on X: “Trump is making the Russian markets great again… helping the biggest terror sponsor on Earth recapitalize for its next attack.”Secretary of State Rubio told CNN on Friday that peace cannot be achieved by “name calling.” He said: “The President said in front of the media that our approach is going to be trust, but verify. Donald Trump has made — President Trump’s made — deals his entire life. He’s not going to get suckered into some deal that’s not a real deal.”Europe has not been invited to these bilateral talks. Betting on conventional defense deterrents, leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union meet Thursday to discuss the bloc’s most ambitious military spending plan since the end of the Cold War 30 years ago. The plan would double defense spending and would include a special $158 billion defense fund. For the first time since the Covid crisis, the European Union is loosening borrowing rules for member nations. Through the end of this decade, the plan would raise European Union military spending by $850 million, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday. “We are living in an era of rearmament,” she told reporters in preparation for the emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday. “And Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending.”Germany’s expected future chancellor, Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, agreed today with a future coalition partner, the Social Democrats, to loosen borrowing rules to raise defense expenditures. He said: “In view of the threats to our freedom and peace on our continent, whatever it takes must now also apply to our defence.”He added: “We are counting on the United States of America to continue to stand by our mutual alliance obligations in the future. But we also know that the resources for our national and alliance defence must now be significantly expanded.”Mr. Trump had demanded that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization double their spending for defense. In face of a perceived rising threat from Communist China, he even has questioned whether America should spend anything to defend Europe. Today his nominee to be America’s ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Matthew Whitaker, pledged to strengthen NATO and said the president remains committed to the alliance. Mr. Whitaker, speaking at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vowed: “If confirmed, I will work tirelessly to strengthen the alliance, ensure the security of the American people, and uphold our nation’s role as the beacon of freedom and liberty.” Mr. Whitaker, a 55-year-old lawyer with little foreign policy experience, added: “President Trump has been clear. The United States remains committed to NATO and to peace through strength.”In Ukraine, military leaders are accelerating an existing program to arm themselves as if there were no aid from America. Ukraine already makes about half of its arms, with Europe supplying another 20 percent. However, Ukraine is highly dependent on American-made air defense systems, notably the five Patriot batteries that protect five major cities. Frontline units also depend heavily on Elon Musk’s Starlink system, a satellite-powered internet provider. “If Starlink is shut down, problems will start immediately,” a former member of the Ukrainian parliament, Yehor Firsov, wrote last month from a front-line position where he serves with the military. “Infantry in defensive dugouts, intelligence, drone and artillery crews, brigade and battalion headquarters … everyone uses Starlink.” In one measure of popular international support for Ukraine, a video posted on X stitches together 94 separate times when President Zelensky thanked America for military aid. At last count, the post, with English subtitles, had 6.6 million views and 102,000 likes.

Trump Plans To Announce Mineral Deal Tonight as Zelensky Switches Gears, Calling Oval Office Clash ‘Regrettable’

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