US President Donald Trump has claimed he is โin the middleโ of Russia and Ukraine as he greeted Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House for talks on ending the conflict, adding that he was โfor both Ukraine and Russiaโ.
Trump said the Ukrainian president โwill have to make compromisesโ, adding that Kyiv โwill not go back to fightingโ 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 โinvestment fundโ that would receive 50 per cent of all revenues from the โfuture monetisationโ 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 โvery fairโ.
