Closing summary
Donald Trump said Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal to pay for US military aid to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion. Trump said the Ukrainian leader would be signing a “very big agreement” which he said would allow the US to get “money back”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “guarantees of peace and security” were vital as Kyiv and Washington prepare for talks on Friday. “For me and for all of us in the world, it’s important that US support is not stopped. Strength is needed on the path to peace,” Zelenskyy said during his evening address on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said earlier on Wednesday that without future security guarantees for Ukraine there would be no “just peace ... we will not have a ceasefire.” Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmyhal said a minerals deal had been agreed, and that Washington would commit to supporting Kyiv’s efforts to obtain security guarantees.
But Trump said the US would not be making far-reaching security guarantees to Ukraine as part of the deal. “I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond - very much. We’re going to have Europe do that,” Trump said during his first cabinet meeting. Trump also insisted that Kyiv “can forget about” joining Nato.
Zelenskyy is expected to visit the UK this weekend as Keir Starmer is due to host a summit of European leaders to discuss defence, according to PA news agency. Zelenskyy’s reported visit will come after his reported trip to Washington on Friday.
A planned meeting between the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and US secretary of state Marco Rubio have been cancelled. Both sides blamed scheduling challenges, Associated Press reports, but European officials said they were caught off-guard.
Russian and US diplomats will meet on Thursday for talks aimed at restoring their respective diplomatic missions. The talks in Istanbul will not include any discussions on Ukraine, US state department officials said. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov again ruled out “any options” for European peacekeepers being sent to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy insists on 'guarantees of peace and security' ahead of meeting with Trump
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “guarantees of peace and security” were vital ahead of expected talks in Washington on Friday.
“Today, there has been a lot of international work,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video address on Wednesday.
Our teams are working with the United States as we prepare for negotiations this Friday.
“Peace and security guarantees are the key to ensuring that Russia can no longer destroy the lives of other nations,” he added.
On his meeting with Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said:
For me and for all of us in the world, it’s important that US support is not stopped. Strength is needed on the path to peace.”
