A summary of today's developments
U.S. president Donald Trump’s administration and Ukraine plan to sign the much-debated minerals deal, people familiar with the situation told Reuters. Trump told his advisers he wants to announce the agreement in his address to Congress on Tuesday evening, three of the sources said, cautioning that the deal had yet to be signed and the situation could change.
After Germany’s conservatives and Social Democrats announced proposals on Tuesday to set up a 500 billion euro fund for infrastructure and overhaul borrowing rules in order to increase defence spending, leaders of both parties told reporters recent events in the U.S. put pressure on them to act. Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party leader FriedrichMerz said the economy must be brought back on a growth path with credit financed from the special fund, 100 billion of which will go to states.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he instructed his defence minister and other officials to secure precise information on military supplies after the U.S. announced it was pausing assistance. Earlier, Zelenskyy said he is ready to sign a minerals and security agreement with the United States and to work under president Donald Trump’s “strong leadership”. While admitting his meeting with president Donald Trump “did not go the way it was supposed to”, Zelenskyy reiterated Ukraine’s commitment to peace and praised Trump for providing his military with Javelins.
Ukraine’s allies were not told in advance of Donald Trump’s decision to pause military aid, Poland’s foreign ministry said, as rattled European politicians reaffirmed their backing for Kyiv faced with dramatic further evidence of a US policy shift. The US president’s announcement “was made without any information or consultation, neither with Nato allies nor with the Ramstein group which is involved in supporting Ukraine,” the ministry spokesperson Paweł Wroński said on Tuesday.
At least three lawmakers were injured on Tuesday after chaos erupted in Serbia’s parliament, where smoke bombs and flares were thrown. Lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a law that would increase funding for university education, but opposition parties insisted the session was illegal and should first confirm the resignation of prime minister Miloš Vučević and his government.
A five-part plan to bolster Europe’s defence industry and increase its military capability could raise nearly €800bn and help provide urgent military support for Ukraine after the US suspended aid to Kyiv, the head of the European Commission said. Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-member bloc would propose giving member states more fiscal space for defence investments, as well as €150bn in loans for those investments, and would also aim to mobilise private capital.
Meanwhile, Britain’s foreign secretary has reiterated European allies’ determination to strike a peace deal for Ukraine.
In a post on X on Tuesday, David Lammy said he had spoken to his counterparts in France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain about Ukraine and that their support was unwavering:
“We will step up and we are stepping up - together.”
His post comes as late on Tuesday, both Ukraine and the US appeared to be once again close to signing a critical minerals deal that the White House has indicated is a precursor to peace talks. Reuters has reported that US president Donald Trump could announce such an agreement in a speech to both houses of Congress on Tuesday night.
Coming just hours after the US halted military aid for Ukraine, the latest developments underline the chaotic nature of the relationship between Kyiv and Washington under Trump.
