US President Donald Trump said that the agreement on rare earth elements with Ukraine will be signed next week.
US President Trump accepted the Italian Prime Minister Georgia Melony in the White House and spoke about the latest situation around the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Having stated that the agreement with Kiev for rare earth elements has come to an end, Trump said: “We have an agreement on minerals, I think it will be signed next Thursday. We think that Ukraine will comply with this agreement, we will see. But we have an agreement on this issue.”
Speaking about negotiations with the Russian side in Moscow, Trump added that they will receive news from Moscow this week.
Answering the question of whether the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky is responsible for the war, the US president said: “I don’t know if Zelensky is responsible (for the war), but this war should never have begun. I do not blame Zelensky, but I can’t say that he is doing a very good job. I am not his fan.”
Having assigned responsibility for the start of the war at the former US President Joe Biden, Trump noted that now this war must be stopped and he is working on it.
“Russia is a much larger country, a more powerful military power. If you were smart, you would not get involved in wars in which you can blame Biden, sitting in this chair,” he said.
Trump also answered the question of whether Italy will take part in the peacekeeping mission in Ukraine: “Italy should make this decision. I look at the peaceful mission positively.”