内容摘要：, leader of the conservative opposition, had proposed breaking from tradition by making his first overseas trip as prime minister to the United States to strike a better tariff deal with President

, leader of the conservative opposition, had proposed breaking from tradition by making his first overseas trip as prime minister to the United States to strike a better tariff deal with President

By February, the White House and Ukraine appear to have madetoward reaching an agreement that would provide the U.S. with access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

On Feb. 12, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent became the first senior Trump administration official to visit Kyiv. Zelenskyy was expected to sign the deal that day amid ad, saying elements of the draft didn’t align with his country’s constitution. The deal would have given the U.S. 50% rights to Ukraine’s minerals and mentioned nothing of security guarantees.“I didn’t let the ministers sign … because in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest,” Zelenskyy told The Associated Press at the Munich Security Conference in February.

Bessent later said that Zelenskyy “blew up” the deal. Zelenskyy shot back, saying Bessent’s approach had been disrespectful.“My colleagues know that if someone taps their finger on an agreement and says, ‘You must sign now’ — I could only say to him, ‘Stop tapping your finger and let’s have a proper conversation,’” Zelenskyy later told reporters.

The two sides agreed to a new draft later in February.

On Feb. 28, Zelenskyy arrived in Washington with the intention of signing the revised version of the deal. But Zelenskyy insists on adding explicit U.S. security guarantees to it, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin couldn’t be trusted to comply with a ceasefire deal.KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to speak by phone Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, followed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of various NATO countries, about ending

Trump said the call with Putin will be about stopping the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end,” Trump wrote Saturday in a post on his social networking site Truth Social.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in comments to Russian media that preparations were underway for Monday’s call.Trump’s remarks came a day after the first