Washington: The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer pressed President Donald Trump for a more substantial US commitment to protecting Ukraine if the war ends and warned his US counterpart not to reward Russian President Vladimir Putin in any peace deal.
But in Oval Office talks and a later press conference, Trump publicly brushed aside those pleas, insisting that it was “now or never to negotiate an end to the brutal war”.
Speaking alongside Starmer at a joint press conference, Trump said a deal to end the war would “happen fairly quickly or not happen at all”.
“We’re working very hard to get that war brought to an end. I think we’ve made a lot of progress,” Trump said, whose week of high-level meetings concludes on Friday with a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump’s refusal to acquiesce to Starmer’s requests was a blow to European leaders who came to the White House this week to air their concerns that his aggressive efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine will result in conceding too much to Putin. The Starmer trip comes just two days after French President Emmanuel Macron came to Washington to deliver the same message.
Zelensky’s visit on Friday is expected to produce a controversial minerals deal that Trump contends will give the US access to his country’s precious metals as “payback” for the tens of billions in military and development aid Washington sent their way since Russia invaded in early 2022.
The US President will likely adopt the same hard-nosed attitude as Zelensky, who is expected to sign a modified economic development and mineral deal after first bluntly rejecting the idea.
Trump suggested on Thursday that having US companies inside Ukraine mining critical mineral sites will be enough to deter Russia from a second invasion, although some of Ukraine’s most lucrative deposits are located in the parts of its territory now occupied by Russian forces.
“I don’t think anyone is going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers,” the US President said.
He also made it clear that he doesn’t plan to make nice with Zelensky as the two leaders have escalated their feud in recent weeks. When asked if he would apologise for calling Zelensky a “dictator”, Trump sidestepped the question. “I think we are going to have a very good meeting tomorrow,” Trump said. Starmer lavished Trump with gifts and produced a surprise personal invitation from King Charles for a state visit to Britain. Trump accepted the offer, although no date for the visit was announced. (IANS)
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