Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States would sign a minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine soon and that his efforts to achieve a peace deal for the country were going “pretty well” after his talks this week with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. “We’re doing very well with regard to Ukraine and Russia. And one of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with respect to rare earths with Ukraine,” he said during an event at the White House. A day earlier, the White House had said it had “moved beyond” the idea of taking possession of Ukraine’s mineral wealth as part of negotiations, while Trump told the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that the US could own and run Ukrainian nuclear power plants, including Zaporizhzhia power station, as part of a ceasefire.
Zelenskyy on Thursday said he could not legally negotiate ownership of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. “We will not discuss it. We have 15 nuclear power units in operation today. This all belongs to our state,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Oslo, where he held talks with Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store.
Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian and US officials would meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to make progress on a proposed halt in Russian and Ukrainian strikes on energy facilities. His announcement came shortly after the Kremlin confirmed that Russian officials would also hold talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on Monday.
EU leaders – apart from Hungary’s Viktor Orbán – said they were ready to increase pressure on Russia through further sanctions. Meeting in Brussels, the bloc agreed it was ready to levy further sanctions on Russia and strengthen existing measures after talks with Zelenskyy, who joined by video link. The show of unity was marred by Orbán refusing to support an EU text declaring support for Ukraine.
Despite declaring their backing for Ukraine, the leaders did not immediately endorse a call by Zelenskyy to provide at least €5bn for artillery ammunition purchases. “We need funds for artillery shells and would really appreciate Europe’s support with at least €5bn ($5.42bn) as soon as possible,” Zelenskyy told them. The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, had also called on leaders to match words of support for Kyiv with deeds. Summit chair Antonio Costa said EU members had promised €15bn in aid for Ukraine in recent weeks and he believed they would increase those pledges.
Senior military officers from more than 30 countries across Europe and beyond met in England on Thursday to flesh out plans for an international peacekeeping force for Ukraine as details of a partial ceasefire are worked out.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said he didn’t know whether there would be a peace deal but “we are making steps in the right direction” as a “coalition of the willing” led by Britain and France moves into an “operational phase”. He also threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with “severe consequences” if he breached any potential peace deal. He did not repeat his promise to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.French President Emmanuel Macron said leaders of the coalition would meet again next week, hoping to finalise plans to secure a potential truce in the war with Russia. Macron – who along with Starmer has said he is willing to deploy troops to Ukraine – said the meeting next Thursday will be a chance to “fine-tune” work on ensuring any truce is durable.
The Financial Times reported that Europe’s biggest military powers are discussing how to take on greater responsibility for Europe’s defence. Countries including the UK, France and Germany aim to present Donald Trump with a plan to shift the financial and military burden to European capitals, in the hope of a managed transfer over five to 10 years, the paper reported.
Ukraine struck a major Russian strategic bomber airfield on Thursday with drones, triggering a huge blast and fire about 700km (435 miles) from the frontlines of the war, Russian and Ukrainian officials said. Videos verified by Reuters showed a huge blast spreading out from the airfield, wrecking nearby cottages. Other verified videos showed a giant plume of smoke rising into the dawn sky and an intense fire. The base in Engels, which dates back to Soviet times, hosts Russia’s Tupolev Tu-160 nuclear-capable heavy strategic bombers, known unofficially as White Swans.
Russian forces launched a mass drone attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa late on Thursday, injuring three people and damaging a high-rise apartment building and a shopping centre, the regional governor said. Oleh Kiper, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said there had been strikes in three locations that triggered fires, while three districts of the city were suffering from power cuts.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had already violated a proposed ceasefire on energy sites in the three-year-old war by attacking a Russian oil depot. Authorities in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya. The depot is a rail terminal for Russian oil supplies to a pipeline linking Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. A statement issued by authorities in the Krasnodar region on Thursday evening said efforts were continuing to bring the blaze under control.
