United States President Donald Trump has expressed hope that the would be a lot of progress in the upcoming Ukraine-Russia peace talks set to take place in Saudi Arabia.
US officials will meet on Tuesday with a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia in part to determine whether Ukraine is willing to make material concessions to Russia to end the war. Also hanging over the talks in Jeddah is the fate of a minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv.
Trump expressed optimism about the talks. “We’re going to make a lot of progress, I believe, this week,” he said.
Also, the president also revealed that Washington had “just about” ended a suspension of intelligence sharing with Ukraine, and that he expects good results out of upcoming talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.
Asked if he would consider ending the suspension, Trump said: “We just about have. We just about have”.
His remarks come after the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday the US had halted intelligence sharing with Ukraine, piling pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to cooperate with Trump in convening peace talks with Russia.
The suspension, which could cost lives by hurting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian missile strikes, followed a halt to US military aid to Kyiv.
Zelensky and Trump had been slated to sign the minerals accord — which would give the US access to certain mineral resources in Ukraine – before Zelensky’s White House visit erupted into a clash between the two leaders, after which it was not signed.
Trump said on Sunday he thought Ukraine would sign the minerals agreement, which Ukraine wants to contain a US security guarantee.
“They will sign the minerals deal but I want them to want peace [….] They haven’t shown it to extent they should,” he said.
Trump also said his administration was looking at a variety of things with respect to tariffs on Russia and that administration officials are not concerned about military exercises involving Russia, China and Iran.
