The President of the United States, Donald Trump, confirmed that he intends to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Friday morning to sign a cooperation agreement.
"President Zelensky will come to see me on Friday, Friday morning. And we will sign a truly very important agreement for both sides. Because this will really lead us to that country (Ukraine - IF-U). We will be working where many people are employed. So in that sense, it's very good... We will have good dealings with rare earth elements and other things that our country needs. And we have been very persuasive, and we look forward to our conversation," Trump said at a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday in Washington.
Earlier, when asked by the media whether he still considers Zelensky a "dictator," as he referred to him a few days ago, the U.S. President responded: "I can't believe I said that."
During the press conference, Trump was also asked about the prospect of deploying peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. He linked this to the signing of the agreement.
"You're talking about peacekeeping forces. We need to finalize the agreement first. Right now, we are negotiating. We have Russia, and here is Ukraine; I think we have made significant progress. And Russia is playing very well, representing Steve Whitcoff... I believe we are very close to an agreement," Trump stated.
During the press conference, Trump highlighted a common trait he shares with Starmer—their love for their countries. Starmer noted that America has an active trade surplus with the UK.
At the same time, the U.S. President described relations with the EU as "not very good" and mentioned lawsuits against American companies. "We don't like how they treat our companies... I wouldn't say these are good relations," Trump remarked, threatening to impose tariffs on the EU.