US President Donald Trump said that Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin will have to "get together" to end the war between Moscow and Kyiv. Trump's comments marked a shift from criticizing Zelensky as a "dictator," after the Ukrainian president complained that his country -- invaded by Russia in 2022 -- had been left out of talks between US and Russian officials. "President Putin and President Zelensky are going to have to get together.  Because you know what? We want to stop killing millions of people," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 

Trump added Kyiv would "hopefully in the next fairly short period of time" sign a deal handing Washington preferential access to Ukraine's mineral deposits. "They're very brave, in every way you can imagine. But we are spending our treasure on some country that's very, very far away," Trump said of Ukraine. Trump wants Ukraine to give US companies access to its vast natural resources as compensation for the tens of billions of dollars of aid delivered under his predecessor Joe Biden.

In return, Ukraine is seeking security guarantees from the United States for signing away the precious rights. The minerals deal has become a major sticking point in the increasingly fraught relations between Washington and Kyiv. In a public spat, Trump this week called Zelensky a "dictator without elections" and falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war. Earlier Friday, Trump described Ukraine as at a disadvantage in the negotiations -- further alarming allies who think he will offer concessions to Putin.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)