United States President Donald Trump revealed that he thinks that "we're pretty close to a deal" to end the conflict in Ukraine. In addition, the president repeated that he spoke with his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin as part of his ongoing efforts to end a "horrible" war.
"Europe has given $100 billion, the United States has given $350 billion ... but here's worse: Europe gave it in a form of a loan, they get their money back. We gave it in the form of nothing," Trump stressed.
"So we're asking for rare earth and oil and anything we could get," he said, adding "We're getting our money back." He earlier envisaged the rare earth deal with Ukraine as Kiev repaying the US for financial and military aid it received during the conflict against Russia. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, is reportedly still not ready to sign such an agreement yet.
