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US, Ukraine to sign minerals deal, but security issues unsettled

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will sign a deal giving the United States substantial rights to Kyiv’s lucrative rare earth minerals and to compensate Washington for weapons sent to Ukraine to fight Russia’s three-year war of aggression.  

Trump, at the first Cabinet meeting of his new presidential term, said that Zelenskyy will be at the White House on Friday to sign the pact and for discussions about the state of the war. 

Trump said the deal “brings us great wealth,” but said his first goal is to end the war, which has killed or wounded several hundred thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians. 

“My No. 2 thing is to get paid back,” Trump said of the more than $100 billion in munitions Washington has shipped to Kyiv to support its fighters. “Without our equipment, that [war] would have been over very quickly,” with Russia overrunning Ukraine.  

As it is, Russia now controls about a fifth of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory and has vowed to not give any of it back in a would-be peace settlement. 

Trump said he expects to eventually reach a deal with Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the fighting. Trump initiated talks with Putin about ending the conflict but the first discussions last week between the top U.S. and Russian diplomats, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, excluded Ukrainian and European officials.   

“Because I got elected, this war is going to come to an end,” Trump declared. He said Putin “had no intention of settling this. We’re going to have a deal.”   

But he said Ukraine “could forget about” joining NATO, the West’s main military alliance, as part of a peace settlement.  

In Kyiv, Zelenskyy said at a news conference that the framework for the rare earth mineral deal was complete, but that U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine that the Kyiv government views as vital have yet to be settled. 

Trump has long expressed skepticism about continued U.S. military support for Ukraine. Last year, he refused to say he wants Ukraine to win the war.  

Trump has called Zelenskyy a dictator, without blaming Putin for the invasion.   

The U.S. leader has said he is particularly peeved that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, agreed to the Ukraine military assistance without any provision that Ukraine would pay back the cost. Biden led the coalition of Western allies in providing the military aid as a way to fight Russian aggression without sending their own troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces. 

 Zelenskyy says the U.S. military aid was a grant and not a loan that needed to be repaid but now has agreed to the deal for the rare earth minerals needed for manufacturing technology products.  

Zelenskyy said he expects to have wide-ranging substantive discussions with Trump.  

“I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” Zelenskyy said.  

The Ukrainian leader said he wants to know whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S. He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for weapons investments and whether Washington plans to lift its economic sanctions on Russian entities and high-level associates and friends of Putin.  

Elements of the deal

Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the country’s public television channel that the agreement sets out the terms and conditions of an investment fund for the rebuilding of Ukraine.

Under terms of the deal, the plan would include investing 50% of proceeds from Ukraine’s minerals, oil and gas to create a “stable and economically prosperous Ukraine” if the war is ended, and half to a U.S.-controlled fund.  

The New York Times reported the economic agreement includes a line that says the U.S. “supports Ukraine’s effort to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace,” but does not spell out details on what that might entail.  

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting with Trump on Wednesday in Washington to spell out a European initiative for a 30,000-person peacekeeping force to enforce a Russian ceasefire with Ukraine if such a truce can be reached, although no peace talks have been scheduled.  

European leaders have said a peacekeeping force would require an American “backstop” of military assistance, such as American satellite surveillance, air defense or air force support. Trump has not committed the U.S. to such a plan but on Wednesday called the peacekeeping force “a good thing.”  

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 

 
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EU will ask India to cut tariffs on cars, wine to boost ties, reduce reliance on China 

NEW DELHI — The European Union plans to urge India to lower its high tariffs on cars and wine to boost trade, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on China, a senior official from the bloc said, ahead of a visit by the European Commission president to New Delhi.

Echoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs, the official said the EU would press India to cut tariffs on some goods and broaden market access for its products, while offering flexibility on agriculture issues to expedite free trade agreement talks.

“The Indian market is relatively closed, especially to key products of commercial interest to the European Union and our member states’ industries, including cars, wines and spirits,” said the official, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen’s two-day visit from Thursday, accompanied by leaders of EU member nations, coincides with escalating geopolitical tensions, with Brussels and New Delhi set to outline key areas for deeper cooperation under their strategic partnership.

Leyen will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, followed by discussions with trade minister Piyush Goyal.

The next trade negotiations round is scheduled for March 10-14 in Brussels.

The EU’s call for lower tariffs comes amid Trump’s threats to impose reciprocal tariffs from early April, which has caused anxiety for India’s exporters. Analysts from Citi Research estimate potential losses of about $7 billion annually.

The EU is India’s largest trading partner in goods, with trade nearing $126 billion in 2024, marking an increase of about 90% over the past decade.

Reducing reliance on China

As part of its “de-risking” strategy, the EU aims to strengthen economic and security ties with India, diversify supply chains, and reduce reliance on key products from China.

The EU also views India as a vital ally in addressing security challenges, the official said, including cyber threats and tensions in the South China Sea and Indo-Pacific.

Leyen is also expected to seek India’s support for a “peaceful and just deal” for Ukraine’s security, the official said.

The EU and India could sign an agreement to share classified security information to tackle common threats such as cyber attacks and terrorism, while exploring defense equipment trade.

Despite these potential benefits, trade analysts said the visit may not yield tangible results.

For substantial cooperation, the EU should acknowledge India as a data-secure country, said Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Delhi-based think-tank Global Trade Initiative, and India’s former negotiator on trade talks with the EU.

“While both parties have concerns about China, neither sees it as a top priority,” Srivastava said, adding India is focused on border tensions with China, while the EU is more concerned with the Ukraine-Russia conflict and NATO matters.
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France wants Europe cooperation on visas over expulsion of undocumented migrants

PARIS — France’s foreign minister said Wednesday that he wanted “all” European countries to cooperate and start cutting back visas available to nationals of countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants expelled by Paris.

Jean-Noel Barrot spoke after an Algerian-born man went on a stabbing rampage in the eastern French city of Mulhouse at the weekend, killing one person and wounding several others in what President Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terrorist act.”

The 37-year-old suspect was on a terrorism watch list and subject to a deportation order.

France had attempted to expel him multiple times, but Algeria refused to cooperate, French authorities say.

“If a country does not cooperate with the French authorities, I will propose that all European countries restrict the issuing of visas at the same time,” Barrot told broadcaster France 2.

“When we do it on a national level, it doesn’t work unfortunately,” he added.

But if foreign governments cooperate, the European Union also could consider reducing customs tariffs for such countries, Barrot proposed.

“It is a particularly powerful lever,” he said.

French authorities are seeking to tighten immigration policies and border controls, in a move emblematic of the right-ward shift in French politics.

“If we want our migration policy to be as effective as possible, there are many things that will be much more effective if we do it at a European level,” he said.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was set later Wednesday to chair a meeting on immigration controls.

Bayrou has called for a national debate on immigration and what it means to be French, suggesting that immigrants were “flooding” France.
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Ukraine, US agree on a framework economic deal, Ukrainian officials say

KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukraine and the United States have reached an agreement on a framework for a broad economic deal that would include access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, three senior Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

The officials, who were familiar with the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. One of them said Kyiv hopes that signing the agreement will ensure the continued flow of U.S. military support that Ukraine urgently needs.

President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he’d heard that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was coming and added that “it’s OK with me, if he’d like to, and he would like to sign it together with me.”

The agreement could be signed as early as Friday and plans are being drawn up for Zelenskyy to travel to Washington to meet Trump, according to one of the Ukrainian officials.

Another official said the agreement would provide an opportunity for Zelenskyy and Trump to discuss continued military aid to Ukraine, which is why Kyiv is eager to finalize the deal.

Trump called it “a very big deal,” adding that it could be worth 1 trillion dollars. “It could be whatever, but it’s rare earths and other things.”

According to one Ukrainian official, some technical details are still to be worked out. However, the draft does not include a contentious Trump administration proposal to give the U.S. $500 billion worth of profits from Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as compensation for its wartime assistance to Kyiv.

Instead, the U.S. and Ukraine would have joint ownership of a fund, and Ukraine would in the future contribute 50% of future proceeds from state-owned resources, including minerals, oil, and gas. One official said the deal had better terms of investments and another one said that Kyiv secured favorable amendments and viewed the outcome as “positive.”

The deal does not, however, include security guarantees. One official said that this would be something the two presidents would discuss when they meet.

The progress in negotiating the deal comes after Trump and Zelenskyy traded sharp rhetoric last week about their differences over the matter.

Zelenskyy said he balked at signing off on a deal that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed during a visit to Kyiv earlier this month, and the Ukrainian leader objected again days later during a meeting in Munich with Vice President JD Vance because the American proposal did not include security guarantees.

Trump then called Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” and claimed his support among voters was near rock-bottom.

But the two sides made significant progress during a three-day visit to Ukraine last week by retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

The idea was initially proposed last fall by Zelenskyy as part of his plan to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Moscow.
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Though battling fatigue and uncertainty, Ukrainians still express hope, polls show

Despite rising uncertainty over waning U.S. support, growing existential questions and ongoing Russian advances, polls find Ukrainians remain generally optimistic about their future. Lesia Bakalets reports from Kyiv, Ukraine. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianet.
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German election winner: Europe must defend itself as US ‘does not care’

London — Germany’s likely next chancellor has warned that the United States cares little about Europe’s fate and has called for the continent to urgently organize its own defense capabilities, marking a profound shift in approach from Europe’s biggest economy.

“I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show. But after Donald Trump’s remarks last week, it is clear that the Americans — or in any case, the Americans in this administration — do not care much about the fate of Europe,” Friedrich Merz said in a post-election televised debate after his Christian Democrats, or CDU Party, won 28.5% of the vote in Sunday’s election, 8% ahead of the second place Alternative for Germany Party, or AfD.

“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” added Merz.

He said the NATO summit in June could be a defining moment, adding that it’s unknown whether allies “would still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”

Ukraine support

Until now, Germany has been the second-biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine, after the United States. Merz may seek to boost that support, according to Liana Fix of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.

“Friedrich Merz has spoken in favor of Ukraine’s victory. In general, he has adopted a more hawkish position than [outgoing Chancellor] Olaf Scholz had. He advocated for German long-range missile deliveries to Ukraine, the Taurus. He made clear that support for Ukraine will have to continue, even if a ceasefire deal is reached,” Fix told VOA.

Merz’s election victory came on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Brandenburg Gate, once the frontier between east and west Berlin during the Cold War, was lit up Monday in the Ukrainian national colors to mark the anniversary.

The potential threat from Moscow loomed heavy over the German election. Berlin resident Juergen Harke, who was among those attending a pro-Ukrainian demonstration outside the Russian Embassy, said it was vital that Merz remains true to his word.

“I hope that the new government will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine, that it will work together with the European states to develop a major counterweight to Russia — and now also to Trump,” Harke told Reuters.

Shifts in US policy

Trump has engineered a dramatic change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine and its defense against the Russian invasion. Last week, he falsely blamed Kyiv for starting the war and labeled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.”

On Monday, the U.S. joined Russia in voting against a European-backed resolution at the United Nations Security Council which blamed Moscow for the war and called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump congratulated Merz on his victory.

“Looks like the conservative party in Germany has won the very big and highly anticipated election. Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration that has prevailed for so many years,” Trump wrote, using all capital letters.

Russia, meanwhile, said it would wait to see how relations with the new German chancellor play out.

“Each time we want to hope for a more sober approach to reality, for a more sober approach to what could be issues of mutual interest [between Russia and Germany] and mutual benefits. But let’s see how it will be in reality,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Europe defense

The sudden reversal in U.S. foreign policy has shocked Europe, said analyst Mattia Nelles, founder of the German-Ukrainian Bureau, a policy consultancy based in Dusseldorf.

“We are, as Germany, shocked and utterly unprepared for the end of the Pax Americana, the end of America providing security for Europe. And we now find ourselves in a difficult position to organize the transition away from U.S. being the leading provider of security to a more European-driven approach — not just to Ukraine, but to organizing our own self-defense,” Nelles told VOA.

“And that’s a huge effort. It’s going to require a lot of political will,” he said. “But Merz has said he’s willing to lead on that, and let’s see whether we are able to step up.”

Can Europe afford to pay for its own defense?

“Merz can agree to joint debt on the European level, which the conservatives always hated,” Fix of the Council on Foreign Relations said.

Europe is currently holding around $200 billion of Russian state assets, which were frozen following the invasion.

Merz “can agree to seizing Russian frozen assets, which has not been done so far but should be done soon before Hungary vetoes. He has talked about the U.K. and France having to extend the nuclear umbrella to Germany as a possible pathway,” Fix added.

German debt

In the election campaign, Merz supported maintaining Germany’s so-called “debt brake,” which limits annual government borrowing to only 0.35% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Germany’s budget deficit is among the lowest in the G7 group of nations, although critics say the policy blocks critical investment. Merz has hinted that the debt brake may be eased to boost defense spending.

“Given the challenges at hand, we’re looking at the reform of the so-called debt brake, and that requires constitutional amendments, for which there is not a majority of the centrist parties in parliament,” Nelles noted.

The Christian Democrats are well short of a majority, but Merz has ruled out forming a coalition with the far-right AfD.

Far-right firewall

The so-called “firewall” around the AfD, whereby German centrist parties have refused to rely on parliamentary votes or to enter any coalition with the far right, has been strongly criticized by Washington.

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, echoed those concerns.

“We consider this blockade to be undemocratic. You cannot exclude millions of voters per se,” she told supporters on Monday.

Instead, Merz plans to begin coalition talks with the Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“The conservatives now have to negotiate and change the tone and find constructive agreement with the Social Democrats on the difficult issues ranging from migration to debt reform in Germany, public financing, rebooting the German economic model and of course, on Ukraine,” Nelles said.

Merz said Monday that he hoped a coalition government would be formed by Easter at the latest.

“There’s optimism that there is a reenergized focus now — with Germany soon having a functioning government again and a majority in parliament — reenergizing and joining this coalition of the willing, to rally more support for Ukraine and more support for European defense,” Nelles added.
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Trial begins in Germany for 4 alleged Hamas members

BERLIN — A trial began Tuesday in Germany for four alleged members of U.S.-designated terror group Hamas who are suspected of organizing weapons caches across Europe.

The country’s top prosecutor accuses the men of membership in a foreign terrorist organization. It’s a pilot case for prosecutors, German news agency dpa reported.

“For the first time in Germany, people are facing charges of participating as members of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas,” prosecutor Jochen Weingarten said, according to dpa.

The men are accused of seeking out some weapons depots set up years ago, as well as setting up new ones, for Hamas across Europe so it could later use the firearms and ammunition for attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets on the continent, prosecutors said when filing charges last year.

The weapons were allegedly moved around Europe in preparation for Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, prosecutors said. Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in that attack, and about 250 taken hostage.

The attack triggered Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. The ministry says more than half the dead have been women and children.

Hamas also considered targeting the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, the area around Tempelhof Airport in the capital and the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany, authorities said.

Abdelhamid Al A., Mohamed B., Nazih R. and Ibrahim El-R. were arrested in December 2023. Prosecutors identified them only by their first name and last initial in line with German privacy laws.

All four had important positions within Hamas, prosecutors asserted.

The men allegedly set up a weapons cache in Bulgaria in 2019 and in Denmark later that year. They sought to find a spot in Poland but were unsuccessful, prosecutors said.
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Pope Francis rested well all night, Vatican says

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, who is in critical condition in a hospital battling double pneumonia, rested well throughout the night, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14.

“The pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said in a one-sentence statement.

On Monday, the Vatican said the pontiff’s condition remained critical but had shown a “slight improvement,” adding that the “mild kidney insufficiency,” first reported at the weekend, was not a cause for concern.

Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs, making it difficult to breathe. The Vatican has described the pope’s infection as “complex,” and said it was caused by two or more microorganisms.

Francis, who has been pope since 2013, has suffered bouts of ill health over the past two years. He is particularly prone to lung infections because he developed pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.

Thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Monday evening to pray for the pope’s recovery.

His friend, the Honduran cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, told La Repubblica newspaper: “I think…it’s not time for him to go to heaven yet.”

The pope signaled in early February that he had a bad cold, which meant he could not read out his speeches. Despite this, he continued to work, with multiple daily meetings and even taking part in open-air Masses, despite the chill.

Some well-wishers have said he should have taken better care of himself, but Maradiaga defended his work ethic.

“He is aware that he has a mission he must carry out, and nothing stops him. The pope explained that he did not accept his election (as pontiff) in order to rest,” he said.

In Monday’s statement, the Vatican said Francis had resumed working in his self-contained apartment within the Gemelli hospital, and had called the Catholic parish in Gaza, which the pope has done frequently during the Israel-Hamas war.
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Trump hosts French leader to discuss Ukraine endgame

President Donald Trump said Monday he’s nearing a deal with Ukraine and with Russia to end the war in Ukraine after a packed day of meetings at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump urged Europe to take a bigger role in funding, and Paris pushed for more assurances from Moscow.

The U.S. president pushed his desire for a deal to end the war, which struck its grim third anniversary Monday. He has said this will include an agreement with Ukraine for its critical minerals — a deal he hinted could be signed as soon as next week by Ukraine’s president.

“There’s tremendous distrust on both sides,” Trump said. “That’s why it’s good that I’m coming in now. But I think it’s to the very much benefit of Russia to make a deal and to go on with leading Russia in a very positive way. That’s what you have to do. But I really believe that he wants to make a deal. I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.”

Macron was more circumspect, correcting Trump in the Oval Office when Trump said Europe supported Ukraine with a loan. Macron then warned against trusting Moscow.

“Let’s try to get something first which … can be assessed, checked and verified,” he said in English. “And let’s be sure that we build sufficient guarantees in the short run. And this is where we are ready to be engaged. As for France, a lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged. But we do need this American backup, because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees. And this is our collective deterrence capacity. And I have the feeling that the president has this capacity.”

Analysts spoke of what the two leaders accomplished in their meetings.

“It looks like they agreed to have European peacekeepers enforce the peace between Russia and Ukraine,” said William Pomeranz, a senior scholar at the Wilson Center Kennan Institute. “There are a lot of other side issues that I haven’t really been able to get a hold of, but yes, there are attempts to have a peace agreement and a use of peacekeepers to enforce the agreement between Russia and Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope and emphasized the importance of Washington’s role.

“Our teams are already working productively with the U.S. on an economic agreement, which we hope to sign in Washington,” he said in English. “And President Trump, we would really like to hear from you, because all our people, all our families, are very worried: ‘Will there be support from America? Will America be the leader of the free world?’ And I want to be very honest, very honest with you: For our people, for life in general, it is so important that American support, American assistance remains.”

But other world leaders expressed concerns that Ukraine was kept out of high-level discussions in Saudi Arabia between Washington and Moscow. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently met with Zelenskyy in Ankara, also said Russia hasn’t always been part of the process.

“Apart from the Istanbul process, Russia has been excluded from the tables established so far, and therefore the desired result has not been achieved,” Erdogan said. “If results are to be obtained from the new process, Ukraine must definitely be included in the process, and this war must be ended through mutual negotiations.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that so far, talks have not been specific.

“During the phone conversation and at the meeting in Riyadh, we certainly touched on issues related to the Ukrainian crisis,” he said. “However, it was not discussed in essence. We only agreed that we would approach it. That being said, of course, we are not rejecting the participation of European countries.”

Some analysts warn that Trump’s idea of a deal is not advantageous to Ukraine.

“We have to see this as a move by Donald Trump to undermine the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and in the worst case, as Trump advocating for Russia’s position, which has been in the past that elections have to be part of a negotiation process in Ukraine, although it’s an entirely Ukrainian domestic issue,” said Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“So, it’s not only a back and forth between Trump and Zelenskyy. We do see a broader realignment here of U.S. policy towards a normalization of relations with Russia, where Ukraine is perceived as a problem to this normalization,” she said.

Meanwhile in Europe, as Ukraine somberly marked Monday as the third anniversary of the war, Paris’ most famous icon, the Eiffel Tower, burned brightly in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag.
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