 "'Tone it down, sign that deal': Waltz urges Ukraine to finalise minerals deal amid tensions with Trump")
The White House on Thursday intensified its efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, urging Kyiv to tone down its criticisms and quickly finalise a minerals deal pushed by US President Donald Trump.
“They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal,” Fox News quoted Mike Waltz, the White House National Security Adviser, as saying.
Waltz said that Ukraine’s resistance to the minerals deal and Trump’s approach to peace talks is completely unacceptable, considering all that the US has done for Ukraine.
His comments came after a heated exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where Trump labeled Zelenskyy a “dictator”, and Zelenskyy accused the US president of being trapped in a “disinformation space” and echoing Moscow’s talking points.
However, Waltz said US differences with Ukraine were not irreconcilable, saying, “The president also said how much he loves the Ukrainian people.”
Ukraine and European leaders have expressed concern about being excluded from peace talks that began following last week’s phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Waltz refuted claims that US allies and Ukraine were not being consulted.
“There’s a term for this in diplomacy. It’s called shuttle diplomacy, because bringing everybody to the table at once just hasn’t worked in the past,” he was quoted as saying.
“So we’ve engaged one side, we’ve engaged the other side, and then we’re going to have a process moving forward under President Trump’s direction and leadership,” Waltz added.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMeanwhile, after a meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv, US envoy Keith Kellogg has cancelled his press conference.
According to The Guardian report, citing Ukrainian officials, Kellogg would not be taking questions from the press and would only appear for a photocall and protocol handshake.
According to Reuters, the press conference was cancelled at the US request.
One senior Ukrainian source described Zelenskyy as engaged and “highly motivated”.
He said it was unclear if Kellogg would take up the president’s invitation to visit the frontline together. Kellogg is due to leave Kyiv on Friday evening.
Asked what Zelenskyy made of the dictator remark one aide smiled and walked off.
With inputs from agencies
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