Senior advisers in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump are preparing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, according to an Associated Press interview with retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg.
Kellogg, a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said planning continues for talks with Zelenskyy at the annual conference.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kellogg are among those who could participate in the sideline conversations with Ukraine’s president, AP reported.
Trump has been critical about how much the war is costing the U.S. and has said European countries should repay the U.S. for helping Ukraine.
During his campaign, Trump said if he were elected president, he would bring a swift end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, but he did not specify how he would accomplish that.
Recently, he has said that he wants to make a deal with Ukraine to continue U.S. support in exchange for access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
On Monday, AP reported the president said there are people currently working on a money-for-minerals-deal with Ukraine.
“We have people over there today who are making a deal that, as we give money, we get minerals and we get oil and we get all sorts of things," Trump said.
Kellogg told AP that “the economics of that would allow for further support to the Ukrainians.”
Meanwhile, Russian drone attacks caused a fire in Kyiv, injured a woman in Sumy and damaged several homes, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Russian military reported downing 15 Ukrainian drones overnight, including seven in the Krasnodar region.
Nobody was hurt as a result of the fire in Kyiv, which was sparked in a non-residential building, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Five houses were damaged and a woman was reportedly injured in the northeastern city of Sumy, regional governor Ihor Kalchenko said on Telegram.
Material from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse was used in this report.
