Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that officials from his country and the US were working on concluding an economic deal to ensure that the accord worked and was fair to Kyiv.
In Washington, US President Donald Trump said negotiators were close to clinching an accord.
Zelensky rejected an initial proposal focusing on cooperation around metals, saying it was “not a serious conversation” and not in Ukraine’s interests.
“Today, the teams of Ukraine and the United States are working on a draft agreement between our governments,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“This agreement has the potential to strengthen our relations and, most importantly, the details must be arranged in such a way that ensures it works. I am hoping for a result, a fair result.”
Zelensky’s comments followed a conversation between his chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. The Ukrainian president’s office said the two men discussed “aligning positions” in bilateral relations.
Yermak “stressed the importance of maintaining bilateral cooperation and a high level of relations between Ukraine and the United States,” according to the president’s office.
Waltz said on Friday he expected Zelensky to sign the minerals agreement with the US as part of efforts to end the Ukraine war.
“Here’s the bottom line, President Zelensky is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term,” Waltz told the Conservative Political Action Conference on the outskirts of Washington.
Zelensky rejected US demands for $500 billion in mineral wealth from Ukraine to repay Washington for wartime aid, saying the US had supplied nowhere near that sum.
He also said the proposed deal offered none of the security guarantees that Ukraine is seeking as part of a peace settlement.
Zelensky became involved in barbed exchanges with Trump this week over approaches to a peace settlement and the opening of US-Russian talks to which Ukraine was not invited.
Trump branded the Ukrainian leader “a dictator without elections,” a reference to Zelensky remaining in office beyond his mandate without calling a wartime election.
In his address, Zelensky provided details of telephone calls he made to European and African leaders — including Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden.
“The main conclusion is that Europe must and can do considerably more so that peace can realistically be achieved,” he said.
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Zelensky: Ukraine, US working on economic deal to ensure it works
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Zelensky: Ukraine, US working on economic deal to ensure it works
- Zelensky became involved in barbed exchanges with Trump this week over approaches to a peace settlement
Japan ruling party approves plans to beef up intelligence
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party has approved plans to beef up the country’s intelligence capability, a party official said Friday, as the premier pushes ahead with a defense overhaul.
Newly empowered after a landslide victory in snap elections this month, Takaichi has vowed to make Japan “strong and prosperous” through key policy changes including in defense and intelligence.
The plans come as a months-long diplomatic row between Japan and China over comments Takaichi made on Taiwan rumbles on.
The proposal, agreed by the intelligence strategy headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), includes establishing an upgraded intelligence bureau and strengthening “foreign intelligence collection capabilities,” an LDP official told AFP.
It calls for a mandatory registration system for foreign agents — such as individuals and corporations lobbying within Japan on behalf of other governments — as part of counterintelligence measures.
The plan, which also includes a ban on the use of mobile phones in key government buildings, is expected to be submitted to Takaichi next week, the Asahi Shimbun and other local media reported.
“One of the central pillars of the major policy shift (under Takaichi) is a fundamental strengthening of intelligence,” the LDP’s policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said at the meeting Thursday where plans were approved.
“Simply creating an organization on paper is utterly meaningless; the question is how we can turn it into a truly living, functioning body,” he said.
Separately, the LDP on Wednesday proposed changes to Japan’s stringent rules on exporting military equipment so as to enable exports of lethal weapons, local reports said.
The LDP official could not immediately confirm the proposal.
Takaichi has also said that she plans to revise three key national security policy documents this year to reflect the changing security environment.
The premier, seen as a China hawk before becoming premier in October, suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.
China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.
It summoned Tokyo’s ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and in December J-15 jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan.
Takaichi has vowed that Japan will steadfastly protect its territory, territorial waters and airspace.
Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference earlier this month that forces in Japan were seeking to “revive militarism.”
While she has said in parliament she will not change the rules, local media have reported that Takaichi is considering allowing US nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, a revision to the country’s non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or permitting the introduction of the weapons into the country.
Newly empowered after a landslide victory in snap elections this month, Takaichi has vowed to make Japan “strong and prosperous” through key policy changes including in defense and intelligence.
The plans come as a months-long diplomatic row between Japan and China over comments Takaichi made on Taiwan rumbles on.
The proposal, agreed by the intelligence strategy headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), includes establishing an upgraded intelligence bureau and strengthening “foreign intelligence collection capabilities,” an LDP official told AFP.
It calls for a mandatory registration system for foreign agents — such as individuals and corporations lobbying within Japan on behalf of other governments — as part of counterintelligence measures.
The plan, which also includes a ban on the use of mobile phones in key government buildings, is expected to be submitted to Takaichi next week, the Asahi Shimbun and other local media reported.
“One of the central pillars of the major policy shift (under Takaichi) is a fundamental strengthening of intelligence,” the LDP’s policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said at the meeting Thursday where plans were approved.
“Simply creating an organization on paper is utterly meaningless; the question is how we can turn it into a truly living, functioning body,” he said.
Separately, the LDP on Wednesday proposed changes to Japan’s stringent rules on exporting military equipment so as to enable exports of lethal weapons, local reports said.
The LDP official could not immediately confirm the proposal.
Takaichi has also said that she plans to revise three key national security policy documents this year to reflect the changing security environment.
The premier, seen as a China hawk before becoming premier in October, suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.
China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.
It summoned Tokyo’s ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and in December J-15 jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan.
Takaichi has vowed that Japan will steadfastly protect its territory, territorial waters and airspace.
Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference earlier this month that forces in Japan were seeking to “revive militarism.”
While she has said in parliament she will not change the rules, local media have reported that Takaichi is considering allowing US nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, a revision to the country’s non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or permitting the introduction of the weapons into the country.
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