President Trump backs rare earth deal with Russia

According to RIA Novosti on February 26, US President Donald Trump said he supports the idea of ​​an agreement with Russia on access to rare earth minerals.

"President Trump wants to reach a deal to access Russia's rare earth resources" – Reuters reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin on February 24 that Moscow is ready to offer the United States opportunities for cooperation in the field of rare earth metals, including in new areas. According to President Putin, Russia has much larger reserves of rare earth metals than Ukraine and is one of the leading countries in rare earth metal reserves.

Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russian-US economic cooperation projects will be possible after the conflict in Ukraine is resolved.

Mr. Peskov also noted that Russia has its own plans to develop strategic resources, but this opens up quite broad prospects for cooperation.

Additionally, US President Donald Trump said the US is not currently providing "any" defense assistance to Ukraine.

“We’re not providing anything right now,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on February 25, when asked whether Washington would provide defense assistance.

Besides, Mr. Trump said that Ukraine has enough weapons to continue military operations until Russia and the US reach an agreement to resolve the conflict.

The US leader also announced that in the future, Europe will be responsible for providing military aid to Kiev.