Ukraine and the United States remain locked in difficult negotiations over a deal to trade Ukraine’s natural resources for American aid, Ukrainian officials said Sunday morning, as Washington maintains pressure on Kyiv to sign an agreement quickly.
The timing of the talks, which stretched late into Saturday night, according to two Ukrainian officials briefed on the negotiations, coincided with a huge Russian drone assault on Ukrainian cities overnight. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched 267 drones, calling it a record since the war began three years ago. That claim could not be independently confirmed.
The buzz of attack drones flying over buildings echoed through the night in central Kyiv, followed by the sound of heavy machine guns trying to shoot them down. Ukraine said that most of the drones were shot down or disabled by electronic jamming, but that debris from destroyed drones damaged houses and sparked fires in parts of the capital.
On Saturday evening, President Trump ramped up pressure on Ukraine to sign the deal, which has now been under negotiation for more than 10 days. Several draft agreements have already been rejected by the Ukrainian side, because they did not contain specific U.S. security guarantees that would protect Kyiv against further Russian aggression.
“I think we’re pretty close to a deal, and we better be close to a deal,” Mr. Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday evening, noting that he wanted payback for past American military and financial assistance to the war-torn country. He also said, “We’re asking for rare earth and oil — anything we can get.”
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