US and Ukraine inch closer to signing minerals deal

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

76% : The breakthrough comes after Trump met Zelenskyy in the Vatican over the weekend, in what the US president described as a "beautiful meeting" and praised the Ukrainian leader for "doing a good job".
63% : "I see him as calmer," Trump added.
47% : Senior Ukrainian officials had previously told the Financial Times that the US request to use proceeds from the minerals deal to repay past military assistance could have undermined their nation's sovereignty, potentially scuppering Ukraine's bid to join the EU and would not have been approved by the country's parliament.
45% : "The negotiators were working hard over the weekend," he said, adding that Trump "is determined to make it so".
40% : Trump has viewed the so-called minerals deal to jointly exploit Ukraine's rare earths and other natural resources as a way to recoup the billions of dollars' worth of military aid sent to Kyiv under the administration of Joe Biden -- and to pressure Zelenskyy towards broader peace negotiations.
36% : After that dust-up, Trump insisted that billions of dollars of past US military assistance should be viewed as loans to be repaid through the agreement.
20% : The latest development signals a significant step forward after a signing ceremony on an earlier version of the deal was cancelled in February following the public disagreement in the Oval Office between presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
19% : Critics have attacked Trump for being more critical of and piling more pressure on Kyiv than on Moscow.
17% : I want [Putin] to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal," Trump told reporters on Sunday in a rare criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
15% : " Trump has also expressed deep frustration in recent days towards both Ukraine and Russia over what he perceives as the warring sides not wanting to make concessions to stop Europe's largest war in 80 years.

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