WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A White House official on Wednesday raised doubts about whether an invitation to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet U.S. President Donald Trump would make sense given Zelenskiy’s comments that a minerals deal is not complete.
“If the Ukrainian leader says the deal isn’t finalized, I don’t see why an invitation would make sense,” the official told Reuters. “There’s an expectation that his coming is to recognize a final position (on the minerals deal) and he is not at a final position in his own words in this new wording.”
The official said Zelenskiy’s latest comments from Kyiv suggest the minerals deal is not completed.
Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that he had reached a “preliminary” deal with the U.S. on minerals.
Trump on Tuesday told reporters he had heard Zelenskiy was coming to the White House on Friday with the expectation that the minerals deal would be signed. He did not say Zelenskiy had been formally invited.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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