Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that a minerals deal with the US could not work if it asked Ukraine to return the value of aid already given by Washington.

Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said false statements about his ratings and amounts of US aid are dangerous steps to weaken Ukraine.

Ukraine can keep fighting Russia for the rest of the year with European support, Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said.

“Ukraine can fight on its own with our European support for the rest of this year, and I think Putin has to take this into account,” Sikorski told CNN in an interview on Sunday.

Asked if his impression after talking to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was that Ukraine would be offered security guarantees by Washington, Sikorski said the best guarantee for Ukraine was its almost million-man army, resisting Russian aggression.

“If you’d asked me three years ago where Ukraine and Russia would be in this war in three years’ time, I don’t think either of us would have guessed that Russia would only capture 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory,” Sikorski said.

“But if we are to have a durable peace, it has to be one that both sides can live with, above all, the victim of aggression.”

Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believed US President Donald Trump’s team saw a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia as the end of the war.

Kyiv has long argued that it needs to see a long-term resolution to the war for it to feel secure due to the threat of a renewed Russian attack.

Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and treasury secretary Scott Bessent have said on Sunday they expected that an agreement would be signed this week on US access to Ukraine’s critical mineral deposits.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wavered “in his commitment towards that a week ago,” Witkoff said in a CNN ‘State of the Union’ interview on Sunday, referring to the Ukrainian leader’s rejection of the original US proposal. “The president [Trump] sent the message to him. He’s not wavering any more.”

Zelensky realised “that we have done so much [for Ukraine] … and I think you’ll see it [the deal] signed this week,” continued Witkoff.

Zelensky had previously 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.

“The deal will be signed,” Bessent said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday, adding he was “hopeful” it will happen in the coming week.

The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said on Sunday that the next round of negotiations with the US over a deal will continue.

Sir Keir Starmer and the Nato secretary-general agreed there could be “no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine” in a call on Sunday evening.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister spoke with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte this evening.

“Ahead of the three-year anniversary of Russia’s barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Prime Minister began by underscoring that Ukraine must be in the strongest position possible.

“The leaders agreed that there could be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine. They agreed it was important for Europe to step up in order to ensure European security.

“The Prime Minister said he would continue to have these vital discussions with international partners, including during his visit to Washington DC.

“They agreed to speak soon.”

None of us will ever forget where we were on that grim morning three years ago when Vladimir Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As footage of missile strikes raining down on Ukrainian cities played on screens, it felt at times as if Putin might have struck a decisive blow not just against Ukraine, but against the democratic values we share with our Ukrainian friends.

It felt like a weak and divided West – still reeling from the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan months prior, and, in the case of Europe, still addicted to cheap Russian gas – would struggle to unite and provide Ukrainians with the support they needed.

But Putin underestimated the deep strength of the ideals that we share with our allies, including Ukraine, and the power of those fundamental values: democracy, truth, and liberty. We were able to come together and enable brave Ukrainians to repel Putin’s advances, and even to reclaim some of their territory.

The Trump administration reportedly threatened to cut off Ukraine’s access to Starlink, which has been a lifeline in providing internet access to the country during the war with Russia, during negotiations over access to valuable minerals.

Keith Kellog, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, raised the prospect this week of turning off service to Starlink if the two countries don’t strike a deal over crucial minerals, an unnamed source told Reuters.

The Ukrainian intelligence soldier doesn’t know how long his clinical death lasted after an explosive detonated beneath him.

All Andrii Rubliuk remembers is overwhelming cold, darkness and fear. When he regained consciousness in his shattered body — missing both arms and his left leg — excruciating pain engulfed him, and hallucinations clouded his mind.

“It’s an experience you wouldn’t wish on anyone,” the now 38-year-old says.

Two years later, Rubliuk is again dressed in military fatigues, his missing limbs replaced by prosthetics — hooks in place of fingers, one leg firmly planted on an artificial limb.