Ukraine-Russia struggle newest: Trump unveils Zelensky letter praising him and providing to signal minerals deal

France is working on re-establishing the link between the US and Ukraine so that a “lasting and robust peace” can be obtained, government spokesperson Sophie Primas said today.

“We have proposed a truce. That is what is being studied within the negotiations with the United States. France and Europe are trying to reestablish a link between the United States and Ukraine,” Ms Primas told LCI television.

President Emmanuel Macron has said France and Britain are proposing a partial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine as part of European diplomacy efforts following the acrimonious meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and president Donald Trump in the Oval Office last Friday.

British defence minister John Healey will meet US defence secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington tomorrow to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine, Britain’s ministry of defence said.

After meetings with world leaders at the weekend, British prime minister Keir Starmer said he would continue to speak with friends and allies to secure a path to a lasting peace.

“We will advance that work in Washington over the coming days,” Healey said in a statement today.

The foreign secretary’s visit comes as European leaders race to draw up a peace plan to present to Washington after Donald Trump paused military aid to Ukraine on Monday following a fallout with Volodymyr Zelensky.

Donald Trump made no direct reference to his pausing of US military aid for Ukraine during his address to Congress, though he did bemoan the “hundreds of billions” of dollars already spent.

His tactic – to threaten to withdraw US weapons – appears to have earned him a commitment from Volodymyr Zelensky to enter negotiations to end the war.

Mr Trump’s $350bn figure is disputed, but he is correct that the US has been Ukraine’s biggest military backer since Russia’s full-scale invasion began three years ago.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, the US has been providing Ukraine with “artillery ammunition, armoured vehicles, towed howitzers, Patriot air defence batteries, and long-range rocket and missile systems such as HIMARS and ATACMS — many of which are sophisticated systems that only the United States can supply.”

“Pauses in this aid will harm Ukraine’s warfighting capabilities, although it will likely take from weeks to months for the suspension of US aid to affect the frontline,” the ISW said.

Democrat leader Elissa Slotkin, a first-term senator from Michigan, has called out Donald Trump’s efforts on the Ukraine war, saying that he would have lost the US the Cold War.

“President Trump loves to promise ‘peace through strength.’ That’s actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling over in his grave,” she said in a democrat rebuke to the US president’s address to the Congress.

She went on: “We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity. And that scene in the Oval Office wasn’t just a bad episode of reality TV. It summed up Trump’s whole approach to the world.”

“He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends, like Canada, in the teeth. He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions,” Ms Slotkin said.

“As a Cold War kid, I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War. Donald Trump’s actions suggest that, in his heart, he doesn’t believe we are an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn’t think we should lead the world,” she said.

Donald Trump was evidently pleased enough with Volodymyr Zelensky’s letter to read it out in full during his address to Congress.

Here’s what it said, as per the US president’s delivery: “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.

“Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.

“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence.

“Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it at any time that is convenient for you.”

Donald Trump has said Ukraine is ready for peace and repeated his words that it is time to “end this senseless war”.

“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,” Mr Trump said in an address to Congress on Tuesday while quoting from the letter.

Mr Trump also said he had been in “serious discussions with Russia” and had “received strong signals that they are ready for peace”.

“Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” he said. “It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars you have to talk to both sides,” he said today.

Mr Trump was expected to further outline his plans for Ukraine and Russia in the speech to Congress, but did not reveal any further details on how he plans to end Europe’s biggest conflict since the Second World War.

He also said Ukraine was ready to sign a minerals deal with the US.

Donald Trump read out the letter he had received from the Ukrainian president in full, before adding: “I appreciate that he sent this letter.”

It represents an important public signal of thawing relations after the two clashed in the Oval Office late last week.

The wording of Mr Zelensky’s letter was similar to a post he shared on social media earlier in the evening.

That message described the pair’s explosive White House meeting as “regrettable”.

Mr Trump’s handling of the meeting with Mr Zelensky has seen a domestic backlash in the US, with JD Vance confronted by pro-Ukraine protesters during a holiday to Vermont and Democrat leaders holding up Ukrainian flags during Tuesday night’s address to Congress.

Donald Trump reiterated his wish to end the war in Ukraine while failing to blame Russia for starting the conflict as he addressed the US Congress.

“2,000 people have been killed every single week, more than that. They’re young Russian people, young Ukrainian people. They’re not Americans but I want them to stop.”

The US president also blamed Europe for buying Russian oil.

“And we’ve spent perhaps $350bn, like taking candy from a baby. That’s what happened. And they’ve spent a $100bn. What a difference that is. And we have an ocean separating us. And they don’t.

“But we’re getting along with them very well. Lots of good things are happening.”

Donald Trump says he has received a letter from Volodymyr Zelensky praising his “strong leadership” and that the Ukrainian president is ready to sign a proposed rare earth minerals deal.

The remarks came in Mr Trump’s address to Congress, his first speech since pausing US military aid to Ukraine.

“Earlier today, I received an important letter from president Zelensky of Ukraine. The letter reads, ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians,’ he said,” Mr Trump said.