White House Asks Ukraine To Hold Criticism Of Trump, Urges Zelenskyy To Sign Mineral Deal For US

UNSPLASH/Ryan Gerrard ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The White House continued to pressure Kyiv on Thursday with its efforts to end the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Washington urged Ukraine to hold back criticism and immediately sign a mineral deal pushed by US President Donald Trump.

"They need to reduce it and consider it carefully and sign the agreement," said Mike Waltz, White House's national security adviser in an interview with Fox News.

Ukraine's rejection of the mineral deal and how Trump negotiated peace is unacceptable, Waltz said, given everything the United States has done for Ukraine.

Waltz's remarks came a day after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made accusations to each other.

Trump called Zelenskiy a dictator and Zelenskiy said the US president lived in a disinformation bubble and put up points for talks from Moscow.

However, Waltz said the difference between the US and Ukraine could be eased.

"The president (Trump) also said how much he loves the Ukrainian people."

Ukrainian and European leaders strongly refused not to be involved in the peace negotiations that began after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone last week.

Waltz denied that US and Ukrainian allies were not consulted.

"There is a term in diplomacy. This is called inter-pickpocket diplomacy, because it brought everyone to the negotiating table as well as was unsuccessful in the past," he said.

"So we have involved one party, we have involved the other party, and then we will undergo a process that moves forward under the direction and leadership of President Trump," said Waltz.