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(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)
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It could have been a scene out of a satirical web series, but it was real. Before we decode the tense, now viral spat among US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office, here’s some context. Our Diplomatic Affairs Editor Suhasini Haidar explains how some sort of a showdown has been in the making, although the nature of this exchange may be unprecedented.
President Trump invited President Zelenskyy to Washington to sign a deal that would give Washington access to Ukraine’s rare earth mineral deposits, in exchange for the White House’s support in ending the three-year war there since Russia’s invasion. Sceptics wondered whether the deal was skewed more in favour of resource extraction by the U.S., rather than a substantial peace-seeking effort, also because the White House appears to have discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin the possibility of Moscow working with U.S. companies to “mine rare earth mineral deposits in both Russia, and parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine”. “When investment deals in this sector are used to blunt and deflect from strategic questions regarding Russian aggression and the large-scale violations of human rights, it becomes considerably harder to distinguish Mr. Trump’s plans for the region from an unapologetic neo-colonial agenda,” The Hindu editorial noted.
It is perhaps too soon to fully grasp the import of President Trump’s decision on Ukraine, withdrawing the decisive support the U.S. lent through the last three years of the conflict, and making any future support contingent on the deal for minerals. What is clear, though, is that Mr. Trump doesn’t see the world divided into two – the free and the authoritarian. For him, it’s the U.S. versus the rest of the world. This worldview allows him to collaborate with an arch rival “for peace” and portray Mr. Zelenskyy, once seen by the U.S. as a hero who stood up to Russia, as an impediment to peace. President Zelenskyy has been left high and dry after Kyiv’s main backer reached out to the Kremlin to bring the war to an end.
Do read our Foreign Affairs Editor Stanly Johny’s profile of the Ukrainian leader, the actor-turned-politician Mr. Zelenskyy and the realities that face him now. After three years of Russia’s relentless war on Ukraine — claiming tens of thousands of civilian lives — Mr. Zelenskyy has lost more than 20% of his country’s territory; his troops stand deterred on the battlefield; his country will not become a member of NATO; he will get no security guarantees from the U.S. And, significantly, America wants a share of Ukraine’s natural resources to recoup the aid it gave to the war-torn country.
Yes to minerals deal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the European leaders’ summit to discuss Ukraine, hosted by Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, at Lancaster House, London, Sunday March 2, 2025. (Toby Melville/Pool via AP)
| Photo Credit:
TOBY MELVILLE
In an indication that he had few options before him, Mr. Zelensky on Sunday (March 2, 2025) told U.K. media that Ukraine is ready to sign a minerals deal with the United States. “The agreement that is on the table will be signed if the parties are ready,” he told a late-night huddle with some U.K. media after a landmark summit in London. “We count on assistance from the United States without a doubt,” media reports quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, our London correspondent Sriram Lakshman has been tracking reactions emerging from leaders in the U.K. and Europe. European leaders expressed their solidarity with President Zelenskyy following his recent acrimonious interaction with Mr. Trump, he reports. The United Kingdom has said it will work with France and other countries to arrive at a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia and present that to Mr. Trump.
The Hindu will continue to bring you updates and analysis on this key development, please do follow our coverage.
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Top 5 stories this week:
1. Will the U.S.’s changed Ukraine policy end the Russia-Ukraine war? Kallol Bhattacherjee speaks to foreign policy experts Kanwal Sibal and Anuradha Chenoy
2. Multiple bullies at work, out to create a ‘multipolar world’ writes Kavita Krishnan
3. A high-stakes power play — Trump, Putin and the Ukraine war – analysis by Rakib Al Hasan
4. T.S. Tirumurti writes on the right’s rise, Europe’s state of denial
5. Joan Sony Cherian writes on Friedrich Merz and Germany’s conservative turn
Published – March 03, 2025 02:31 pm IST
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The View From India newsletter: Trump, Ukraine, and a shaken world order
