The UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the White House on Thursday for his first meeting with Donald Trump since the latter was sworn in as the US President in January.
The visit began with the Briton handing over a letter with what he called a "really special" invitation from King Charles to visit Windsor Castle, which Trump accepted.
In front of journalists, the two leaders then spoke mainly about Ukraine.
The President said that they had come a long way with a peace agreement, and that such an agreement must be in place before peacekeeping forces can be deployed in Ukraine.
Creating security in Ukraine is the easy part, the agreement is the hard part, Trump said according to Sky News, thus pushing back against European leaders who see security guarantees as an important part of the ceasefire talks.
Signing an agreement
Trump also confirmed that he and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will sign an agreement on rare earth metals when Zelensky visits the White House on Friday.
According to Trump, the agreement itself, which involves Americans being present in Ukraine, will serve as a security mechanism.
Trump did not respond to a question about what he would do if Russia's President Vladimir Putin did not follow a potential agreement with Ukraine.
- I think he will keep his word, he said instead.
On another occasion, he said that he has a "very good relationship" with Putin.
Toning down accusation
Trump also toned down a previous statement, when he without basis called Zelensky a "dictator".
Did I say that? I can't believe I said that, Trump replied when reporters asked about the statement.
It was last week that Trump went out on his platform Truth Social and called his Ukrainian counterpart a "dictator who doesn't hold elections" without evidence.
After a meeting behind closed doors, a joint press conference was held where the two leaders largely repeated what they had said before – without any sensational outbursts from Trump.
