Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump will walk away from peace talks without breakthrough very soon, US says

It’s likely to take a decade for the financial payoff of the minerals deal between the Ukraine.

Investors are facing hurdles to get new mines into production in the war-ravaged country.

Developing mines that produce strategically important minerals in countries with established mining sectors such as Canada and Australia can take 10 to 20 years, mining consultants said on Thursday, per Reuters.

Most mineral deposits in Ukraine have little data to confirm they are economically viable. Investors may also baulk at funnelling money into a country where infrastructure such as power and transport has been devastated by Russia’s three-year-old full-scale invasion and future security is not guaranteed.

“If anyone’s thinking suddenly all these minerals are going to be flying out of Ukraine, they’re dreaming,” said Adam Webb, head of minerals at consultancy Benchmark Minerals Intelligence.

“The reality is it’s going to be difficult for people to justify investing money there when there are options to invest in critical minerals in countries that are not at war.”

US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce clarified that the US-Ukraine minerals deal was a “goal to solve something”, but shouldn’t be looked at as a statement about Russia.

She said of the deal: “It is something that is with a goal to solve something”.

“I don’t think we should look at the minerals deal as a statement about Russia, or if you talk to Putin on the phone it’s not a statement about something else. Trump has been very clear about his mission, and that is how we should have – we should look at through that lens.”

A man and woman are in serious condition following a drone strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia.

Ivan Fedorov, the region’s governor’, said that four more people were in moderate condition, totalling six people in the hospital under medical supervision.

He said that a further 24 people were being treated at home after receiving medical care.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce has said that the country will not be mediators in global conflicts, amid pressure to place secondary sanctions on Russia.

Responding to a question about Moscow’s persistent bombing of Ukraine, and the fact Putin has not agreed to a ceasefire, Ms Bruce sidestepped the notion of more sanctions, while saying they weren’t removing any sanctions that currently exist.

“We are not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to mediate meetings, that it is now between the two parties, and now – now is the time that they need to present and develop concrete ideas about how this conflict is going to end”, she said. “It’s going to be up to them.”

Ukraine’s prime minister Yaroslav Zheleznyak told parliament on Friday that two of the three documents related to a minerals deal with the United States would not need to be ratified, lawmaker he wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers registered the law project to ratify the minerals deal with the U.S. late on Thursday, according to the parliamentary database.

Marco Rubio has argued that the US has “even more important issues” happening around the world that it has to deal with than the war in Ukraine.

“This is not our war,” he said on Fox News’s ‘Hannity’ show.

“We got so many and I would argue, even more important issues going on around the world, – not that a war in Ukraine is not important,” he said.

“But I would say what is happening with China is more important in the long term for the future of the world; obviously, Iran’s nuclear ambition, you know, all these other things that we have going on.

“So at some point in time, it either has to be something that can happen, but we’ll need to move on. That will be a decision the President will have to make.”

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has warned that Donald Trump could walk away from peace talks if there is no major breakthrough soon.

Speaking on Fox News, Mr Rubio said Ukraine and Russia were “still far apart”, and said Trump was the only person who could talk to both sides, “and hopefully bring them to a deal”.

“We kind of can see what it would take for Ukraine to stop. We can see what it would take for the Russians to stop. The problem is, those two positions are still a little far apart,” he said on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” show on Thursday night.

“It’s going to take a real breakthrough here very soon to make this possible, or I think the President is going to have to make a decision about how much more time we’re going to dedicate to this.”

Emergency services fought fires and rescued the injured after an overnight Russian drone attack in Zaporizhzhia.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the historic agreement with the US will be ratified soon, “and we are interested in having no delays with it”.

The Ukrainian president said negotiators did a good job, creating “truly an equal partnership” between the US and Ukraine.

“The agreement foresees no debt. It stipulates the establishment of a Reconstruction Fund that will invest in Ukraine and generate returns in Ukraine,” he said.

“This means joint work with America, based on fair terms, allowing both Ukraine and the United States, which supports us in our defence, to make money in partnership.”