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Trump’s next week in office could include meeting with Zelenskyy, ironing out steel deal

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President Donald Trump kicked off his fourth week in office by attending the Super Bowl in what is expected to be another action-packed work week that could include a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump will land back in Washington, D.C., late Sunday evening after attending the Super Bowl and spending the weekend at Mar-A-Lago. The 47th president hinted that he could hold his first meeting with Zelenskyy since his Jan. 20 inauguration later this week to discuss the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.

“[Zelenskyy] may meet next week, yeah. Whenever he would like. I’m here,” Trump told reporters while hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday.

Trump has already met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose nation is in the midst of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas following more than a year of war, and has vowed to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths for both nations as war continues.

TRUMP SPELLS OUT TAX PLAN FOR HOUSE GOP LEADERS IN WHITE HOUSE MEETING

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President-elect Donald Trump shake hands at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on Dec. 7, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“I will probably be meeting with President Zelenskyy next week. And I’ve… I will probably be talking to President Putin. I’d like to see that war end for one primary reason: They’re killing so many people,” Trump said during the press conference on Friday.

Trump last met with Zelenskyy when he was president-elect in December during a trip to Paris ahead of the Notre Dame Cathedral reopening after a fire ripped through the Catholic church in 2019.

TRUMP’S CUTS TO FOREIGN AID COULD BENEFIT US POSITION IN IRAN NEGOTIATIONS, EXPERT SAYS

“You have 8 or 900,000 Russian soldiers are dead, and very badly wounded. And the same thing with Ukraine, you have probably 700,000 with Ukraine. The numbers they gave are a little bit lower than that. But I believe those numbers aren’t correct. I’d like to see it just on a human basis. It’s terrible what’s going on,” Trump added of the ongoing war during his comments Friday.

Trump confirmed to the New York Post on Friday that he has spoken to Vladimir Putin as the war continues, but did not divulge many details beyond that Putin “wants to see people stop dying.”

Trump suggested earlier last week that Ukraine should strike a deal with the U.S. to provide crucial minerals – such as titanium, lithium, graphite and uranium – in exchange for military aid.

“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earths. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do [that],” Trump told reporters at the White House last Monday.

Zelenskyy told the media a day later that he is open to an “investment” from “partners who help us defend our land and push the enemy back with their weapons, their presence, and sanctions packages.”

“And this is absolutely fair,” he added.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 7, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump is also expected to meet with the CEO of Nippon Steel this week, which is Japan’s largest steel company. The Biden administration had blocked a nearly $15 billion deal for the Japanese company to buy the American steelmaker, U.S. Steel, with Trump previewing last week that Nippon is now looking to invest in U.S. Steel as opposed to purchasing it.

TRUMP SIGNS LAKEN RILEY ACT INTO LAW AS FIRST LEGISLATIVE VICTORY IN NEW ADMINISTRATION

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting via a videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, March 17, 2023. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Nippon Steel “is going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel,” Trump said on Friday. “They’ll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase.”

“Very great company and they’ll work out the details,” Trump said of Nippon, mistakenly referring to it as “Nissan,” a Japanese car company on first reference. “I’ll help. I’ll be there to mediate and arbitrate.”

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED DURING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SECOND WEEK IN OFFICE

The president is in the midst of leveraging tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China to bolster border security, end illegal immigration and stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Trump previewed on Friday that this week will include him announcing “reciprocal trade” tariffs on other nations, as opposed to a flat 10% or 20% tariff on other nations, as he has previously threatened.

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“I’ll be announcing that next week, reciprocal trade, so that we’re treated evenly with other countries,” he told reporters on Friday, saying the announcement should come by Monday or Tuesday. “We don’t want any more, any less.”

“I think that’s the only fair way to do it that way nobody’s hurt,” the president continued. “They charge us, we charge them. It’s the same thing, and I seem to be going in that line as opposed to a flat fee tariff.”

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In addition to anticipated foreign relations and international trade announcements and meetings, Trump’s administration is expected to continue its investigations of the federal government’s various agencies as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s quest to suss out internal corruption and government overspending.

Trump’s schedule for the week was not yet released as of Sunday afternoon, beyond attending the Super Bowl before flying back to the White House late Sunday evening.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this article.

February 9, 2025
Trump plans to meet with Zelenskyy as he looks to end Ukraine war

President Donald Trump may soon meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“He may meet next week, yeah. Whenever he would like. I’m here,” Trump told reporters while hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday.

Trump said that the meeting likely would be held in Washington, D.C., because he wouldn’t go to Ukraine.

Trump also said there was a possibility he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that the two have always had a “very good relationship.”

TRUMP AND ‘NO ONE ELSE’ CAN END THE UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR, US ALLY SAYS

President Donand Trump said he likely would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, as he wouldn’t be going to Ukraine. (Efrem Lukatsky/The Associated Press)

“That’s why it is so sad that this happened,” Trump said, appearing to reference Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “This never would have happened if I were president.”

Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in New York in September 2024, urged Putin to cease the war — or face sanctions — in a post on Truth Social on Jan. 22.

“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,” Trump said. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said he backed issuing harsher sanctions on Russia during his confirmation hearing Jan. 16 to expedite the end of the war.

TRUMP’S ‘RARE’ PRICE FOR US MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE CALLED ‘FAIR’ BY ZELENSKYY

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he backed issuing harsher sanctions on Russia during his confirmation hearing Jan. 16. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

According to retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Trump is the only person that could end the conflict.

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“The only person that Putin will really want to talk to — because he’s kind of denigrated other leaders that are out there — is President Trump, and President Trump’s the only one who can bring this to a conclusion,” Kellogg told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.

February 7, 2025
Zelenskyy wants nukes or NATO; Trump special envoy says ‘slim and none’ chance

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week said that if the U.S. cannot guarantee a quick path toward NATO membership, then there are alternative security options Kyiv would accept: nuclear weapons.

But don’t think the United States is eager to agree to those terms.

“The chance of them getting their nuclear weapons back is somewhere between slim and none,” retired Lt. General Keith Kellogg, special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News Digital. “Let’s be honest about it, we both know that’s not going to happen.”

In 1994, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine agreed to give Russia its nuclear arms in exchange for reassurances from Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. that its sovereignty and independence would be respected – a treaty Moscow has violated with its repeated invasions – and in an interview on Tuesday, Zelenskyy argued that Ukraine should be given its arms “back” if a timely NATO membership is off the table.

TRUMP UNIQUELY PLACED TO ‘WHISPER’ IN ERDOGAN’S EAR OVER TURKISH REGIONAL AMBITIONS: GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, says Kyiv should be given NATO membership or nukes to defend against Russia. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

But Kellogg, the man tasked by President Donald Trump to help bring an end to the three-year war, said rearming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is a non-starter.

“Remember, the president said we’re a government of common sense,” he said. “When somebody says something like that, look at the outcome or the potential. That’s using your common sense.”

Zelenskyy on Tuesday confirmed his willingness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face if that is the best option for bringing an end to the war, though the Kremlin chief has not agreed to any in-person meeting with the Ukrainian leader.

Trump on Sunday said that initial talks had begun with both Ukraine and Russia, and Kellogg this week confirmed that Kyiv and Moscow will need to make concessions if there is going to be a peace deal.

TRUMP’S ‘RARE’ PRICE FOR US MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE CALLED ‘FAIR’ BY ZELENSKYY

The administration has been tight-lipped on what sort of compromises will need to be made, particularly when it comes to the biggest hot-button issue for both Zelenskyy and Putin: Ukrainian NATO membership.

Kellogg wouldn’t comment on where Trump lands when it comes to backing either Ukraine with a membership in the security alliance or Russia in denying its southern neighbor access to the top coalition.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File)

“That’s one of the reasons I’m going next week to Europe, to actually see them face-to-face,” he said. “I can bring that back to the president and say, ‘OK, Mr. President, this is their concern. This is what the issues are.’”

Kellogg is set to travel to the Munich Security Conference, which runs Feb. 14-16, where he said he will meet with world leaders to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and get a better idea of where nations like the U.K., Germany and Denmark, along with other top providers of military aid to Ukraine, stand on negotiations to end the war.

ZELENSKYY WARNS PEACE TALKS WITHOUT UKRAINE ‘DANGEROUS’ AFTER TRUMP CLAIMS MEETINGS WITH RUSSIA ‘GOING WELL’

“As you develop the plans to end this carnage, you have to make sure that you’ve got the feel of everybody in play,” Kellogg said. “Once we get to have these face-to-face discussions, then you can really kind of work … on concessions.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last month urged member nations to increase their support for Ukraine, an issue he said is vastly important when it comes to bolstering NATO deterrence in the face of the Russia, China, North Korea, Iran bloc.

Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower in New York on Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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“If we get a bad deal, it would only mean that we will see the president of Russia high-fiving with the leaders of North Korea, Iran and China, and we cannot accept that,” Rutte said. “That will be geopolitically a big, a big mistake.”

Rutte has urged NATO nations to ramp up defense spending and warned that if Russia comes out on top in this war, it will cost NATO allies “trillions” not “billions.”

Kellogg will also press NATO allies to increase defense spending and, as directed by Trump, to start shouldering the burden of the war in Ukraine.

February 6, 2025
Zelenskyy open to Trump’s trade proposal of rare earth minerals for military aid

President Donald Trump suggested Ukraine begin offering critical minerals to the U.S. in exchange for military aid, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seemingly welcomed the idea.

“We’re putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. They have great rare earths. And I want security of the rare earth, and they’re willing to do (that),” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday, in a sign that he may be open to continuing aid to the war-ravaged country.

Zelenskyy told reporters Tuesday that Ukraine was open to an “investment” from “partners who help us defend our land and push the enemy back with their weapons, their presence, and sanctions packages.”

“And this is absolutely fair,” he added.

ZELENSKYY WARNS PEACE TALKS WITHOUT UKRAINE ‘DANGEROUS’ AFTER TRUMP CLAIMS MEETINGS WITH RUSSIA ‘GOING WELL’

President Donald Trump suggested Ukraine begin offering critical minerals to the U.S. in exchange for military aid, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seemingly welcomed the idea. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

Zelenskyy had been trying to develop the untapped resources, offering tax breaks and investment rights to outside entities looking to mine the minerals in 2021, before the start of the war. The Ukrainian leader pitched the mining of such minerals as part of the victory plan he drew up last year and pitched to U.S. lawmakers.

Ukraine has strategic reserves of titanium, lithium, graphite and uranium, but much of its critical minerals are in areas currently under occupation by Russia. Donetsk, Luhansk and Dnipropetrovsk are all some of the most mineral-rich regions, meaning Ukraine would need to take back territory to get them out.

Zelenskyy revealed Ukrainian leaders have had contact with U.S. officials, including Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, and are nailing down a time for them to visit.

ZELENSKYY PRAISES TRUMP FOR ‘JUST AND FAIR’ RHETORIC TOWARD RUSSIA: ‘EXACTLY WHAT PUTIN IS AFRAID OF’

Zelenskyy seemingly agreed with Trump’s rare earth mineral suggestion. (Reuters/Alina Smutko)

“We have working dates when the American team will come. The dates and composition are being coordinated right now. We are waiting for the team and will work together,” Zelenskyy said.

Congress has approved around $175 billion in aid for Ukraine – consisting of military and economic assistance – since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Russia framed the Trump idea as proof the U.S. no longer wanted to give free aid to Ukraine – but suggested they’d rather the U.S. did not offer any aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine has been fighting off Russia’s invasion since February 2022. (Reuters/Ivan Antypenko)

“If we call things as they are, this is a proposal to buy help — in other words, not to give it unconditionally, or for some other reasons, but specifically to provide it on a commercial basis,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday.

“It would be better, of course, for the assistance to not be provided at all, as that would contribute to the end of this conflict,” he added.

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Trump’s suggestion “very egotistic, very self-centered,” and said Ukraine would need its resources to finance postwar rebuilding.

China is by far the biggest producer of rare earth minerals, used in smartphones, electric vehicles, household appliances and even cancer drugs. It accounts for around 70% of global production.

February 4, 2025
Zelenskyy warns peace talks without Ukraine ‘dangerous’ after Trump claims meetings with Russia ‘going well’

Excluding Ukraine from U.S.-led talks involving the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv’s eastern front would set a “dangerous” precedent to dictators across the globe, warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“If there will be direct talks between America and Russia without Ukraine, it is very dangerous, I think,” Zelenskyy said in a Saturday interview with the Associated Press. “They may have their own relations, but talking about Ukraine without us – it is dangerous for everyone.”

Zelenskyy argued that doing so would validate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion and “show that he was right” because he received “impunity” and “compromise.”

“This will mean that anyone can act like this. And this will be a signal to other leaders of the big countries who think about [doing]… something similar,” he said.

ZELENSKYY PRAISES TRUMP FOR ‘JUST AND FAIR’ RHETORIC TOWARD RUSSIA: ‘EXACTLY WHAT PUTIN IS AFRAID OF’

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference at the Ukraine peace summit in Obbürgen, Switzerland, on June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

The Ukrainian president’s comments came before President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested that his administration had already begun talks with Moscow and claimed they were “going pretty well.”

“We have meetings and talks scheduled with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia. And I think those discussions are actually going pretty well,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

On Friday, Trump refused to say whether he had spoken directly with Putin and wouldn’t detail who in his administration had begun talks with Moscow, though he insisted the two sides were “already talking” and had engaged in “very serious” discussions.

Speaking with Fox News on Friday, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg said, “Everybody is pulling together” on ending the three-year-long war in Ukraine.

“It’s important because we realize it is actually in our national security interest to get this war resolved,” Kellogg said. “When you look at the money the United States has provided, which is over $174 billion, when you look at the alliance that has now formed with Russia, with North Korea, with China and Iran – that wasn’t there before.”

Ukrainian infantrymen with the 28th Brigade take cover along the frontline on March 5, 2023, outside of Bakhmut, Ukraine. (John Moore/Getty Images)

TRUMP SAYS UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY IS READY TO NEGOTIATE A DEAL TO END WAR WITH RUSSIA

Despite the U.S. pledge to send Ukraine more than $175 billion worth of military aid, Zelenskyy said over the weekend that Ukraine hasn’t received anywhere near this much support, telling the Associated Press that in terms of military aid, Kyiv has only received some $75 billion worth.

It remains unclear where the remainder $100 billion in military support has gone, and the White House did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s questions on the matter.

Kellogg also told Fox News that Trump “will lead” the negotiations and said, “I think most people should be very comfortable in the fact that he knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows where to apply pressure, where not to apply pressure. But more importantly, that he will create leverage, leverage both with Ukrainians and the Russians.”

The special envoy didn’t specify how Trump will apply this pressure to both Moscow and Kyiv, though Putin and Zelenskyy have made clear that negotiating on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance is a non-starter.

Zelenskyy argued Trump could get Putin to the negotiating table by threatening to increase sanctions on Russia’s energy and banking systems, along with continued military aid to Ukraine.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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The Ukrainian president also argued that Trump should back Ukraine’s push to join the NATO security alliance as it would be the “cheapest” option for Ukraine’s allies.

Ukraine’s admittance into the NATO alliance would likely protect Kyiv against the threat of another Russian invasion, as it would grant the country security guarantees under Article Five, which says an attack on one nation “shall be considered an attack against them all.”

However, Putin has long threatened nuclear escalation should Ukraine be granted admittance to the international security alliance.

Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.

February 3, 2025