The latest updates on events in Ukraine, Russia, and the USA for the morning of February 23 are compiled by Tengrinews.kz.
Trump believes a deal on the conflict in Ukraine will be reached "this week"
U.S. President Donald Trump is confident that an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine can be achieved as soon as this week. This was stated by White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt.
"The President and his team are focused on negotiations with both sides to bring this conflict to an end, and he is firmly convinced that we can accomplish this within the week," she said.
The administration representative added that Washington continues its active diplomatic efforts, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz will be working around the clock this weekend to reach an agreement and bring the conflict to a close.
According to Levitt, Trump is committed to peace and wants to see the killings stop and innocent people cease to die.
"This is his primary goal right now," she emphasized.
In response to a question about a potential meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, she stated that she cannot announce or clarify anything at this moment but noted that the White House continues negotiations with both parties.
European diplomats claim the U.S. is capitulating to Russia
By proposing a more neutral draft resolution at the UN General Assembly regarding Ukraine, the U.S. is seen as capitulating to Russia. This impression has been formed among European diplomats, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"One diplomat stated that European colleagues have the impression that the U.S. is yielding to Russia," the publication cites an unnamed UN diplomat.
Previously, the U.S., having declined to co-author an anti-Russian resolution at the UN General Assembly regarding Ukraine, proposed its own neutral version. In this, Washington avoids wording about an alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine, refers to the conflict as "Russian-Ukrainian," and expresses condolences for the casualties. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the U.S. would present a "historic" resolution to the UN General Assembly regarding the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine on February 24.
New U.S. deal proposal with Kyiv on mineral resources is tougher than the previous one - NYT
A number of demands in the new U.S. agreement draft dated February 21 regarding the use of Ukraine's natural resources are tougher than those included in the deal proposed to Kyiv by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on February 14. This was reported by the American newspaper The New York Times (NYT) citing the new draft document.
Thus, Washington is urging Ukraine to forgo half of the revenues from natural resources, including minerals, gas, and oil, as well as from port operations and the use of other infrastructure, NYT stated.
The new document notes that revenues from Ukraine's resources will be directed to a fund from which the U.S. will receive a 100% financial share. Ukraine is proposed to make contributions to this fund until it reaches $500 billion. This amount is what Trump demands from Kyiv in exchange for U.S. assistance.
This figure significantly exceeds the actual revenues of the country from resources, which amounted to $1.1 billion last year, and is more than four times higher than the amount of aid the U.S. has provided to Ukraine to date.
Zelensky is not yet ready to sign a deal with the U.S. on mineral resources due to "problematic issues" - Sky News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is currently not prepared to sign an agreement with the U.S. regarding the use of Ukraine's natural resources due to "problematic issues" in its current version. This was reported by the British broadcaster Sky News, citing an unnamed Ukrainian source.
According to the Sky News source, the so-called resource agreement "is not ready for signing yet, there are a number of problematic issues, and in its current form, the president is not ready to accept it."
"As of today, the drafts do not reflect partnership in the agreement and contain only unilateral obligations from Ukraine," the source told the channel.
This position contradicts statements from U.S. President Donald Trump's team that the parties are already "close" to signing a deal.
Ukraine has prepared a proposal for a prisoner exchange with Russia based on the "all-for-all" formula
This was announced by the head of the secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Bohdan Okhrimenko, as reported by the agency "Ukrinform."
He clarified that the corresponding proposal was developed by the Coordination Headquarters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of the President of Ukraine. Okhrimenko also emphasized that Kyiv regularly states the need to conduct exchanges based on this scheme.
