On today’s show: Zelenskyy and Trump will meet in Washington today to discuss a mineral-sharing agreement. The Wall Street Journal’s Ian Lovett explains the stakes, and the Journal also reports on why it will be difficult to extract those minerals from Ukraine. Mary Steurer with the North Dakota Monitor told us about a trial that started this week involving Greenpeace. Environmentalists have warned that the trial could bankrupt the group and threaten the future of advocacy work. The Oscars are on Sunday, capping off an awards season full of controversies. The L.A. Times’ Glenn Whipp details how that has left a lot of the major races wide open, and gives us his predictions for the biggest prizes. Plus, actor Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead in their New Mexico home, a rare “planet parade” will be visible in the sky, and Katy Perry will be part of an all-woman space crew. Also, how the UFC’s Dana White and Trump became friends. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Full Episode
Good morning. It's Friday, February 28th. I'm Shmeeta Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, a lawsuit that could sink Greenpeace. This year's Oscars wildcards. And Katy Perry is going to space.
But first, to Washington, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to meet with President Trump to discuss and potentially sign an agreement for Ukraine to share rare minerals with the United States, which are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars.
This was an idea proposed by Zelensky last fall, though at the time he suggested Kyiv would, in return, want assurance that the U.S. would provide ongoing support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia. Trump has criticized U.S. aid for Kyiv as a drain on resources.
And disagreements over the terms of this mineral deal are a big reason why the relationship between the United States and Ukraine has soured in recent weeks. Zelensky rejected an earlier version of the agreement because it didn't include security guarantees for Ukraine.
And the United States initially asked for the rights to up to $500 billion in revenue from mineral development, which is roughly five times more money than the U.S. has contributed to Ukraine during the war so far. Zelensky spoke at a news conference about why he rejected the initial offer.
I'm not signing something that will have to be repaid by generations and generations of the Ukrainians.
The new version of the deal that could be signed today does not include that revenue stipulation, and it also still does not include security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump has said that it would include a form of peacekeeping that's acceptable to everybody, but did not specify what that meant.
However, The Wall Street Journal's Ian Lovett told us Ukraine ultimately agreed to this version of the deal in the hopes that it could reset the relationship with Trump.
They really want to keep the U.S. on the Ukrainian side, which seems much less clear since Trump took office. They want the U.S. to be invested in Ukraine economically and ideally also militarily.
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