12 Killed in Ukraine Strikes as White House Pressures Zelensky on Minerals Deal

Russian strikes on Ukraine have left 12 dead, while the White House urges President Zelensky to secure a minerals deal amid ongoing war tensions.

According to Ukrainian officials, twelve civilians have been killed in the past day due to Russian strikes that targeted homes and infrastructure.

In the meantime, the White House has encouraged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate an agreement regarding U.S. access to Ukraine’s essential minerals in return for assistance.

The United States and Russia are considering organizing a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. However, the Kremlin has stated that no decision has been reached so far.

According to James Waterhouse reporting from Kyiv, the White House asserts that all options are open for peace talks, but Ukraine has yet to join them.

According to reports, the United States is against labeling Russia as the “aggressor” in a G7 statement commemorating the third anniversary of Ukraine’s full-scale invasion.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russian attacks over the past day resulted in twelve civilian deaths and injuries to six others.

Local officials report that numerous homes and infrastructure suffered damage across the Donetsk, Kherson, Nikopol, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

According to a Telegram post by regional head Vadym Filashkin, approximately 183 individuals were evacuated from Donetsk.

According to authorities, Russian strikes targeted infrastructure facilities and power lines in the Kyiv and Poltava regions; however, no civilians were injured.

As previously reported, Ukraine’s Air Force claims to have shot down 87 out of the 160 Russian drones launched overnight. Additionally, it states that another 70 decoy drones disappeared from radar screens and did not cause any damage.

The Russian military has not yet issued a comment on the strikes.

Reports suggest that the US is against labeling Russia as the “aggressor” in a G7 statement commemorating the third anniversary of Ukraine’s full-scale invasion.

This serves as another indication of a growing divide between Donald Trump’s administration and Western countries that support Ukraine.

According to the Financial Times, unnamed Western officials have reported that U.S. representatives have raised objections to using terms like “Russian aggression,” which are commonly employed by Ukraine’s allies, including the Group of Seven advanced economies (G7).

“The language is being blocked by the Americans,” one official told the FT, “but we are continuing our efforts and remain hopeful for an agreement.”

CNN also reports that the US is against language holding Russia responsible for the war and quotes an official expressing significant concern about creating ambiguity over who should be held accountable.

Russia became part of the G7 in the 1990s, but was expelled after Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and certain areas of eastern Donbas in 2014.

In early February, Donald Trump expressed his desire for their reinstatement: “I’d love to have them back. I believe it was a mistake to remove them.”

The comments surprised some of the G7 members, with France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stating that Russia’s reintegration into the group was “unimaginable and unacceptable.”