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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 3 he was looking to cut a deal with Ukraine by giving the war-torn country weapons and aid in return for its “rare earths and other things.” But what exactly did Trump mean and what does Ukraine have to offer to the U.S?
The released captives included members of the Navy, the Air Force, the Airborne Troops, the National Guard, the State Border Guard, the Territorial Defense Forces, and a police officer, according to the president.
"I continue to support foreign aid. But foreign aid is not charity. It exists for the purpose of advancing the national interest of the United States," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
"The presence of big business from our closest allies, particularly the United States, in this area is an important element of security and economic stability guarantees," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.
An explosion near a military enlistment office in Kamianets-Podilskyi in Khmelnytskyi Oblast on Feb. 5 left at least one person dead and four injured, Suspilne reported, citing a police spokesperson.
"This funding for social, humanitarian, and energy programs will strengthen our resilience. And this assistance is very timely right now," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.
"Mr. Zelensky has big problems de jure in terms of his legitimacy, but even so, the Russian side remains open to negotiations," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed.
"We do not see (that) Russia is serious about negotiations and serious about peace," U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said alongside his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha.
The Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in Kazakhstan in December after diverting from the Russian airspace was struck by a Russian Pantsir air defense missile, an undisclosed Azerbaijani source told Reuters in comments published on Feb. 4.
An attack carried out by the SBU and the Defense Forces set fire to the Albashneft oil depot in Novominskaya in southwestern Russia, according to the General Staff.
"This does not bring tranquility but rather a moral belief that we will not be left empty-handed, of course, without the support of the United States," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"But we are having very good talks, very constructive talks on Ukraine. And we are talking to the Russians. We're talking to the Ukrainian leadership," Donald Trump said during a press conference in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine's NATO accession could be delayed "for years or decades," raising the question of how the country would defend itself.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on Feb. 5 to discuss Ukrainian-British cooperation and Ukraine's security, said Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.K.