Ukraine calls Zelensky's decision to "attack" Trump a mistake

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's idea to "attack" US President Donald Trump with unflattering attacks was wrong. This was reported by The Wasington Post (WP) on February 22, citing the opinion of former deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Olena Zerkal.

"If Zelensky had signed the agreement on resources, Trump might have warmed to him .... His (Zelensky. - Ed.) decision to pounce on Trump was 'definitely a mistake,'" the newspaper quoted Zerkal as saying.

Zerkal's words were also echoed by the chairman of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on foreign policy, Oleksandr Merezhko.

"Regardless of the circumstances, we are now in the wrong position to quarrel with Trump. We need to be wiser. We need to earn Trump's trust and respect. It is extremely difficult now, but not impossible," he said.

There was a split between Trump and Zelensky. What the media say

Earlier on February 22, the British TV channel Sky News, citing a Ukrainian source, said that Zelensky was not ready to conclude a rare earth metals deal with the United States, as Kiev found "a number of problematic issues" in the draft agreement.

Trump said on February 21 that he had warned Ukraine of problems if it refused to sign a rare earth minerals deal. Later, the head of state expressed doubts about Kiev's availability of resources.

Reuters reported on February 22 that the US could cut off Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite system, which is owned by US billionaire Ilon Musk's company SpaceX, after Zelensky's rejection of the rare earth metals deal. Losing Starlink would be a huge blow, the media source concluded.

At the same time, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the USA and Ukraine may sign an agreement on rare earth metals on Saturday, February 22.