A White House official on Wednesday raised doubts about whether an invitation to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet US President Donald Trump would make sense given Zelensky’s comments that a minerals deal is not complete.

“If the Ukrainian leader says the deal isn’t finalised, I don’t see why an invitation would make sense,” the official told Reuters. “There’s an expectation that his coming is to recognise a final position (on the minerals deal) and he is not at a final position in his own words in this new wording.”

The official said Zelensky’s latest comments from Kyiv suggest the minerals deal is not completed.

Zelensky said on Wednesday that he had reached a “preliminary” deal with the US on minerals.

Trump on Tuesday told reporters he had heard Zelensky was coming to the White House on Friday with the expectation that the minerals deal would be signed. He did not say Zelensky had been formally invited.

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