Trump Meets Zelensky Today and Signs Mineral Agreement: “I Trust Putin’s Commitment to His Promises” /  Vehicle Ramming Attacks in 1948-Occupied Territories Leave Dozens Injured, Some in Critical Condition

 February 28, 2025

The political editor wrote

President Donald Trump is swiftly advancing his primary foreign policy agenda, restructuring U.S.-Russian relations to end the Ukraine conflict in a way that reassures Moscow and grants it strategic gains at Ukraine’s and Europe’s expense. In return, this would halt the U.S.-Russia confrontation and curb the arms race between the world’s two most powerful nuclear and conventional military forces. While European and Ukrainian resistance initially seemed to obstruct Trump’s plan, reality soon told a different story. Following meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today to sign an agreement on the division of Ukraine’s mineral wealth between Kyiv and Washington – an arrangement Trump had previously declared a prerequisite for restoring positive relations between the two capitals.

Meanwhile, in the region, as the launch of phase two of the Gaza agreement falters, despite its stipulation that negotiations begin on the sixteenth day of the first phase, which is now nearing its forty-second day, resistance operations have escalated in the 1948-occupied territories. Two major vehicle ramming attacks were reported in Haifa and Hadera, north of Tel Aviv, leaving dozens injured, some critically.

In Lebanon and the wider region, Israeli War Minister Yisrael Katz made a shocking announcement, stating that with U.S. backing and authorisation, Tel Aviv intends to maintain its occupation of Lebanese territory, designating it as an Israeli “security buffer zone”. The same applies to its continued presence in the Philadelphi Corridor in Gaza, despite ceasefire agreements in both Lebanon and Gaza mandating a full withdrawal from these areas. Even more striking was Katz’s claim that this presence has been granted indefinitely by U.S. authorisation. Additionally, he affirmed that Israeli forces will remain in the Golan Heights permanently, as well as in the demilitarised zones declared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Syrian provinces of Daraa, Suwayda, and Quneitra – all under U.S. cover. This comes despite significant concessions made by the new Syrian government to the occupying entity, particularly in weakening the Resistance Axis and severing its supply lines.