What to Know About the Trump-Zelenskyy Summit

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will put their recent tensions aside and meet in Washington on Friday to finalize a historic bilateral minerals deal as the U.S. looks to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The deal would grant Washington access to Ukraine’s minerals, oil and gas as part of the Trump administration’s effort to recover the cost of aid the U.S. has provided Ukraine as it works to repel Russia’s 2022 invasion. The men enter the high-stakes summit with vastly different views: Zelenskyy described the deal as preliminary and said he wanted additional security guarantees. But Trump said Ukraine should look to Europe for them and insisted little backup from the U.S. will be given.

Nevertheless, he said during a White House press conference Thursday that he thinks the deal is “going to be great for Ukraine.”

Friday’s meeting comes at a critical juncture for the Eastern European country as the Trump administration turns to the Kremlin to end the war. Peace negotiations between the U.S. and Russia have been ongoing, with Ukraine notably absent from the table. Fears continue to mount that a swift end to the war may only come on terms that would be unfavorable to Ukraine and devastating to Europe, which has committed and allocated vastly more to Ukraine in terms of military, financial and humanitarian aid than the U.S. and has also been excluded from Trump’s peace talks.

Here’s what to know about the deal and what both sides have said about the peace process.