'Sign the deal': Trump security adviser puts new pressure on Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. diplomat Gen. Keith Kellogg were meeting in Kyiv on Thursday to discuss ending the three-year-long war over Russia's territorial ambitions.

The meeting comes amid growing tensions between Zelensky and President Donald Trump, who traded verbal barbs Wednesday and after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Russian counterpart in Riyadh — without a Ukrainian representative present.

CNN's Alayna Treene caught up with Trump national security advisor Michael Waltz outside the White House Thursday to ask, "What do you think is the main message Kellogg needs to deliver to Zelenskyy today after all of the back and forth yesterday?"

Waltz answered, ""Let's tone down the rhetoric and sign the economic opportunity — sign the deal."

"Is that Kellogg's directive today, to get him to sign the deal?" Treene sought to clarify.

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"Well, he's out there talking to him about a number of things, but I think that would be a tremendous step forward," Waltz said.

The United States has been trying to convince Zelensky to give it a percentage of the nation's rare earth minerals that could include lithium, graphite and uranium.

Treene told anchor Kate Bolduan, "We actually know that the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, went to Kyiv recently to meet with Zelensky and tried to convince him to sign this deal. Zelensky said yesterday that he had rejected that deal because it was asking for 50% of the rare earth minerals, the proceeds from that. He said that was a nonstarter and not in Ukraine's best interest, but that he would continue talking about this."

She continued, "The reason that deal is so important, though...is because one of the key issues and complaints that the president has had even before he took office was that he has been very skeptical of the aid that the United States has been sending to Ukraine. We've heard him even yesterday when he gave that speech and gave those remarks in Miami yesterday evening, Trump brought this up saying that he wants to continue pushing for this. He wants to essentially get something out of this deal that the United States has had in providing Ukraine with funding."

Watch the clip below via CNN.