The meeting comes after the Ukrainian president drew Trump's ire by rejecting a rare earth minerals proposal and insisting any peace talks with Russia include Ukraine.

President Trump will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday after falsely asserting that Ukraine started the war with Russia and calling him a “dictator without elections.”

The U.S. and Ukraine are near a deal to hand valuable mineral rights to the U.S., an agreement the Trump administration has sought as compensation for military aid to fight off Russia’s invasion, people familiar with the matter said.