President Donald Trump asserted Thursday that the “disaster” in Ukraine showed the importance of Britain and the NATO partners investing in defense.

Trump made the remarks at the White House, carried live by Newsmax, after a day of talks with Britain Prime Minister Keir Starmer. His comments came ahead of Friday’s visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign a deal to develop Ukraine’s rare earths minerals that he said would be the foundation of a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia to end the three-year war.

“This will lay the groundwork for a long term peace agreement that will return stability to Eastern Europe, and hopefully ensure that such a terrible war will never happen on European soil, or for that matter, anywhere again,” Trump said in prepared remarks. “The disaster in Ukraine shows exactly why it’s so important for the United Kingdom and other NATO partners to make large investments in their defense capabilities. In many cases, 4% or 5% of GDP would be appropriate.”

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