Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that the mineral deal, sought by President Donald Trump, is «not the main topic on the agenda» for the meeting set with the Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. 

«I wouldn’t prejudge tomorrow about whether or not we have a minerals deal,» he told reporters on board a flight to Saudi Arabia. «It’s an important topic, but it’s not the main topic on the agenda.

«The minerals deal is on the table that’s continuing to be worked on – it’s not part of this conversation, per se,» he said, noting that Tuesday’s meeting in Jeddah can be considered successful even without securing such an agreement.

LITHUANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: ONLY WAY TO NEGOTIATE WITH RUSSIA IS WITH A ‘GUN ON THE TABLE’

«It’s certainly a deal the president wants to see done, but it doesn’t necessarily have to happen tomorrow,» Rubio added. 

The Ukrainian delegation is set to include Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office, Andrii Sybiha, minister of foreign affairs, Pavlo Palisa, colonel of armed forces of Ukraine and an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who was not only involved in initial talks with Russia following its February 2022 invasion, but who also survived a poisoning attack after a peace meeting in March that year. 

Rubio will meet with the delegation in the city of Jeddah around noon local time on Tuesday.

«The important point in this meeting is to establish clearly their intentions, their desire, as they’ve said publicly now, numerous times, to reach a point where peace is possible,» Rubio said, adding that he will need to be assured that Kyiv is prepared to make some hard decisions, like giving up territory seized by Russia, in order to end the three-year war. 

Ukraine’s National Police said seven people are dead and five wounded in a mortar strike east of Kyiv, in Makariv. (National Police of Ukraine)

«Both sides need to come to an understanding,» he said. «The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it will be very difficult for Ukraine, in any reasonable time period, to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014. So the only solution to this war is diplomacy and getting them to a table where that’s possible.

 «Then we’ll have to determine how far they are from the Russian position, which we don’t know yet either. And then once you understand where both sides truly are, it gives you a sense of how big the divide is and how hard it’s going to be,» Rubio explained. «I’m hoping it’ll be a positive interaction along those lines.»

Secretary of State Marco Rubio greets well-wishers upon arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on March 10, 2025. (Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

EU CHIEF DIPLOMAT WARNS TRUMP PUTIN ‘DOESN’T WANT PEACE’

Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East who has increasingly been involved with the talks regarding Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News’ Dana Perino on «America’s Newsroom» Monday morning, that the Trump administration has «gone a long way» to «narrow the differences» when dealing with Moscow and to get it to the negotiating table – though he did not go into detail. 

Witkoff suggested relations with Ukraine began to once again improve after Zelenskyy sent Trump a letter in which he apologized for the Oval Office exchange that went sour late last month after he refused to sign a mineral deal and angered the Trump administration – resulting in a series of explosive outbursts on live TV. 

While a mineral deal is unlikely to be achieved this week, according to Rubio, he said he hopes that with a successful meeting in Jeddah, he can secure the resumption of aid to Ukraine, though he did not detail if this would include the defensive aid the Trump administration halted, despite Russia’s continued bombardment against Ukrainian targets, or the intelligence sharing which the U.S. also stopped following the Oval Office showdown. 

«The pause in aid broadly is something I hope we can resolve,» Rubio said. «I think what happens tomorrow will be key to that.»

Trump and Zelensky were involved in an Oval Office shouting match. (Fox News )

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Rubio also said that Russia will see its own consequences if it doesn’t agree to negotiate on ending the war in Ukraine, including additional sanctions. 

«It should be clear to everyone that the United States has tools available to also impose costs on the Russian side of this equation,» Rubio said. «But we hope it doesn’t come to that. 

«What we’re hoping is that both sides realize that this is not a conflict that can end by military means,» he added. 

On Friday, in a posting on the Truth Social platform, Trump threatened Russia with «large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions and Tariffs,» until a ceasefire and peace settlement are reached.  

North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, just hours after South Korea and the United States kicked off their first major joint military exercise of President Donald Trump’s second term. 

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile firings were detected from the North’s southwestern Hwanghae Province. The weapons were described as close-range, and in response, South Korea’s military said it has bolstered its surveillance posture and is closely coordinating with the U.S. 

«We are aware of the DPRK’s multiple ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as other regional allies and partners. The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts,» the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. «While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, we continue to monitor the situation. The U.S. commitments to the defense of the ROK and Japan remain ironclad.»

The launches come after South Korean and U.S. forces began their annual Freedom Shield exercise Monday.  

NORTH KOREA UNVEILS ITS FIRST NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBMARINE 

«Freedom Shield is an 11-day exercise conducted by the Republic of Korea and the United States consisting of training to reflect the Korea Theater of Operations – a combined, joint, multi-domain, and interagency operating environment,» according to the U.S. Army.  

«Field training events throughout FS25 include urban combat operations, field hospital operations, mass casualty treatment and evacuation, field artillery exercises, air assault training, wet gap crossing, air defense artillery asset deployment and validation, and a joint assault exercise with the U.S. Marine Corps,» the Army added. 

However, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry is calling the exercises an «aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal.» 

«Despite of the DPRK’s repeated warning, the US and the Republic of Korea are dead set on staging the large-scale joint military exercises. This is a dangerous provocative act of driving the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, where a single accidental gun report may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides, beyond the extreme limit,» read a statement published in North Korean state media. 

TRAVELER GOES VIRAL FOR TRIP TO ONE OF THE MOST SECRETIVE PLACES ON EARTH 

U.S. Army soldiers prepare to cross the Hantan River at a training field in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea on Monday, March 10. (AP/Ahn Young-joon)

This year’s training comes after South Korean KF-16 fighter jets accidentally dropped bombs on a civilian area during a live-fire training exercise with the U.S. on Thursday, injuring multiple people and damaging multiple buildings, including three houses and a Catholic church. 

South Korean media reported that the accident happened in Pocheon, a city near the heavily armed border with North Korea. About 30 people were wounded, two of them seriously. 

The initial assessment from the South Korean air force was that one of the KF-16 pilots entered the wrong coordinates and failed to visually verify the target before proceeding with the bombing. The second pilot had the correct coordinates but focused only on maintaining flight formation and dropped the bombs on the first pilot’s instructions without recognizing the target was wrong, according to the content of the latest briefing provided to The Associated Press. 

People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test at a train station in Seoul on March 10, 2025. North Korea fired «multiple unidentified ballistic missiles» on March 10, South Korea’s military said, the same day Seoul and Washington began a major annual joint military drill known as Freedom Shield.  (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images)

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Gen. Lee Youngsu, chief of staff of the South Korean air force, bowed and apologized Monday over the injuries and property damage caused by the bombing, which he said «should have never happened and must never happen again.» 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A cargo ship hit a tanker carrying jet fuel off the coast of eastern England Monday, setting both vessels on fire and triggering a major rescue operation, emergency services said.

At least 32 people were brought ashore, but their condition was not immediately clear. The operator of the tanker said all of its crew members were safe.

The U.S.-flagged chemical and oil products tanker MV Stena Immaculate was at anchor near the port of Grimsby Monday morning after sailing from Greece, according to ship-tracking site VesselFinder. The cargo vessel, Portugal-flagged container ship Solong, was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

U.S.-based Crowley Ship Management, which operates the Stena Immaculate, said the tanker «sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel,» when the container ship struck it, triggering a fire and «multiple explosions onboard,» with fuel released into the sea.

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It said all the mariners on the tanker were safe and accounted for.

Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said 13 casualties were brought in on a Windcat 33 high-speed vessel, followed by another 19 on a harbor pilot boat.

Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said several lifeboats and a coast guard rescue helicopter were dispatched to the scene in the North Sea, along with a coast guard plane.

The site of the collision is off the coast of Hull, about 155 miles north of London.

Coast guards said the alarm was raised at 9:48 a.m. (0948 GMT). Humber Coast Guard made a radio broadcast asking vessels with firefighting equipment and those who could help with search and rescue to head to the scene.

HUGE UNEXPLODED WORLD WAR II-ERA BOMB FOUND IN CROWDED PARIS RESIDENTIAL AREA

Screenshot of a map showing the moment the container ship collided with the chemical tanker. (Reuters)

The RNLI lifeboat agency said «there were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships.» It said three lifeboats were working on search and rescue at the scene alongside the coast guard.

Video footage aired by the BBC and apparently filmed from a nearby vessel showed thick black smoke pouring from both ships.

Boyers, the port chief, said he had been told there was «a massive fireball.»

«It’s too far out for us to see – about 10 miles – but we have seen the vessels bringing them in,» he said. «They must have sent a mayday out. Luckily there was a crew transfer vessel out there already. Since then, there has been a flotilla of ambulances to pick up anyone they can find.»

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Ambulances leaving the port after a ship collided with a tanker. (Reuters)

U.K. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was being kept up to date on the developing situation.

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«I want to thank all emergency service workers involved for their continued efforts in responding to the incident,» she said.