UNITED States President Donald Trump on Thursday denied calling Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator in a turnaround ahead of the latter’s visit to Washington for the signing of a minerals deal.

“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” Trump responded when asked about the Zelensky comment by journalists during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“I have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said of Zelensky on Thursday. “We’re going to get along really well.”

Trump’s “dictator” remark was posted on his social media last week in response to Zelensky’s initial refusal to agree to his demand of mining rare earth metals in Ukraine as payback for the billions of dollars in American military aid given to Kyiv in its war against Russia during his predecessor Joe Biden’s administration.

Zelensky said he wanted US security guarantees for his country against Russia as part of the minerals deal.

Trump, however, remained mum on security guarantee to Ukraine or Europe, even when Starmer suggested during their meeting.

“We have to win the peace,” Starmer said at the joint news conference on Thursday. “It can’t be peace that rewards the aggressor.”

The US president said he was “open to many things” in terms of security guarantees but that he wanted to get a Russia-Ukraine deal in place first.

Trump added that he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin would “keep his word” — rejecting Starmer’s warnings that a ceasefire without a US backstop would let Russia invade Ukraine again.

It made Starmer the second leader in the space of a week to leave Washington empty-handed on Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron also tried to persuade Trump on Monday.

Trump, who has alarmed European capitals with his sudden pivot towards Russia, said there had been “a lot of progress” towards a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine and that negotiations were at a crucial stage.

“It’ll either be fairly soon or it won’t be at all,” Trump told a press conference with Starmer.

Meanwhile, Trump and Zelensky will sign on Friday a huge deal giving Washington exclusive access to Ukraine’s rare minerals.

“We’ll be dig, dig, digging,” Trump told reporters.

Zelensky had hoped the deal would contain US Security guarantees but it appears to omit them.

Talks between US and Russian officials — launched after a shock phone call between Trump and Putin just over two weeks ago — are continuing with Ukraine frozen out.

Putin said Thursday the initial talks “give some hope” of resolving “problems” like the Ukraine conflict.