President Trump: Well, thank you very much. It’s an honor to have President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. And we’ve been working very hard, very close. So we’ve actually known each other for a long time. We’ve been dealing with each other for a long time. very well. We had a little negotiation spat, but that worked out great, I think, for both. countries, I think, for the world, actually, beyond both countries. And we have something that is a very fair deal. We look forward to getting in and digging, digging, digging and working and getting some of the rare earth. But it means we’re going to be inside, and it’s a big commitment from the United States, and we appreciate it. Working with you very much and we will continue to do that. We have had some very good discussions with Russia, I spoke with President Putin, and we’re going to try and bring this to a close.

It’s something that you want and that he wants. We’re going to have to negotiate a deal. But we’ve started the confines of a deal, and I think something can happen. The big thing is the… number of soldiers, mostly at this point, but soldiers being killed, they’re losing thousands of soldiers. So on both sides, we’re losing a lot of soldiers. We want to see it stop, and we want to see the money get put to different kinds of use, like rebuilding, the rebuilding. And we’re going to be working very hard. But we’ve had a lot of very good conversations. And we’ll say until we came along, the… by the administration, didn’t speak to Russia whatsoever. They didn’t speak to anybody. They just allowed this to continue. And I will say that I’ll say in front of you, you’ve heard me say it a thousand times. If I were President, this war would have never happened. We would have had a deal negotiated for you without having to go through what you’ve gone through.

But your soldiers have been unbelievably brave. We’ve given them great equipment, but somebody has to use the equipment. They’ve been unbelievable. unbelievably brave, and we give him great credit. This was supposed to be over very quickly. Here, we are three years later. So I give tremendous credit to your generals and your soldiers and yourself in the sense that it’s been very hard fighting, very tough fighting. They’re great fighters. And you have to be very proud of them from that standpoint, but now we want to get it over with. It’s enough, right. If we want to get it over with. So it’s an honor to have you here. Thank you very much for coming. We’re going to sign the agreement at the conference in the East Room in a little while, right after lunch. And we’ll be having lunch together. We’re also discussing some other things. And we appreciate everybody being here, somewhat of an exciting moment, but the really exciting moment is where we get a when they stop the shooting and we end up with the deal. And I think we’re fairly close to getting that, and an honor to have you, and please.

President Zelenskyy: I’d like to say something. No, thank you so much, Mr. President. Thank you for invitation and really, I hope that this… document, first document, will be first step to real security guarantees for Ukraine, our people. Our children, I really count on it, and of course we count that. America will not stop support really for us is very important to support and to continue it. I want to discuss it with details further during our conversation, of course, the infrastructure or security guarantees. Because for today, I understand what Europe is ready to do. And, of course, I want to discuss with you what the United States will be ready to do. And I really count on your strong position to stop Putin. And you said that enough with the war, I think that is very important been to say these words to Putin at the very beginning, at the very beginning of war, because he is a killer and terrorist. But I hope that together we can stop him. But for us, it’s very important to save our country, our values. our freedom and democracy and of course no compromises with the killer about our territories, but it will be later.

And of course, I… what I wanted, you know, we spoke about it by phone, about the trans-production, we have very good trans-production, I think the best one in the world for today because of the war. Yes, and of course we need very much the air defense. You have the best air defense in the world and really you helped us under attacks of Russians. And I want to speak how we can exchange the licenses we’re open to share the license of all our drones with you, of course, with the United States, and we need licenses for quick production. Even after the war, we need our nation to be calm, that we are secure, that’s why we need this. air shield and of course about this I want to speak about the contingents, I think, that France and UK already spoke to you. And we know that Europe is ready, but without the United States, they will not be ready to be as strong as we need. And then the last point, about exchange, about our people and children.

And you know that these crazy Russians, that they stole 20,000 of children, Ukrainian children. They changed their names. They changed their, you know, their families, relatives, and now they’re in Russia. We want to bring them back. And really, it’s a big, big dream task and goal for me and our warriors. By the way, Mr. President, we brought, we exchanged, we just released more than 4,000 warriors from Russian prison, but there are thousands more in the prison. I wanted to share with you some, some images how just… yes can I get it now, yeah please. Some minutes, one minute, one minute adjust you to understand what circumstances in what situation they are and what the attitude of Russia to our prisons. They have guys just you before, before and after you see before and after just you to understand now thousands of such guys, ladies and men there. And that’s so they don’t eat. They beat them. And they you know, a lot of bad things, even during the war there are rules.

Everybody knows there are rules during the war. These guys, they don’t have any rules. You see that? 50, 60 kilograms left and a lot of such things, and I didn’t want to show you what the changes were, images of children because I will share just share with you and I mean it’s looking tragic stuff, stuff. Yeah, I wanted very much to give you, you see this is pastor. By the way, they’ve stolen pastors because it’s not Russian church. They’ve stolen pastors and moved pastors to the prison. At the end of last year we brought three pastas and we could exchange them. This is pasta you see. Yeah, so I mean this I wanted to show you and this so thank you very much we want to get that ended right yeah of course of course. I think we will I think we will.

President Trump: And they have to, of course. Do you have any questions, please?

Speaker: Thank you, Mr. President. Money is the US going to put into the fund that is being created today, and how does this provide long-term security for Ukraine?

President Trump: Well, we don’t know exactly how much because we’re going to be putting some money in a fund that we’re going to get from the raw earth. We’re going to be taking and sharing in terms of revenue. So it’s going to be a lot of money will be made from the sale and from the use of raw earth. And as you know, our country doesn’t have much raw earth. We have a lot of oil and gas, but we don’t have a lot of the raw earth. And what we do have is protected by the environmentalists, but that could be unprotected, but still it’s not very much. They have among the best in the world in terms of RURs. So we’re going to be… using that tech unit, using it for all of the things we do, including AI, and including weapons and the military and it’s really going to very much satisfy our needs. So it’s something that just worked out. Really well, we have a lot of oil and we have a lot of gas. We have a lot but we don’t have roar so this This has just about every component of the raw earth that we need for computers, for all of the things we do. It puts us in great shape. Long-term security, free training.

I think they’re going to have it. I think once we make the agreement, that’s going to be 95% of it. They’re not going to go back to fighting. I’ve spoken with President Putin, and I think, I mean, I feel very strong. I’ve known him for a long time. And I feel very strongly that they’re very serious about it. And we’ll make a deal. And when the deal is made, I don’t think… we talk about security. Everyone’s talking about the other day. All they talked about was security. I said, let me make the deal first. I have to make the deal first. I don’t worry about security right now. I have to, we have to have a deal because right now. Last week, 2,000 soldiers died on both sides, 2,000, and they’re losing, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 a week. So as we sit here and we talk, people are getting shot and dying on the battlefield. And, you know, they’re not American soldiers, but they’re Russian soldiers and they’re Ukrainian soldiers, and we want to be able to stop it. And we want to be able also to spend money on other things we don’t want to this is a tremendous amount of money and what the Biden administration did was terrible.

They were giving money, but he had no security on the money. Europe, as you know, gave much less money, but they had security. It was in the form of a loan. They get their money back, and we didn’t. At least we’re protected because the American taxpayer has to be protected, too. This is an incredible agreement for Ukraine because we have a big investment in their country now and what they have, very few people have. And we’re able to really go forward with very, very high-tech things and many other things, including weaponry. Weaponry that we’re going to use in many locations, but that we need for our country. This allows us to do this. Speaker: will you continue military aid? President Trump: Yes, go ahead please.

President Zelenskyy: Again just there, yes, in the document, there is one of the very important points if we speak about business and investment, LNG terminals. In Ukraine, this document will open, I mean the next documents, but anyway here we see in the framework we see… we see a really good view for this. LNG terminals for us is very important, and I think for security of European continent. We have the biggest storage, gas storage. We have the biggest in Europe, yes, and we can use it. EU is for LNG, use it for LNG and we will do it. And really, we can help Europe because Europe really helped. President Trump said that they made less support. They are our friends and they are our very supportive partners. They really gave a lot. Mr. President, they did. Really, they did. They gave a lot, but they gave much less. No much less. No, no, okay.

Speaker: Mr. President Trump, you have repeatedly called the deal with Ukraine as a historical one. And as a President of the United States, you make historical decisions in other issues, which affect America and other world. So what place in the world history do you want to take? And do you associate yourself with any famous historical figures?

President Trump: Yeah, I’d say George Washington, Abraham Lincoln. I would say I’m far superior to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Now, you know, I’m only kidding, right? Because when I say that, the fake news is… is going to go wild. They’re going to say he considers himself to be better than Washington, but you never know. You never know. I don’t compare myself to anybody. I just, I’m here to do a job. We’ve had a great 35 days or whatever it might be, a month, a little more than a month. We’ve accomplished tremendous amounts. Not only this, this would be a very great achievement if we could get the war stopped and get them back to normalization. I think that’s going to happen. We’ve had very good talks on both sides, as you know, but I think we’ve done a very good job. Just generally if you look at all of the things we’ve done in thirty days, they’re saying there’s never been an opening for a President. The first month, there’s never been a first month like we’ve had and this is one of the very important things this to me is one of the most important things because we have tremendous death taking place as we speak. And I don’t want to have that. You know, think of the parents, think of the, whether they’re in Russia or Ukraine, think of the parents of all these people being killed. Needlessly, they came to all its earth should have never started this would have if I were President. This would have never started.

Speaker: Military aid to Ukraine after the US signs this agreement with Ukraine, the question to President Zelensky. Do you feel like the US is on your side, that President Trump is on your side?

President Zelenskyy: At this, at this moment, what do you think he wants to know. Do you think that it’s sort of a stupid question. I guess we wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t. I think that… I think that the United States, on our side, from the very beginning of occupation. And I think that President Trump on our side and, of course, I’m sure that the United States President will not stop support. This is crucial for us. It’s important for us. And Putin, the President speaks about the people and the soldiers which are dying, but they came to our territory. They came to our land. They began this war and they have to stop. I think this is the question with really the most important question, can President Trump, I hope yes with some other allies to stop Putin withdraw these enemies, our enemy, withdraw these troops. from our land. And I think that you asked about the history. I think that if President or when he will stop putting if President Trump will bring peace to our country, I think he will be on this wall.

President Trump: You think? We’ve had very, very good talks.

Speaker: Mr. President, Mr. Zelenskyy just said that there would be no compromises with… I just wanted to ask both of you, firstly. Are there compromises that you think that President Zelenskyy is going to have to make? President Zelenskyy, is there anything that you might be thinking that you may be able to offer or bring to the table? For example, elections. Thank you.

President Trump: I think you’re going to have to always make compromises. You can’t do any deals without compromises. So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think you’re going to have to make. That’s all. That’s all we can do. I’m here as a… as an arbitrator, as a mediator to a certain extent between two parties that have been very hostile. To put it mildly, they’ve been very hostile. This has been a vicious war. This has been a vicious war. You know, it’s a very level battlefield, and those bullets go out, and as I’ve said many times, we were talking about it with Pete. Many times, the only thing stopping those bullets is the human body. And in the case we’re talking about generally young human bodies are stopping a lot of bullets. It’s dead level. That’s why it’s great farmland. It’s great land. It’s great farmland, but there’s very little protection against the bullets that are being and other things that are being shot. So all I can do is see if I can get everybody at the table and get an agreement. I think we’re going to end up with an agreement. Otherwise, I wouldn’t probably be even here today.

Speaker: Mr. President, I’ve got two questions for you. Do you think ultimately your legacy will be the peacemaker and not the President that led this country into another war and ended foreign wars?

President Trump: I hope it will. I mean, I hope I’m going to be remembered as a peacemaker. This would be a great thing if we could do this. I’m doing this to save lives more than anything else. Second is to save a lot of money, but I consider that to be far less important. So I hope I’m going to thank you, Brian, for that question. It was a nice question. I hope I’ll be known and recognized as a peacemaker. This would be a great thing to solve. This is a very dangerous situation, you know, this could lead to a Third World War. This is this was headed in the wrong direction If this election we lost and we didn’t win this election and by… we won it by a lot. That was a mandate. We won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions and millions of votes. We won everything, the districts. You look at the areas of red. Take a look at a map. This was a big mandate. And this is one of the things I said, we’re going to get this thing settled. If we didn’t win, I think this would have… this could have very well ended up in a Third World War and that would not… that would not have been a good situation. What was your second question?

Speaker: My second question for President Zelenskyy now. Do you ever, why don’t you wear a suit? You’re the highest level in this country’s office and you refuse to wear a suit. Do you own a suit?

President Zelenskyy: Do you have problems?

Speaker: A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the dignity of this office.

President Zelenskyy: I will wear a costume after this war will finish, yes, maybe… wow, maybe something like yours. Yes, maybe some something better. I don’t know. We will see maybe something cheaper than, yeah, thank you.

Speaker: Are you going to send more arms to Ukraine in peace? There’s no peace.

President Trump: Yeah, we’re going to have arms to Ukraine. Yeah, sure. Hopefully I won’t have to send very much because hopefully we’re going to have it finished. We’re looking forward to finishing this quickly. We’re not looking forward to sending a lot of arms. We’re looking forward to getting the war finished, so we can do other things. But we very much appreciate the agreement because we needed what they had and we’re treating you know, our country is now treated fairly. Biden didn’t do that. Biden didn’t… he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. This should have never happened. This should have never started. But, you know, sure, the answer is yes. But hopefully we won’t have to send much because I’m looking forward to getting it done quickly, very quickly.

Speaker: Does that mean you’ll provide security guarantees, Mr. President?

President Trump: I don’t want to talk about security yet because I want to get the deal done, you know, you fall into the same trap like everybody else. A million times you said. over and over, I want to get the deal done. Security is so easy. That’s about 2% of the problem. I’m not worried about security. I’m worried about getting the deal done. The security is the easy part. Security is very nice, everybody stop shooting And now will Europe put people there? I know France is going to. I know the UK is going to. I know other countries are going to, and they happen to be right next door. We haven’t committed, but we could conceivably, you know, we have security different for them. We’ll have workers there digging, digging, digging, taking the raw earth, so that we can create a lot of great product in this country. So in that sense you have something, but we haven’t determined that yet. I will say in speaking to France and then speaking to and they were here, as you know, last week and just the other day, they have committed to lot of security. I don’t think you’re going to need much security. I think once this deal gets done, it’s over. Russia is not going to want to go back and nobody’s going to want to go back. When this deal ends, I really believe this deal is… is going to be over. Yeah, please go ahead. Go ahead, please.

Speaker: Thank you, sir. Mr. President, thank you. You had Kyrsten Krum and Keir Starmer at the White House this past week, both of whom praised your courage and conviction to lead the pathway towards peace. Part of that involved, though, reengaging Russia in diplomatic relations, something that previous leaders lacked, the conviction to do so. What gave you the moral courage and conviction to step forward and lead that?

President Trump: Boy, I love this guy. Who are you with. Well that’s why I like him. One American News is a great show. I like the question. I think it’s a very good question. It’s a pathway to peace. It’s a pathway to getting something solved. And I feel that as the head of this country, I have an obligation to do that. Plus, you know, we’re very much involved, and we got involved. It’s too bad we got involved because there should have been no involvement because there should have been no war. And there shouldn’t have been October 7th. That would have never happened. As you know, Iran was broke. They had no money to give to Hezbollah. They had no money to give to Hamas. They were stone cold broke and then under Biden they became rich as hell. They went from no money to $300 billion in a period of four years. And they gave a lot of that money away, and you see what happened. And that’s a real mess also that we hope to be able to solve. But, no, I appreciate your question very much. I just feel I have an obligation to try and do something to stop the death if I can answer. Yes, if I can answer. Sorry please, please. And I do like your clothing though yeah really even though I have to… I think he’s a great guy by the way, but I don’t know if you two like other. But you know what I think I think I like this guy I think he’s dressed good so I have more I have more serious things than answer one side of the question.

President Zelenskyy: I will answer on more serious questions if I can.

President Trump: Yeah, so please.

President Zelenskyy: Are about security guarantees and about just ceasefire. We can’t just speak about ceasefire and speak and speak. It will not work. Justice fire will not never work because I’m like the President. I have this experience and not only me, Ukraine, before my presidency, from 2014, Putin broken 25 times. 25 times he broken his own signature. 25 times he broke and ceasefire. It was he never wrote to me. He never brought no… no you were the president in 2016. You’ve been the president, Mr. President. You’ve been the president, but he… he had, of course, not with you, but he had during those periods, he had conversations with our side. And we had Normandy format, you know, the France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia. And he broke them 25 times. That’s why we will never… accept judge ceasefire, it will not work without security guarantees.

Security guarantees, maybe President write about this document and other, but this document is not enough strong army is enough because he soldiers afraid Putin soldiers afraid of our soldiers when we’re strong enough if we are not strong enough if we are empty if our just empty we can’t defend our our land today you know He knows that we have, all the world knows that we have meeting, yes? Why he’s using ballistic? Putin today using ballistic. in our hospitals, schools, and it’s ballistic. So he knows that we are here and that President Trump is really have goodwill to stop to stop this war And you hear now the president, so why he’s using? So he doesn’t want to stop. He doesn’t want. But I hope that we will do it. Really, we’ll do it. Security, when we speak about security guarantees, when the Europeans are ready for contingents, they need USA. Backstop. If there will not be United States, we will not never have any strong contingent from the Europeans because they don’t want to divide. alliance.

Connection between the United States and the main and strongest alliance. and Europeans. This is crucial, this is important. That’s what we want to speak about very much. This is very important. And they are a defense. air defense really we have big deficit with all the systems and we need to provide this we we need it very much Otherwise Putin will never stop and will go further and further. He doesn’t want. He hates us, you know It’s not about me. He hates Ukrainians. He thinks that we are not a nation. His things and he shared this source. I think maybe with your team also. I don’t know but with all the Europeans In media, officially or not, he always said that there is no such country, such nation. such language and such life like ukrainian no he really doesn’t respect All the Ukrainians. And he wants to destroy us. And you are right, Mr. President. That’s 2%. These documents may be other documents. It’s a very good star, very good, but it will not enough to stop this person.

Speaker: Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President.

President Zelenskyy: This is the rule of the war, this is the rule of the war, during all the centuries, all the history, this is the rule of the war. who began those pay this is a rule putin began this war he has to pay all money for innovation. He has to pay. Of course, some Russian assets will be have… in Europe, about 300 billion. We can use them. We can use it for renovation and buy military support from the United States also. We can do it, but it’s not enough.

Speaker: Wait, one second. I asked this question that you didn’t like because I wanted to know if you want to position yourself in the middle between Russia and Ukraine, or only Ukraine’s out.

President Trump: I’m in the middle. I want to solve this thing for both. I want to get it solved, and it’s wonderful to speak badly about somebody else, but I want to get it solved. If we can solve it, great. If we can’t solve it, they’re going to have to fight it out, and who knows what’s going to happen. But I want to see it get solved.

Speaker: One more question about US troops in Europe after Russian invasion of Ukraine your predecessors have sent additional troops to Eastern Europe, including Poland, my country, are you committed to keeping these troops on the eastern flank of NATO in the future.

President Trump: I’m very committed to Poland. I think Poland has really stepped up and done a great job for NATO. As you know, they paid more than they had to. They are one of the finest groups of people I’ve ever known. I’m very committed to Poland. Poland’s in a tough neighborhood, you know. What about the Baltics? The Baltics they got a lot of it it’s a tough neighborhood too But we’re committed. We’re going to be very committed, and we’re committed to NATO. But NATO has to step up, and the Europeans have to step up more than they have. And I want to see them equalize, because they are in for far less than we’re in, and they should be at least equal. You understand that? Why is the United States, we have an ocean in between. Why is the United States in for so much more money and other things? as Europe. With that being said, and as you said, they’ve also been obviously very helpful. We have put in far more than they have, and I think they should equalize.

Speaker: Mr. President, about the agreement again today, what changed between the first time that Secretary Besson gave President Zelensky the agreement and today for the signing. We made a deal.

President Trump: I’m a business person. We made a deal. That’s what changed. I didn’t think we were going to make a deal. We ended up making the deal, so that changed it.

Speaker: Mr. President, what and how do you envision a trilateral summit?

President Trump: I don’t know, but it’s well, they don’t like each other. I can tell you that they do not like each other. a love match, and it’s unfortunate. That’s why you’re in this situation. The United States should not have allowed this to happen, okay? The United States run by a man that didn’t know much. I’m gonna be very nice run by An incompetent person, very incompetent person, should never have allowed this to happen. I’ve stopped wars. I’ve stopped many wars. My people will tell you, I stopped wars that nobody ever heard about. I stopped wars before they ever started. You can look at some of the… Some of, I could give you a lot of nations that would tell you right now they were probably going to war. I could tell you. Right now, there’s a nation thinking about going to war on something that nobody in this room has ever even heard about. to smaller nations, but big, still big. And I think I’ve stopped it. But this should have never happened.

About, sorry, just a second. about the any negotiations the first of all I want I want really to tell you and I think that everybody understand that Ukraine, more than Ukrainians, nobody wants to stop this war, but that the future Any negotiations, it’s understandable that two sides of the war. Not Russia and the United States, because this is not the war between Russia and the United States. This is war. of russia against ukraine and ukrainian people so these two sides will be at the any any way will be at the negotiation and negotiation table then of course united states like the strongest partner of the Ukraine and of course Europe. I think Europe is very important. I want to speak about it with the president. Yes, Europe is very important for us because we really… defend Europe for today. All Europeans really recognize that we are defending line.

And they have real life, and our people are dying. That’s why they helped us. And also, it’s about the need. Yes, between, like the President said, you have big, nice ocean. Yes. Between us, but if we will not stay Russia will go further to Baltics and to Poland by the way but first to the Baltics it’s understandable for them because they’ve been They’ve been in the USSR, you know, they’ve been one of the republics of the USSR and Putin wants to bring them. back to his empire. It’s a fact. And when he will go there, if we will not stay, you will fight. American soldiers, it doesn’t matter, do you have ocean or not, your soldiers will fight.

Speaker: Mr. President, would you be willing to visit Ukraine, maybe Kiev or Odessa, which is known to be a 30-year-old black city? It was my question.

President Trump: I don’t want to talk about Odessa now. Let’s not talk about Odessa. I want to talk about… making a deal getting peace. We’d have to talk about Odessa, but a lot of cities have been destroyed a lot of cities that are not recognisable, there’s not a building standing. And a lot of, a lot of things…

President Zelenskyy: You have to come, Mr Brilliant, you have to come and to look. No, no, no. We have very good cities. Yes, a lot of things have been destroyed, but mostly cities alive and people work, and children go to school, sometimes it’s very difficult, sometimes closer to frontline children have to go to underground schools or online, but we live. Ukraine is fighting and Ukraine lives. This is very important. And maybe it’s Putin who is sharing this information that he destroyed us. He lost 700,000 people. 700,000 soldiers he lost every single, yes.

Speaker: Mr. President, one more.

President Trump: Please go ahead.

Speaker: When did you last speak with President Putin? And what did he say?

President Trump: A couple of days ago.

Speaker: And what did he tell you that gave him the assurance that he wanted peace?

President Trump: Well, that’s what I do. My whole life is deals. I know pretty good And I really, I’ve known him for a long time, I’ve dealt with him for a long time. He had to suffer through the Russia hoax, you know, Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax. It was all Biden. It was nothing to do with him. So he had to suffer through that, and he was able to do that. I think that he wants to make a deal and he’d like to see it end. That’s all I do. That’s what I do my whole life. That’s what I do is make deals. I’m in the middle of a mess because this is a real mess. It’s a very dangerous one. If this doesn’t get solved now… it’s not going to get solved for a long time. So I hope we’re going to get it solved. In the back, please.

Speaker: Thank you, Mr. President. Prime Minister Farmer claimed repeatedly that his government believed in free speech and was not engaged in censorship. But this country is going to arrest people for means and crimes and even more worse than this pressuring. American companies to center Americans on its behalf. How can he be a reliable, trustworthy partner when he says things that are… demonstrably false on such an important level?

President Trump: Well, we actually spoke to him about that yesterday. We thought they took it very, very much too far. JD was very strong on it. So was I. And so was Marco. And we’ve been speaking to him about it. Marco, would you like to say something about it?

Speaker: Yeah, we have concerns, obviously, with the conduct of those, particularly as it impacts impacts Americans. And there’s real concern that American speech, which is online, could fall into the hands of British or any country’s jurisdiction. And so this is a point the Vice President made of Munich, and I think it’s a very compelling one that unites us with Europe. But much as anything else is these shared values, and one of them being free speech. And so Americans are threatened by it. We’re going to need to take action in that regard.

President Trump: It’s actually a very important question.

J.D. Vance: We spoke about this in detail with the prime minister, the foreign secretary, and others at lunch here. And I know that Secretary of Commerce Lutnick followed up in private meetings last night. This is really important. We believe Americans have the right to speak their mind even if we in this room disagree with them. They have the right to speak their mind in the public which is often online these days. And we’re going to defend that right as it pertains to American companies and American citizens vigorously. if we have to. I do think that under the president’s leadership, we’re going to find common ground with our friends in the UK on this question. it remains to be seen. The principle that will guide us is we believe in free speech in this country, and we’ll fight for it for American citizens.

Speaker: Mr. President, on the deal, is there any other oil and gas component to the deal? Is it all critical?

President Trump: A little bit. we’ll see but we’re not really looking for that so much we got a lot we have more than anybody in the world by far So, no, we’re not talking about it too much, but a little bit. I think it affects also, but for the most part, no.

Speaker: Is there any agreement from Ukraine to purchase US LNG? as part of the deal or is that on the table at all?

J.D. Vance: No, we don’t need that.

Speaker: Mr. President, I just wanted to ask you about, you just mentioned that you’d spoken to Vladimir Putin a couple of days ago. That’s a new call not the one I’ve spoken to him on numerous occasions okay how was the latest call What did you discuss?

President Trump: Are you serious with that question?

Speaker: I am.

President Trump: It went well. I think we’re going to have a deal on the minerals.

Speaker: Mr. President, some of those minerals are in the east of Ukraine, not far from the front lines and in areas that Russia has occupied. Will you direct President Putin to withdraw his forces from those areas if there’s US interest?

President Trump: Well, we’ll take a look at the time. area. It’s a very big area we’re talking about. So we’ll take a look. I’ll study that and I’ll see.

Speaker: And who would protect those minerals if they are US interests? Would that be Ukrainian forces?

President Trump: They’ll be protected. The agreement will protect them. The agreement, yeah, we’re signing an agreement. I just told you I don’t think that’s going to happen and if that were going to happen I wouldn’t If I thought that was going to happen, I wouldn’t make a deal. You know, you ought to focus on CNN, on survival. not asking me these ridiculous questions focus on surviving because cnn’s got such low ratings I don’t think they’re going to to survive. Let’s go.

SPEAKER: Poland was under Russian control for decades after the Second World War. When I was a kid, I looked at the United States not only as a most powerful country, the richest country in the world. The country that has great music, great movies, great muscle cars. but also as a force for good. And now I’m talking with my friends in Poland and they are worried that you align yourself too much with Putin. What’s your message for them?

President Trump: Well, if I didn’t align myself with both of them you’d never have a deal. You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say, hi Vladimir, how are we doing on the deal? It doesn’t work that way. I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world. I’m aligned with the world, and I want to get this thing over with. You see the hatred he’s got for Putin? It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He’s got tremendous hatred, and I understand that, but I can tell you the other side is exactly in love with… you know him either. So it’s not a question of alignment. I have to I’m aligned with the world I want to get the thing set. I’m aligned with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough? I could be tougher than any human being you’ve ever seen. I’d be so tough. But you’re never going to get a deal that way. So that’s the way it goes.

Speaker: I have one more question.

J.D. Vance: Hey, I will respond to this. So look For four years in the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin. Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace, and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy. We tried the pathway of Joe Biden of thumping our chest and pretending that the President of the United States’ words mattered more than the President of the United States’ actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.

President Zelenskyy: Can I ask you?

J.D. Vance: Sure, yeah, yeah, okay, so he occupied it our parts, big parts of Ukraine, parts of East and Crimea. So he occupied it on 2014. During a lot of years, I’m not speaking about just Biden, but those time was Obama, then President Obama. then President Trump, then President Biden, now President Trump, and God bless, now President Trump will stop him. in 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what the contact was?

President Trump: 2015.

President Zelenskyy: 2014.

President Trump: 2014.

President Zelenskyy: 2014.

President Trump: Yeah. I was not here.

President Zelenskyy: Yeah. That’s exactly right. Yes. But during 2014. from 2014 till 2022, the situation is the same. People have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him. A lot of conversation. My bilateral conversation. And we signed with him, me, like a new president. In 2019, I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, Macron, and Merkel, we signed ceasefire. ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him with gas contract. Gas control, yes, but after that he broke this ceasefire, he killed our people and he didn’t exchange. prisons. We signed the exchange of prisons. But he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy? JD you are speaking about. What do you mean?

J.D. Vance: I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.

President Zelenskyy: Yes, but he’s not going to…

J.D. Vance: Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful… for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now you guys are going around and forcing conscripts. to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the President for trying to bring an end to this conflict.

President Zelenskyy: Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have.

J.D. Vance: I have been to, I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people. You bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems? like bringing people into your military and do you think that it’s respectful to come to the oval office of the united states of america and attack the administration that is trying to trying to prevent the destruction of your country?

President Zelenskyy: A lot of questions. Let’s start from the beginning. First of all, during the war, Everybody has problems even you, but you have nice ocean and don’t feel now but you will feel it in the future god bless you don’t know that god bless.

President Trump: Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. I’m not telling you because you have no position to dictate that. You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good. We’re going to feel very good and very strong. You’re right now not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position, and he happens to be right about it. From the very beginning of the war. You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cars. I don’t play in cars. Right now, you don’t play in cars. I wear a seatbelt, Mr. President. You’re playing cards. I wear a seatbelt. You’re gambling with your lives millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III.

J.D. Vance: And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country. that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have. Have you said thank you once?

President Zelenskyy: It’s a lot of times.

J.D. Vance: No, in this entire meeting, you said thank you. You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country. Please you think that.

President Zelenskyy: If you will speak very loudly about the war, you can…

President Trump: He’s not speaking loudly. He’s not speaking loudly. Your country’s in big trouble. Wait a minute. No, no. You’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble. I know. You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us.

President Zelenskyy: Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong from the very beginning. of the war we’ve been alone and we are thankful. I said thanks you haven’t been in this cabinet.

President Trump: Stupid president, $350 billion, we gave you military equipment, and you men are brave, but they… They used our military equipment. If you didn’t have our military equipment, if you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.

President Zelenskyy: In three days, I heard it from Putin, in three days. This is something maybe less in two weeks of course, yes it’s going to be.

President Trump: It’s a very hard thing to do business like this.

President Zelenskyy: I tell you, to say thank you, I said it all the time, sir, except to a man.

J.D. Vance: They accept that there are disagreements. And let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out of the American media when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong.

President Trump: But you see, I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important. That’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful you don’t have the cards you’re buried there you give people are dying, you’re running low on soldiers, listen, you’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, I don’t want to cease fire. I don’t want to cease fire. I want to go, and I want this. Look. If you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you’d take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.

President Zelenskyy: Of course we want to stop the war.

President Trump: But you’re saying you don’t want a ceasefire? But I said to you, with guarantees.

President Zelenskyy: I want a ceasefire, because you’ll get a ceasefire faster than an agreement. I just can’t work people about you. fire, what they think. That wasn’t with me, that wasn’t with me.

President Trump: That was with a guy named Biden, who was not a smart person. That was with Obama.

President Zelenskyy: It was your president.

President Trump: Excuse me. That was with Obama, who gave you sheets, and I gave you javelins. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins. You got to be more thankful because let me tell you you don’t have the cards with us you have the cards But without us, you don’t have any cards.

Speaker: One more question to Mike. Mr. Vice President, I’m sorry.

President Trump: It’s going to be a tough deal to make. Because the attitudes have to change.

Speaker: What are you saying? She’s asking what if Russia breaks the ceasefire.

President Trump: What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now, okay? What if they break it? I don’t know. They broke it with Biden because Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia you ever hear of that deal that was a phony that was a phony hunter Biden Joe Biden scam, Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that, and he did go through it. We didn’t end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, oh. Oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia. The 51 agents, the whole thing was a scam and he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff. All I can say is this he might have broken deals with Obama and Bush and he might have broken them with Biden he did maybe maybe he didn’t i don’t know what happened but he didn’t break him with me he wants to make a deal. I don’t know if he can make a deal. The problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy. I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. Your people are very brave. But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty. but you’ll fight it out. But you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position. But you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest, that’s not a nice thing. All right, I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think? This is going to be great television, I will say that. We’ll see what we can do about it. We’ll see.

Speaker: Guys, come on. Please. Don’t make me look at the tape. Come on. Let’s go. Let’s go.

The transcript contains several critical points that are essential for understanding the context and implications of the discussions between President Trump and President Zelensky. Here are the key critical points: Peace Negotiations: A significant focus of the conversation is on the ongoing negotiations to reach a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Both leaders express a desire to end the conflict, with President Trump emphasizing his role in facilitating a deal and President Zelensky highlighting the importance of security guarantees for Ukraine.

Military and Security Support: The discussion includes the United States’ military and security support for Ukraine. President Zelensky stresses the need for continued military aid, particularly in terms of air defense systems, to ensure Ukraine’s security and sovereignty. President Trump acknowledges the support provided and discusses the strategic importance of the agreement.

Humanitarian Concerns: President Zelensky raises concerns about the humanitarian impact of the war, including the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia and the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners. He emphasizes the need to address these issues as part of the broader peace efforts.

Economic and Resource Agreements: The transcript mentions agreements related to the extraction and use of rare earth minerals in Ukraine, which are strategically important for both countries. This aspect of the discussion highlights the economic dimensions of the U.S.-Ukraine partnership and its implications for future cooperation.

Criticism of Previous U.S. Administrations: President Trump criticizes previous U.S. administrations for their handling of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, suggesting that their lack of action contributed to the current situation. He contrasts this with his own approach, which he believes is more effective in achieving peace.

Diplomatic Challenges: The conversation reveals the diplomatic challenges involved in negotiating with Russia, with both leaders acknowledging the difficulties in reaching a compromise. President Trump positions himself as a mediator, while President Zelensky emphasizes the need for strong international support to counter Russian aggression.

Sentiment Towards Russia: President Zelensky expresses strong sentiments against Russia, describing President Putin as a “killer and terrorist” and emphasizing the need to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty. This underscores the deep-seated tensions and the complexity of the negotiations.  

These critical points provide insight into the strategic, humanitarian, and diplomatic dimensions of the discussions, highlighting the challenges and opportunities in resolving the Ukraine-Russia conflict.