00:00First, I want to just state the obvious, which is that there is a key player currently not slated to be in Alaska, and that is the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Is it possible he will attend?
00:14He will attend?
00:15Yeah, I certainly think it's possible, and it's good to be with you this morning. You know, certainly there can't be a deal that everybody that's involved in it doesn't agree to.
00:26And, you know, I mean, obviously, it's a high priority to get this war to end. You know, the carnage and the dying is terrible.
00:35I think this direct engagement by President Trump obviously is leading us closer to a peace.
00:42You know, the two sides have been communicating. They've exchanged prisoners. They've exchanged bodies of the fallen.
00:48But, you know, if we can get a deal done on terms that both sides agree, that will save thousands of lives.
00:57And ultimately, I think that's worth at least seeing if there's a chance to get that done.
01:01You say it is possible that President Zelensky joins Presidents Putin and Trump in Alaska. Where do those discussions stand?
01:09Well, obviously, the decision is going to be made by President Trump. You know, he agreed to meet with President Putin in Alaska on Friday.
01:21And if he thinks that that is the best scenario to invite Zelensky, then he'll do that.
01:28And again, we have, you know, today's Sunday. The meeting's happening on Friday. There's time to make that decision. No decision's been made to this point.
01:35I know that you have seen President Trump suggested that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine would include, quote, some swapping of territories.
01:44But just hours later, the Ukrainian president rejected this idea of a land swap.
01:49He said he will not be, quote, gifting any land. Is seeding Ukrainian territory still on the table?
01:57Both sides, again, are going to have to agree to end this war.
02:05And, you know, we've seen it in the past in other contexts where to get a line that both sides can agree to, certain, you know, strategic pieces that benefit either side are exchanged in order to make sure that they can both defend their territory successfully.
02:23So, you know, the technical people are talking, which is good news, because those are the ones that are going to say if land and what land would need to be swapped or exchanged.
02:33Certainly, I think, you know, I took Zelensky's comments at face value, which is that no big chunks or, you know, sections are going to be just given that haven't been fought for or earned on the battlefield.
02:47You know, but I come back to where I started, which is, you know, we need this war to end.
02:53We could save thousands of lives with a deal.
02:56And I think that by both sides communicating by President Trump meeting in Alaska on Friday with either one or both of the combatants, I think this is exciting.
03:07And I think President Trump's really the only one that could make this happen.
03:11You know, he's the sole reason I think this meeting is happening on Friday.
03:15He's a peacemaker.
03:17You know, he's averaging about a peace deal a month right now.
03:20We saw just this week where Armenia and Azerbaijan came together to settle their decades-long conflict.
03:27It's, you know, it's been a series of peace deals.
03:29And so, you know, I think President Trump is best situated to see if a deal can be had and if both sides can agree to ending the slaughter.
03:38You are the ambassador to NATO.
03:40NATO has been a very hot topic and much desired for Ukraine for some time.
03:47Right now, where the current situation is, President Trump hasn't publicly offered any kind of security assurances or arms sales to Ukraine.
03:55Let's just start there.
03:57Could that happen in any potential deal?
04:00Remember, a couple of weeks ago, we did agree to sell U.S. armaments, which are the best.
04:09And it's one of the reasons that, quite frankly, Vladimir Putin wants the meeting is because U.S. equipment is now moving to Ukraine, being purchased by our European and Canadian NATO allies.
04:19And that's a big step.
04:21And obviously, the sanctions and the tariffs that were placed on India, I think, also brought Vladimir Putin to the table.
04:28But, you know, sort of whether or not a membership to NATO is on the table, the deciders of that ultimately is not Russia.
04:35The deciders of that are the 32 members of NATO who have to agree unanimously to admit anyone to membership.
04:41And, you know, there's a lot of steps along the way before that would ever happen.
04:45But at the same time, you know, Russia doesn't have a vote on that, that I can tell.
04:50Russia doesn't have a vote on it, but Vladimir Putin certainly has an opinion on it.
04:55What are you hearing from your counterparts there about the notion of that being any part of these broader discussions,
05:04that being Ukrainian membership to NATO?
05:10NATO.
05:10You know, while we were at the NATO summit in The Hague a couple months ago,
05:16President Trump expressed publicly that he was taken by how much the European allies especially emphasized the Ukrainian conflict as important to their own security.
05:31And I think that kind of struck a chord with him.
05:34And I think he's been taking steps to, you know, one, to end this war, but at the same time to make sure that Ukraine can defend itself.
05:42And that's why we announced the deal with the sale of U.S. equipment.
05:44But the Europeans are very seriously invested and interested in the outcome of this war.
05:50And they want to make sure that the deal, if done, is fair to Ukraine especially, who was invaded by Russia.
05:59But at the same time, it's a deal that both sides can agree to.
06:03And, you know, my European allies here at NATO have a very keen interest in this war.
06:10They're paying close attention.
06:11And a lot of them are writing checks to support Ukraine in many different ways.
06:15Can I ask you a fundamental question?
06:18Do you believe, does President Trump believe, that he can trust Vladimir Putin?
06:27You know, again, I think it's Ronald Reagan taught us you have to trust but verify.
06:31And so I think in any situation with competing national interests, whether it's the United States, Ukraine, Russia, or any of our allies,
06:40you just can't take people at their face value.
06:42You're going to look at actions.
06:43And I think that's one of the things that President Trump has mentioned,
06:47is that he would have a good conversation with Vladimir Putin.
06:50And then that night, you know, rockets and drones would attack the major cities in Ukraine.
06:57And, you know, so it's going to be about actions.
06:59Words are cheap.
07:00But in this case, whether it's the Russians or the Ukrainians,
07:04both sides are going to have to take the actions to have peace and to continue to honor that peace.
07:08And, you know, I pay very close attention to a lot of the conflicts around the world.
07:14And in each case where President Trump has come in and helped negotiate a resolution of it,
07:21you know, it has been a verification that the hostilities have concluded.
07:24And, you know, whether it's India, Pakistan, whether it's the Congo and Rwanda,
07:31or all the other peace deals that President Trump has been able to negotiate,
07:35you know, there's always a verification.
07:37You cannot just completely trust words on a sheet of paper.
07:39But right now, we're in the talking phase.
07:41And that's, I think, where we need to start having the technical experts on both sides
07:45actually putting a peace deal on paper.
07:48And I think this Friday could be an important step to get that done.
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