- 1 year ago
President Trump and European leaders hold a public meeting about ending the Russia-Ukraine War at the White House.
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00:00I think we're going to have a successful talk today.
00:07Please, come on in.
00:11Do you guys want to take some questions or anything?
00:18Hi, Mark.
00:19Thank you very much.
00:21We'll see you.
00:22Appreciate it.
00:23Yeah.
00:25Good.
00:30Well, thank you very much.
00:33It's a great honor to have you here.
00:36A special place.
00:37White House is special no matter where you're from.
00:40Represents so much, and it really is beautiful.
00:43And thank you for all of the wonderful things that took place today.
00:48We've had a very successful day thus far.
00:51Important discussions as we work to end the killing and stop the war in Ukraine.
00:56We're all working for the same goal.
00:58Very simple goal.
00:58We want to stop the killing.
01:00Get this settled.
01:02I've just had the honor of being with President Zelensky and all of the discussions that we've had.
01:11We covered a lot of territory.
01:13And I spoke indirectly with President Putin today.
01:16We're going to call President Putin right after this meeting.
01:20I'm sure we're going to have a solid meeting, good meeting, maybe a great meeting.
01:24And we're going to try and work out a trilat after that and see if we can get it finished, put this to sleep, because this is not since the Second World War has there been anything like this.
01:37So I'm honored to welcome NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta, who's a great gentleman, great, great political leader in Europe generally.
01:48But now he's the NATO Secretary General, and you're doing a fantastic job.
01:53Thank you very much, Mark.
01:55Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom, our friend and my friend, and doing really well.
02:02And people like him a lot.
02:04We all like him.
02:05Everyone knows President Macron of France, who's been with me from the beginning.
02:10One of the first people I met as a foreign dignitary, and I liked him from day one.
02:17And I like him even more now.
02:20That's pretty good.
02:21That's unusual.
02:23That's a pretty unusual thing.
02:26Prime Minister Maloney of Italy, who's a really great leader and an inspiration over there.
02:32She's served now, even though she's a very young person, she's served there for a long period of time relative to others.
02:40They don't last very long.
02:41You've lasted a long time.
02:43You're going to be there a long time.
02:44I'm Chancellor Mertz of Germany, who is a very strong person and a very strong leader and very highly respected in Germany.
02:56And he's my friend, and it's an honor to have him as my friend.
02:59Thank you very much.
03:00Very good.
03:00You look great with your tan.
03:02Where did you get that tan?
03:03I want to get a tan like that.
03:07President Stub of Finland, and he's somebody that, where are we here?
03:13You look better than I've ever seen you look.
03:21But you've done a great job, and we wanted to have you here because you're somebody that we all respect.
03:26And you've had a lot to do with the success, I think, and the potential success.
03:31And thank you very much for being here.
03:33We appreciate it.
03:34And the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is somebody that we just made a big deal with, with all of those countries.
03:45I don't know.
03:45I think you might be more powerful than all these guys at this table.
03:48I don't know.
03:49But you, we had a great negotiation, and you're respected all over the world.
03:56So I want to thank you very much for being here.
03:57It's a great honor to have you.
03:59The Alaska Summit reinforced my belief that while difficult pieces within reach, and I believe that in a very significant step, President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine.
04:13And this is one of the key points that we need to consider.
04:16And we're going to be considering that at the table also, like who will do what, essentially.
04:21I'm optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine.
04:29And I actually think there won't be.
04:30I think that's even overrated, largely overrated, but we're going to find out.
04:35And I think that the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden.
04:40We're going to help them, and we're going to make it very secure.
04:43We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact.
04:52That means the war zone, the war lines that are pretty obvious, very sad, actually, to look at them.
05:00And negotiating positions.
05:02President Putin, also, you have President of Ukraine, who is, you just met a little while ago.
05:10And we're going to try and get a three-party meeting, maybe as soon as we can.
05:17And I have a feeling you and President Putin are going to work something out.
05:21Ultimately, this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelensky and by the people of Ukraine working also together in agreement with President Putin.
05:31And I just think that's very good things are going to come of it.
05:36So I hope we have a good meeting.
05:37And if we can have a good meeting, I'll set up a meeting with President Putin.
05:41And if you'd like, I'll go to that meeting.
05:44And not that I want to do that, but I will do that because we want to save a lot of people from dying.
05:51A lot of people are dying, and we've got to save them.
05:53We've got to save it.
05:535,000, 6,000, 7,000 people sometimes a week.
05:57All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace.
06:02And maybe something like that could happen.
06:04As of this moment, it's not happening.
06:06But President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that.
06:13You know, in the six or so wars that we stopped, we haven't had a ceasefire.
06:19And so I don't know that it's necessary.
06:22You can do it through the war.
06:24But I like the ceasefire from another standpoint.
06:26You immediately stop the killing.
06:29But I believe a peace agreement at the end of all of this is something that's very attainable.
06:34And it can be done in the near future.
06:37With all of the wars that I got involved in, we only have this one left.
06:42Of course, as I walk out the door, there'll probably be a new one starting, and I'll get that stopped too.
06:47But I thought this was going to be one of the easier ones.
06:49It's actually one of the most difficult and very complex.
06:52The next step would be for a trilateral meeting, and that will be worked out.
06:57And I just look forward to working and having a great result.
07:01We're going to spend a lot of time today talking about, and we're really honored you guys came over.
07:06I mean, these are the heads of major countries and respected all over Europe.
07:11And they speak for largely, I think I should say, but pretty much for the other countries of Europe.
07:20And we will come to a resolution today, I think, on almost everything, including probably the security.
07:27And that's pretty much the story.
07:30I'd like to say, Mr. President, would you like to say something?
07:33You have the media.
07:34If you want, you could come over and you could stand, you could use mine, or you could just turn around, whichever you feel comfortable with.
07:40Thank you so much.
07:43I can't speak without microphone.
07:46Thank you so much.
07:47I think that we had very good conversation with President Trump.
07:50Very good.
07:51And it really was the best one.
07:54Or, sorry, maybe the best one will be in the future.
07:57But it was really good.
07:59And we spoke about very sensitive points.
08:02The first one is security guarantees, and we are very happy with President that all the leaders are here.
08:09And security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts.
08:17They have been online before yesterday and et cetera.
08:21So a lot of countries on the side of Ukraine, our people, and all of us want to finish this war, stop Russia, and stop this war.
08:29So we spoke about it, and we will speak more about security guarantees.
08:33This is very important that the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees.
08:41The second point, or maybe the first, humanitarian direction, very important to exchange all the prisoners.
08:47And I think that the President will help.
08:49And I was very thankful to your wife again, Mr. President, for the letter about our abducted children.
08:58And I hope that really it can be a historic role for the people to bring kids back to the families and be happy.
09:09Get the people back, yeah.
09:11Yes, this is so, so important.
09:13And I'm happy that we discussed it, this track with President Trump.
09:16And I hope that we will find decisions.
09:20And then what is very important that all the sensitive things, territorial, et cetera, we will discuss on the level of leaders during trilateral meeting.
09:32And President Trump will try to organize such meeting.
09:37And he said that he will come or not come.
09:42Ukraine will be happy if you will participate.
09:45If you both want me there, I will be there.
09:46Yeah.
09:46You know that.
09:47And I think this is very important.
09:49Yes, so security guarantees bringing kids back and all our people, not only warriors, first of all, warriors, and all the civilians, journalists, a lot of people in prison.
10:01So we need them back.
10:04And guarantees, which will work for the years, we spoke about it.
10:09And I showed the President a lot of details on the battlefield, on the map.
10:15Thank you so much.
10:16Thank you for the map, by the way.
10:17It was great, yeah.
10:19I'm thinking how to take it back.
10:21We'll get to you.
10:22No, no, no.
10:23I think that we had constructive, specific meeting.
10:27And I'm very thankful to all the leaders who are here.
10:32And you helped a lot.
10:34And so we are happy that we have such big unity today.
10:39Thank you, Mr. President.
10:40Thank you very much, Mr. President.
10:42I think you'll see that President Putin really would like to do something else.
10:45I think when we set that up, when we do, I think it's going to be when, not if.
10:51I think you're going to see some very, really positive moves.
10:55I know there's over 1,000 prisoners, and I know they're going to release them.
10:59Maybe they're going to release them very soon, like immediately, which I think is great.
11:04But we're going to set that up today after this meeting.
11:10So very good.
11:11And great remarks.
11:12I appreciate it.
11:13Mark, as head of NATO, maybe you could say a few words.
11:15Yes, I will be very brief.
11:17I really want to thank you, President of the United States, dear Donald, for the fact that
11:21you, as I said before, broke the deadlock, basically, with President Putin by starting
11:27that dialogue.
11:27And I think it was in February that you had the first phone call.
11:31And from there, we are now where we are today.
11:34And that is, I think, if we play this well, we could end this.
11:38And we have to end this.
11:39We have to stop the killing.
11:40We have to stop the destruction of Ukraine's infrastructure.
11:43It is a terrible war.
11:45So I'm really excited.
11:47And let's make the best out of today and make sure that from today onwards, we get this thing
11:53to an end as soon as possible.
11:54I really want to thank you for your leadership, what you are doing for Lodemy, but of course
11:58also all the European colleagues.
12:00It is really crucial.
12:01And the fact that you have said, I'm willing to participate in the security guarantees is
12:06a big step.
12:07It's really a breakthrough.
12:08And it makes all the difference.
12:10So also thank you for that.
12:12Well, NATO also has agreed from 2% to 5%, which is something that is a massive amount
12:18of money.
12:18And it's 2% that wasn't always paid to 5% that is paid.
12:22That's a big difference.
12:23And so we appreciate that.
12:25That was a great move.
12:26Thank you very much.
12:27Ursula, maybe on behalf of the Commission, you could say a couple of words.
12:31Thank you very much.
12:32It's a pleasure to be here.
12:34And it's a very important moment.
12:36Indeed, we are here, Europeans, as friends and allies.
12:39We had a fantastic NATO summit.
12:43Together, as the two largest and biggest economies in the world, we had the largest trade deal
12:48ever.
12:49That's right.
12:49Agreed.
12:50And now we are here to work together with you on a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
12:56Stop the killing.
12:58This is really our common interest.
13:00Stop the killing.
13:01And indeed, it's very good to hear that we're working on the security guarantees.
13:05Article 5 lies security guarantees.
13:07So important.
13:08But I want to thank you also that you mentioned the thousands of Ukrainian children that have
13:14been abducted.
13:15And as a mother and grandmother, every single child has to go back to its family.
13:21This should be one of our main priorities also in these negotiations to make sure that
13:26the children come back to Ukraine to their families.
13:31And we did.
13:31I was just thinking we're here for a different reason.
13:34But we just a couple of weeks ago made the largest trade deal in history.
13:38So that's a big that's a big thing.
13:40And congratulations.
13:41That's great.
13:42Thank you very much.
13:43Yes.
13:44Mr. Chancellor from Germany.
13:47Very, very, very great leader.
13:49Mr. President Donald, many thanks for having us today.
13:52I think this is extremely helpful that we are meeting and hearing that the two of you are
14:00having such a good meeting today here in Washington.
14:04The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones now.
14:09The path is open.
14:10You opened it last Friday.
14:13But now the way is open for complicated negotiations.
14:17And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire, the latest from the next meeting on.
14:25I can't imagine that the next meeting would took place without a ceasefire.
14:31So let's work on that.
14:33And let's try to put pressure on Russia.
14:36Because the credibility of these efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today, are depending
14:41on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations from next step on.
14:47So I would like to emphasize this aspect and would like to see a ceasefire from the next
14:54meeting, which should be a trilateral meeting wherever it takes place.
14:59Well, we're going to let the president go over and talk to the president.
15:04And we'll see how that works out.
15:06And if we can do that, I will say, and again, I say it, in the six wars that I've settled,
15:12I haven't had a ceasefire.
15:14We just got into negotiations.
15:16And one of the wars was, as you know, in the Congo, was 30 years, 31 years long.
15:23Another one that we settled last week with two great countries was 35 years going on.
15:29And we had no ceasefire.
15:30So if we can do the ceasefire, great.
15:32And if we don't do a ceasefire, because many other points were given to us, many, many
15:38points were given to us, great points.
15:40Please, Georgia, go ahead.
15:43Well, thank you very much, Donald, Mr. President, for hosting us today in this important meeting.
15:48And I think it is an important day, a new phase, after three years and a half, that we
15:54didn't see any kind of sign from the Russian side that there was a willing for dialogue.
16:01So something is changing.
16:03Something has changed, thanks to you.
16:06Thanks also to the stalling in the battlefield, which was achieved with the bravery of Ukrainians
16:13and with the unity that we all provided to Ukraine.
16:17And the reason why I mention it is that we also have to remind that if we want to reach
16:23peace and if we want to guarantee justice, we have to do it united.
16:30So that's why it's a very good day, the one we are in.
16:35You can obviously count on Italy as it was from the beginning.
16:39We are on the side of Ukraine, and we do absolutely support your efforts towards peace.
16:47We will talk about many important topics.
16:51The first one is security guarantees, how to be sure that it won't happen again, which
16:58is the precondition of every kind of peace.
17:00I'm happy that we will discuss about that.
17:03I'm happy that we will begin from a proposal, which is the, let's say, Article 5 model, which
17:10was Italian at the beginning.
17:13So we are always ready to bring our proposals for peace, for dialogue.
17:18It's something we have to build together to guarantee peace and to defend the security
17:24of our nation.
17:24So thank you, Mr. President, for hosting us.
17:27Thank you very much.
17:28Emmanuel.
17:29Thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this meeting and for your commitment.
17:38And everything was said, but I have to, I just have to say here, everybody around this
17:43table is in favor of peace.
17:46And we work very hard and we've worked very hard during the past few years to have a peace
17:51which is a robust and longstanding peace.
17:55This is why the idea of a trilateral meeting is very important because this is the only
18:01way to fix it.
18:03And by the way, I think as a follow-up, we would need probably a quadrilateral meeting
18:07because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European
18:12continent.
18:13And this is why we are all united here with Ukraine on this matter.
18:18In order to organize such a trilateral meeting, your idea to ask for a truce, or at least to
18:25stop the killings, as we discuss, is a necessity.
18:29And we all support this idea.
18:32And in order to have such a longstanding peace for Ukraine and for the whole continent, we
18:37do need the security guarantees.
18:38And the first one is clearly a credible Ukrainian army for the years and decades to come.
18:47And the second one is our own commitments, all of us.
18:50And we worked very hard during the past few months among the coalition of the Willings with
18:55the support of NATO to build the different pillars of security guarantees and our commitments.
19:00And you can be sure that the Europeans are very lucid about the fact that they have their
19:04fair share in these security guarantees for Ukraine, but their own security is clearly
19:10at stake in this situation.
19:12So you can count on us as we can count on you in order to deliver this robust peace for
19:20both Ukraine and Europe.
19:22Thank you very much, Emmanuel.
19:23Mr. Prime Minister.
19:25Thank you very much, Mr. President, and thank you for hosting us here.
19:29Can I start where Emmanuel started, which is we all want peace.
19:34The war in Ukraine has had a huge impact, particularly on the Ukrainians who've borne
19:39the brunt of it, but it's also had an impact on Europe and on the United Kingdom.
19:44There's not a family or community that hasn't been affected.
19:48And when we talk about security, we're talking about security not just of Ukraine, we're talking
19:52about the security of Europe and the United Kingdom as well, which is why this is such
19:56an important issue.
19:57I think this is such an important meeting.
19:59As a group, I think we've had a discussion on the phone a number of times, Mr. President,
20:03but be able now to be around the table to take it forward.
20:07And I really feel that we can, I think, with the right approach this afternoon, make real
20:12progress, particularly on the security guarantees.
20:16And your indication of security guarantees, some sort of Article 5 style guarantees, fits
20:21with what we've been doing with the Coalition of the Willing, which we started some months
20:25ago, bringing countries together and showing that we were prepared to step up to the plate
20:29when it came to security.
20:31With you coming alongside the U.S., alongside what we've already developed, I think we could
20:37take a really important step forward today.
20:39A historic step, actually, could come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine
20:44and security in Europe.
20:45I also feel that we can make real progress towards a just and lasting outcome.
20:54Obviously, that has to involve Ukraine.
20:57And a trilateral meeting seems the sensible next step.
21:00So thank you for being prepared to take that forward.
21:03Because I think if we can ensure that that is the progress out of this meeting, both security
21:11guarantees and some sort of progress on trilateral meeting of some sort to bring some of the
21:17difficult issues to a head, then I think today will be seen as a very important day in recent
21:24years.
21:25In relation to a conflict which has gone on for three and a bit years, and so far nobody has
21:30been able to bring it to this point.
21:31So I thank you for that.
21:33Well, thank you very much.
21:34And, you know, it's very interesting because this is the first for the White House.
21:38You can't say that very often.
21:40It's seen a lot over the years, over the since 1800, 1799, to be almost exact.
21:47But this is the first where we've had so many prime ministers, presidents, the heads of European
21:52nations.
21:54And by the way, Alex, I'd like you to say a couple of words, too.
21:57You're a young, powerful man.
21:59And before I finish up, I want you to say a couple of words.
22:03Go ahead.
22:05I'll take the notion of youth back to my wife and try to convince her.
22:10Thank you very much, Mr. President.
22:11I think in the past two weeks, we've probably had more progress in ending this war than we
22:18have in the past three and a half years.
22:21And I think the fact that we're around this table today is very much symbolic in the sense
22:27that it's Team Europe and Team United States helping Ukraine.
22:31And the progress that we're looking out of this meeting is about the security guarantees,
22:37which are a big part of this.
22:41And then, of course, moving towards a process with the trilateral meeting with you and President
22:46Putin and President Zelensky.
22:48Some of the international media might wonder, you know, why is the president of Finland here?
22:54I think the reason is probably that we might come from a small country, but we have a long
22:59border with Russia, over 800 miles.
23:03And we, of course, have our own historical experience with Russia from World War II, the
23:09Winter War and the War of Continuation.
23:11And if I look at the silver lining of where we stand right now, we found a solution in
23:171944, and I'm sure that we'll be able to find a solution in 2025 to end Russia's war of
23:24aggression and find and get a lasting and just peace.
23:29The situation is very difficult, but that's why we're here.
23:33Thank you, Alex, very much.
23:34Good job.
23:35So we're going to be meeting for a while, and we're going to discuss some of the issues.
23:42And I don't think there's any issue that's overly complex.
23:45It's at a point now where people want to do things.
23:48I do.
23:49I really do believe I've known him for a long time.
23:51I've always had a great relationship with him.
23:53I think that President Putin wants to find an answer to.
23:56And we'll see.
23:58And in a certain period of time, not very far from now, a week or two weeks, we're going
24:03to know whether or not we're going to solve this or is this horrible fighting going to
24:08continue.
24:09We'll do the best to get it ended.
24:12And I believe you have two willing parties, and usually that's good news, but two willing
24:16parties that want to make a deal.
24:18And we'll journey together, and we'll go over, and we'll see if it can be done.
24:24And it's possible it might not be able to be done.
24:27On the other hand, it's possible it will.
24:29We're going to save thousands and thousands of lives a week.
24:32And so it's something we really have to do.
24:35Or at least we have to give it our best.
24:37It's all you can do.
24:38You can give it your best.
24:39But I think we may have a very good outcome.
24:42So I want to thank you all.
24:43And the media, I want to thank you.
24:44We're going to be staying here for a little while.
24:46Then we're going to walk over to the Oval Office, and we're going to have another little
24:51discussion about similar matters.
24:54And then they're going to go home to their great countries and report.
24:59And I'm going to remain here and work, and you're going to go and work.
25:03We're all going to be working.
25:05We may be in a different location, but that's what we know how to do is work.
25:08But I want to thank.
25:09The media has been actually very fair, generally speaking, very fair.
25:13I think it's important that they're fair, because this is a very important subject.
25:19We have to get it ended.
25:21And so that's all we ask for is fairness with the media.
25:24Thank you all very much.
25:25We appreciate it.
25:26Thank you very much.
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