00:00OK, Michael, let me ask you for your thoughts and just really picking up on something that President Trump said ahead of today's talks.
00:07He said President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.
00:16But there's no getting back Crimea and no going into NATO by Ukraine.
00:22I mean, is he sounding supportive to Ukraine in your mind?
00:26Well, I think you juxtaposed that statement against the statement this morning about the historical nature of President Zelensky and the rest of the European leaders coming to the White House.
00:39I think you're seeing a number of different messages coming from Donald Trump after the summit that happened in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday.
00:49A couple of bottom line items here for me, which is, are we closer now to peace than we were in February when you brought up the the original meeting between Zelensky and Trump?
01:02And I think the answer is yes.
01:04And I think it's because the United States has been moving and engaging in these conversations with the summit on Friday, now the summit on Monday.
01:14So I think we're moving in a direction.
01:17I would be concerned.
01:19I would be concerned from the Ukrainian and from the European standpoint that we've got, you know, that that Vladimir Putin on Friday moved this from a ceasefire to a peace agreement.
01:36I think it's going to be very difficult if I am coming here as the leader of Ukraine or Europeans that want to be involved in these peace negotiations.
01:46I think that's a movement that one they're going to push back on.
01:50So we'll see what happens during the conversations as they progress across during the day today.
01:57But I think we're closer to peace because of the engagement of the United States.
02:02And I think Donald Trump, the one the one thing that Donald Trump has going for him is that he is slightly unpredictable, which makes it a makes all of these conversations even more important to have to be in the room with him and to have these conversations.
02:21So with Friday's meeting, with Monday's meeting, we'll see where we go.
02:26But I think everything is on the table and that's what you should read into those statements.
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