00:00All right, we had a very good day today. I think we made a tremendous amount of progress,
00:10even from the last time I spoke to you, and I apologize for keeping you waiting,
00:13but there was more work to be done. You know, we began almost three weeks ago with a foundational
00:18document that we socialized and ran by both sides, and with input from both sides. And one
00:23of the things that happens when you've been involved in this now for 10 months is you get
00:27a pretty good sense of what the priorities and the red lines and the important issues are for both
00:32sides. And so that allowed us to create a foundational document, which has been an ongoing working
00:37document. In fact, over the last 96 hours or more, there's been extensive engagement with the Ukrainian
00:42side, including our Secretary of the Army and others being on the ground in Kiev, meeting with
00:47relevant stakeholders across the Ukrainian political spectrum in the legislative branch and the
00:53executive branch and the military and others to further sort of narrow these points. We arrived
00:59here today with one goal, and the goal was to take, you know, what, you know, 28 points or 26 points,
01:06depending on which version, as it continued to evolve, and try to narrow the ones that were open items.
01:11And we have achieved that today in a very substantial way. Now, obviously, like any final agreement,
01:16they'll have to be agreed upon by the presidents. And there are a couple issues that we need to
01:21continue to work on. But I think the report today is that I think today was worthwhile. It was very,
01:27very, it is probably the most productive day we have had on this issue. And maybe in the entirety of
01:33our engagement, but certainly in a very long time. But work remains. And because this continues to be
01:38a working process, you know, the I don't want to declare victory or finality here, there's still some
01:45work to be done. But we are much further ahead today at this time than we were when we began this
01:50morning, and where we were a week ago, for certain. Okay?
01:53I see a couple of issues. I see a couple of issues. You said about a couple of issues.
01:58Yes.
01:59What do you please specify on that?
02:01Well, I'm not going to get into the details on the issues. This is a very delicate moment,
02:04and it's important. Like I said, there's not agreement on those yet. Some of it is semantics or language.
02:09Others require higher level decisions and consultation. Others, I think, just need more time to work through.
02:15As an aside, I will mention that there were items that we were discussing as part of the original
02:1928. It evolved. This is a living, breathing document. Every day with input, it changes.
02:25There were some that involved equities or the role of the EU or of NATO or so forth. And those we kind
02:31of segregated out because we just met with the national security advisors for various European
02:35countries. And those are things we'll have to discuss with them because it involves them.
02:40So we sort of really focused on the ones that were bilateral in nature for the most part.
02:44So there were a couple, none of it insurmountable. I can tell you that the items that remain
02:48open are not insurmountable. We just need more time than what we have today. I honestly believe
02:53we'll get there.
02:53So has Ukraine indicated to you that it's prepared to compromise, for instance, some of
03:00those key issues like territory in exchange for peace with Russia? They suggested that they
03:05are prepared to...
03:05Well, I'm not going to... Look, it's not for purposes of evasion. It's just I'm not going to get
03:10into the details of the topics that were discussed because this is an ongoing process. What is
03:14important to understand and how these things work is you have to... In order to have a proposal,
03:19you have to write it. If it's just verbal, it's in the air, you have to put it down on a piece of
03:23paper. And just because it's printed on a piece of paper doesn't indicate finality. So you get input.
03:28And based on that input, you make adjustments. And then you get more input or you make a counteroffer
03:33and you get more adjustments. That's an ongoing process. There's a lot more of that to happen.
03:36So I'm not going to speculate or go into the details of any of the specific items
03:40in the latest version of the proposal because, frankly, by tomorrow or the next day, that may
03:46have evolved and changed further. But I can tell you, I guess, that I feel very optimistic
03:52that we can get something done here because we made a tremendous amount of progress today.
03:56Oh, it was very positive. I'm telling you, today was the most productive day we've had.
04:02I'm grateful. Well, today, and we've talked to him since, I think he's quite pleased at the reports
04:07we've given him about the amount of progress that's been made.
04:10Well, obviously, the Russians get a vote here, right? So, I mean, look, we began from the early
04:19stage of this process with our understanding of the Russian position as had been communicated to us
04:23in numerous ways. I've, you know, at the State Department, we received numerous written
04:29nonpapers and things of this nature, also verbally things they've discussed over time and so forth.
04:34So it was no matter what we came up with today, obviously, we now have to take what we come up
04:39with if we can reach that agreement with the Ukrainian side to the Russian side. That's another part of this
04:43equation. You know, they have to agree to this in order for this to work.
04:49What about new deadline? Will be a new deadline?
04:52The deadline is we want to get this done as soon as possible. Obviously, you know,
04:55we'd love it to be Thursday. We'd love to be, ultimately, the important point today is that
04:59we have made substantial progress. We've really moved forward. So I feel very optimistic that we're
05:04going to get there in a very reasonable period of time very soon. You know, whether it's Thursday,
05:08whether it's Friday, whether it's Wednesday, whether it's Monday of the following week,
05:11we want it to be soon because people are going to, between today and the time we deal with this,
05:15more people are going to die. More destruction is going to happen.
05:18Our goal is to end this war as soon as possible, but we need a little more time.
05:24What? I'm sorry?
05:24Can you discuss the fighter jets in Poland?
05:27Yeah, I'm not going to discuss any of the particulars of it, quite frankly. As I said,
05:30this is an ongoing process, and so I think there's work to be done. I know that's
05:34deeply unsatisfying to you who have to cover these sorts of things, but I wanted to make you aware that
05:38we've made progress. I simply don't want to do anything that sets us back in that regard.
05:43But I can tell you, we've made substantial progress today. It was the best day we have had
05:48in our entire 10 months of working on these issues.
05:50Did you confirm that you met the European representatives today?
05:57Yes. We met with the national security advisors of a variety of countries that were here, and we
06:05sort of walked them through the progress we had made today. We didn't go in again into tremendous
06:09detail. We assured them that items that involved both Europe and NATO directly, or that those items
06:14are items that we sort of agreed to put as part of a separate track because it involves input from
06:20them. But I think what they heard, and I hope they'll confirm, I believe they will, is an incredible
06:25amount of positivity from both the Ukrainian and American side about the progress we've made today.
06:29What happens tomorrow, Secretary? What's the plan for tomorrow?
06:33It would only make sense if it includes a provision that says the Americans are willing to provide
06:39security guarantees similar to Article 5 of NATO. Are you receptive to this?
06:44Yeah. Again, I'm not going to discuss the details of what's being, you know,
06:47worked on with regards to any particular provisions. I mean, clearly, I think we all recognize that part of
06:53getting a final end to this war will require for Ukraine to feel as if it is safe and it is
07:00never going to be invaded or attacked again. So that's clearly something that has to be discussed.
07:05I think we've made substantial progress on that and other points, but I'm not going to get into
07:09the details today about all of those.
07:11I have time for two more guys, because I got to run some more.
07:15The what?
07:17You're asking the Russians to...
07:19In my what?
07:20Would there be a cold even President Trump in the last...
07:22I don't know, it's possible, I'm not sure.
07:24What's the plan? What happens tomorrow?
07:26Tomorrow?
07:28We keep working. I mean, look, this process...
07:30No, no, no, this process has been ongoing now for the better part of three weeks and it's really sped up in the last 96 hours.
07:36So we have all kinds of people at technical levels that are working full time on this and engaged in this full time.
07:41In fact, even as we got up and broke up now and walked away from the table, there are a handful of
07:46technical items that we expect answers from them on or suggestions from them on in the next 24 hours or so.
07:52So this is an ongoing process. We don't have to be here in this building for that to move.
07:55But we thought today being here in person allowed us to make great strides,
07:59because especially since they sent such a high-level delegation who have the authority to sort of
08:03call back to their capital, talk to their president and make and agree to certain things.
08:07So we've made a lot of progress.
08:08Can you point to any concessions you're asking?
08:11The what?
08:11The counter-proposals of the Europeans, the counter-plan of the Europeans.
08:14I'm not a war counter-plan.
08:18I haven't seen any counter-plan.
08:19All right, guys, thank you, thank you.
08:21Can you point to any concessions you're asking the Russians to make this the review?
08:24Or is it just Ukraine with them?
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