Martin Henze
Berlin – Washington
It is clear that the alliance is against the war criminal Putin, not against the Russian people, who are being forced by the Putin oligarchy to invest their future in the senseless war.
It became clear that both Ukraine and the United States, which have the will to peace, will not accept any peace dictated by the war criminal Putin.
The war can be ended within three days if Putin withdraws from the areas in Ukraine that he has recognised since 25 February 2022.
Donald Trump
Thank you very much. It is an honour to have the President of Ukraine as our guest, and we have worked very hard and very well. So we have actually known each other for a long time. We have got on very well for a long time. We have a lot of negotiations that are a success for the world, and we have a fair deal, and we look forward to getting in and getting some of the rare earths, but it has to be looked at from the inside, and it is a big commitment for the United States, and we appreciate working with you very much, and we will continue to do so. We have had very good talks with Russia. I have spoken to President Putin, and we will try to bring this to an end, something that you want or he wants. We have to negotiate a deal, but the contours of the deal have already begun, and I think something can come out of it. The main thing is the number of soldiers; thousands of soldiers are being killed at this point. So we want it to stop on both sides, and we want the money to be used for other purposes, for reconstruction, for example, and we’re going to work very hard at that, but we’ve had a lot of very good talks. I have to say that until we came, the Biden administration wasn’t talking to Russia at all. Didn’t talk to anybody. They just let this go on. And I will say this, I have said it a thousand times: if I had been president, there never would have been this war. We would have had a deal worked out for you without going through what you went through. But you, your soldiers, have been incredibly brave. We give them great equipment, but somebody has to use the equipment. You have been incredibly brave and we pay you great tribute. This was supposed to be over very quickly, and here we are, three years later. So I want to express my extraordinary thanks to the generals, to your soldiers and to you, it was very hard fighting, very hard fighting, great fighters, and we must be very proud of them. But now let’s get it over with. It’s enough. We want to get it over with. It’s an honour to have you here. Thank you very much for coming. We will sign the agreement at the conference in the East Room. Just after lunch, we will have lunch together. We are also discussing a few other things and we are happy to have everyone here. It’s a pretty exciting moment, but the really exciting moment is the moment when we get a chance to stop the shooting and make the deal. And I think we are pretty close to being honoured to have you with us.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Mr President, thank you very much for your invitation. Basically, I hope that this document, the first document, will be a first step towards real security guarantees for Ukraine. Our people, our children, really count on it. And, of course, we call this America with uninterrupted support. For us, the support is really very important to continue. And I would like to discuss this in more detail during our conversation. And of course the infrastructure of security guarantees, because I understand what Europe is willing to do today. And of course I would like to discuss with you what the United States will be willing to do. And I am really counting on your strong opposition to stop Putin. You said it, enough with the war. I think it is very important to say these words, to insert the word war at the very beginning, because he is a murderer and a terrorist. But I hope that together we can stop him. But for us it is very important to save our country, our values, our freedom and democracy. And of course there can be no compromise with the murderer about our territories. But more on that later. And of course I wanted to talk to you about drone production. We have a very good drone production, due to the war I believe it is currently the best in the world. And of course we urgently need air defence. They have the best air defence in the world and they actually helped us with the Russian attacks. And I want to talk about how we can exchange licences. We are, of course, open to sharing the licences for all our drones with the United States, that we need licences for rapid production for our defence, even after the war, we need our nation to live in peace so that we are covered. That is why we need this protective shield. And of course, I would also like to talk about the advance planning for this. I think that France and Great Britain have already spoken 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 them to be. And lastly, but not least, our people and children. And you know that those crazy Russians stole 20,000 children, Ukrainian children, they changed their names, they changed their families, relatives, and now they are in Russia. We want to get them back. That is a big dream and goal for me and our fighters. We brought something with us, by the way. We exchanged more than 4,000 fighters from Russian prisons. But there are thousands more in prison. I wanted to show you some pictures. (Shows Trump around a dozen photos of Ukrainian prisoners who were tortured in Russian custody.)
Trump
Question to the journalists: Do you have any questions?
Press
How much US money goes into the fund for the mineral agreement? And what about the long-term security of Ukraine?
Trump
We don’t know exactly how much, we will put some money into a fund for the rare earths that we will take and share the revenue from. So a lot of money is made from the sale and use of rare earths. And as you know, we don’t have much rare earths in our country. We have a lot of oil and gas, but we don’t have a lot of rare earths. And what we have is protected by environmentalists. But that could be unprotected soon. (…) When it comes to rare earths, Ukraine’s are some of the best in the world. So we’re going to use it for everything we do, including AI, weapons and military, and it’s really going to satisfy our needs. So it just worked out really well. We have a lot of oil and we have a lot of gas. We have a lot of everything but we don’t have any rare earths. And Ukraine has just about every component of the earth that we need for computers and for all the things that we do. That puts us in a great position.
Press
And the long-term security guarantees?
Trump
I think once we get the agreement that we have reached 95 percent, there’s not going to be any fighting again. I’ve spoken to President Putin. I’ve known him a long time and I have a strong sense that he’s very serious. And we’re making a deal. And when the deal is done, I don’t think we’re going to talk about security. Everybody talks 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’m not worried about security at the moment. 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 lose a thousand, 2,000, 3,000 a week. As we sit here talking, people are being shot and dying on the battlefield. And you know, it’s not American soldiers, it’s Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. And we want to be able to stop it, and we also want to be able to spend money on other things. That’s an enormous amount of money. And what the Biden administration did was terrible. They gave money but had no security for the money. As you know, Europe has given much less money. But they had security. It was a loan. They get their money back and we don’t. And now we are at least protected, because the American taxpayer also needs to be protected. But this is an incredible agreement for Ukraine, because we are now making a huge investment in their country. And what they have, very few people have. And we are able to really move forward with very, very high-tech things and many other things, including weapons.
Selenskyi interrupts and talks, among other things, about the possibility of building LNG terminals. ‘The Europeans gave a lot.’
Trump
They gave a lot, but less than we did.
Selenskyi (laughs)
‘No.’
Trump (laughs)
Don’t argue with me. But okay.
Press: President Trump, you call the deal for Ukraine historic. What place in world history do you want to have?
Trump
Washington, Lincoln, I’m much better than George Washington. Just kidding. If I say that, the fake news will go crazy. No, I’m just trying to do my job here. We had a great 35 days or whatever, a month, a little over a month. We’ve achieved a tremendous amount. Not only that. That would be a very big achievement if we could pull it off. The war stopped and brought them back to normalisation. I think that will happen. And as you know, we have had very good talks on both sides. But I think we have done a very good job. In general, if you look at all the things we have done in 30 days, there has never been a first month like the one we have had. And that is one of the very important things. That’s one of the most important things to me, because as we speak, we are experiencing terrible loss of life. And I want everyone to think about the parents. But whether they’re in Russia or Ukraine, think about the parents of all these people who are being needlessly killed.
Zelensky
They invaded our territory.
Trump
This war should never have started. If I was president, it would never have started.
Press
Are you going to continue sending military aid to Ukraine, President Trump? And President Zelensky, is the US on your side?
Trump
That’s a rather stupid question. I think we wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.
Zelensky
But I think that the United States has been on our side since the beginning of the occupation, and I think that President Trump is on our side, and of course, I am sure that the President of the United States will not stop his support. This is crucial for us. It is important for us. Yes. And Putin, the president, talks about the people, the soldiers who are dying. But they came into our territory. They came into our country and started this war. And they have to stop. And I think that’s the question, or is the most important question: Can President Trump, I hope so, along with some other allies, stop Putin, pull back those enemies and get his troops out of everybody? And you asked about history – if President Trump stops Putin and brings peace, then his picture will hang on this wall (pointing to the walls of the Oval Office).
Trump
We had very good talks.
Press
What compromises does President Zelensky have to make? And, President Zelensky, what can you offer the other side? Elections, for example?
Trump
You can’t do business without compromise. So he’s certainly going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think you have to make. So that’s all we can do. I’m here as a referee, sort of a mediator between two parties that were very hostile, to put it mildly, they were very hostile. It was a brutal war. It was a brutal war, you know, it’s a very even battlefield. And those bullets go out and I’ve said many times that we talk to people about this, many times. The only thing that can stop those bullets is a human body. (…)
Press
President Trump, will your legacy ultimately be as a peacemaker rather than as the president who led this country into yet another war and foreign wars?
Trump
I hope it will be. I mean, I hope I will be remembered as a peacemaker. That would be a great thing if we could pull it off. I’m doing this more than anything to save lives. Secondly, to save a lot of money. But I consider that far less important. I hope I’ll thank you, Brian, for that question. That was a nice question. I hope I’ll be known and recognised as a peacemaker. That would be a great solution. This is a very dangerous situation. You know, this could lead to World War III. This has gone in the wrong direction. If this election were lost, if we hadn’t won this election, and by what? Or by a lot. This was a mandate. We won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions and millions and millions of votes. We won everything. The districts, if you look at the districts, are red. Look at a map. This was a big job. And this is one of the things I said. We will fix it. If we hadn’t won, I think it would have ended in a third world war, and that wouldn’t have been a good situation.
Press
President Zelensky, why aren’t you wearing a suit?
Selenskyj
Do you have a problem with it?
Press
Many Americans have a problem with it.
Selenskyj
I don’t. I’ll wear a suit after this war. Yes, maybe. Maybe something like yours? I don’t know, we’ll see. Maybe something cheaper than yours. Thank you.
Press
Are you continuing to send weapons to Ukraine?
Trump
Yes. We will provide weapons for Ukraine. Yes, sure. Hopefully I won’t have to send much, because hopefully we’ve ended it. We look forward to wrapping this up quickly. We don’t look forward to sending a lot of weapons. We look forward to ending the war so we can do other things. But we appreciate the agreement very much, because we needed what they had, and we’re now treating our country fairly. Biden didn’t do that. Biden did that. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing. This should never have happened. This should never have started. But, you know, sure, the answer is yes, but hopefully we don’t have to send much because I’m looking forward to getting it done. It’s done quickly, very quickly.
Press
And what about the security guarantees?
Trump
I don’t want to talk about security yet because I want to make the deal. You know, you fall into the same trap millions of times like everybody else. You said it over and over and over again. I want to make the deal. Security is so easy. That’s about two per cent of the problem. I’m not worried about security. I’m worried about getting the deal done. Security is the easy part. Security is very nice. Everyone stop shooting. And will Europe be deploying soldiers there? I know France will. I know the UK will. I know other countries will. And they happen to be right next door. We have not committed. But it is conceivable that we could have security in another form. We have workers there. They will dig, dig, dig for the rare earths so that we can make many great products in this country. But we have not decided that yet. I have to say, and when I talk to France and talk to France, and they were, as you know, here last week and just the other day, they have committed themselves to too much security. I don’t think you’re going to need much security. I think once this deal is done, it’s over. Russia is not going to want to go back. And nobody is going to want to go back when this deal ends. I really believe this deal will be the end of the war.
