Well, thank you very much. It's an honor to have the president of Ukraine with us. We've had a lot of good discussions, a lot of good talks, and I think progress is being made, very substantial progress in many ways. We had a good meeting, as you know, just a short while ago with the president of Russia, and I think there's a possibility that something could come out of it. And today's meeting is very important. We have seven very powerful leaders from Europe and we're going to be meeting with them right after this meeting. Thank you very much for being here.
Thank you so much, Mr. President. If I can first of all thank for the invitation and thank you very much for your efforts to stop killings and stop this war. Thank you. Using this opportunity, many thanks to your wife, the first lady of the United States. She sent a letter to Putin about our children, abducted children, and my wife, the first lady of Ukraine, she gave the letter to your wife.
Oh, I want... Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is a sensitive topic. Yes, please. And thanks to our partners that you supported this format. After our meeting, we're going to have leaders who are around us: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, EU, NATO, all partners around Ukraine supporting us. Thanks to them and thank you very much for the invitation.
Thank you very much for being here, President Trump.
Yes, Peter. Go ahead. Thank you, President Trump. So, President Zelenskyy, you said in a post on X today, 'Russia must end this war, which it itself started.' President Trump, you say, 'President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to.' Which is it?
No, I think that's true. I think we're going to have a meeting. If everything works out well today, we'll have a trilateral and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that.
Is this the end of the road for American support for Ukraine? Is today's meeting deal or no deal?
I can never say that. It's never the end of the road. People are being killed and we want to stop that. So I would not say it's the end of the road. No, I think we have a good chance of doing it. It's been almost four years now that a lot of people were killed last week. A lot of people last week. I mean millions of people killed, but a lot of people last week for whatever reason.
One year and a half. So we need to stop this war, to stop Russia, and we need support from American and European partners, and we will do our best for this. I think we show that we are strong people and we supported the idea of President Trump to stop this war, to make a diplomatic way of finishing this war, and we are ready for a trilateral as the president said. This is a good signal about a trilateral. I think this is very good. Thank you.
Mr. President, if the peace deal is achieved, are you going to be willing to send American peacekeepers to Ukraine?
Well, we're going to work with Ukraine. We're going to work with everybody and we're going to make sure that if there's peace, the peace is going to stay long term. This is very long term. We're not talking about a two-year peace and then we end up in this mess again. We're going to make sure that everything's good. We'll work with Russia. We're going to work with Ukraine and we're going to make sure it works. And I think if we can get to peace, it's going to work. I have no doubt about it.
Your team has talked about security guarantees. Could that involve US troops? Would you rule that out in the future?
We'll let you know that maybe later today. We're meeting with seven great leaders of great countries also, and we'll be talking about that. They'll all be involved, but there'll be a lot of help when it comes to security. There's going to be a lot of help. It's going to be good. They are the first line of defense because they're there. They're Europe. But we're going to help them out also. We'll be involved.
Mr. President, Vladimir Putin mentioned that the war will not end without addressing the root causes of this war. Do you have an understanding of what the root causes of this war are?
Well, look, the war is going to end. When it ends, I can't tell you, but the war is going to end. And this gentleman wants it to end and Vladimir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it and we're going to get it ended. It was, you know, I've done six wars. I've ended six wars and I thought this maybe would be the easiest one and it's not the easiest one. It's a tough one. A lot of reasons for it and they'll be talking about it for a long time, but they'll be talking about the others. Look, India, Pakistan, we're talking about big places. When you look at some of these wars, you go to Africa and take a look at that. Rwanda and the Congo, Republic of the Congo, that's been going on for 31 years. And so we've done a total of six and we really have six, not including the fact that we obliterated the future nuclear capability of Iran. And this one I think we're going to get solved also. I feel confident we're going to get it solved.
Thank you, Mr. President. Can you tell us about your conversations with European leaders and what they need to see to support an end to the war?
Yeah. Well, we're going to be meeting with a great representative group and seven very powerful, very big countries and great people, all friends of mine and friends of yours. And we're going to have some suggestions made. They want to see peace. They would like to see peace.
President Trump, do you think it's fair for Ukraine and for Russia to achieve a lasting and durable peace if Ukraine sees its territories that Russia hasn't yet conquered? Do you think it's a fair peace for Ukraine?
We're going to have a lasting peace. Just to answer the first part of your question, we're going to have a lasting peace. I hope it's going to be immediately. I hope it doesn't have to go on and I think people of the whole world are going to be very happy when that's announced.
Thank you, Mr. President. You posted on social media, Mr. President, a very touching letter from the first lady and the letter was hand-delivered to President Putin and it calls for an end to the war essentially because of the children and the children's future. Why did the first lady feel that letter was necessary? Was it because she believes that Mr. Putin is the aggressor in the war? Is a similar letter being hand-delivered to President Zelenskyy?
So, the first lady felt very strongly. She's watched the same thing that you watch and that I watch. I see things that you don't get to see and it's horrible. But she has a great love of children. She has a wonderful son that she loves probably more than anybody, including me. I hate to say it, but she loves her son. She loves children and she hates to see something like this happening. And that goes for other wars, too. I mean, she sees the heartbreak, the parents, the funerals that you see on television, always funerals. We want to see something other than funerals. No, she felt it was a beautiful letter. It was very well received by him. And she did ask me to say that she would love to see this end. She would love to see it end. And she says it very openly, very proudly, and with great sorrow because so many people have been killed.
Mr. President, last week... Go ahead.
Yes, sir. I've got a question for each of you. First of all, President Zelenskyy, you look fabulous in that suit.
Yeah, look, you look good.
I said the one that attacked you last time. See that?
Yeah. I apologize to you. Look, you look wonderful.
