Trump Zelensky Full Transcript White House Feb 28 2025

DONALD TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s an honor to have President Zelensky of Ukraine. And we’ve been working very hard, very close. So we’ve actually known each other for a long time. We’ve been dealing with each other for a long time and very well. We had little negotiations, but that worked out great, I think, for both countries, and I think for the world, actually, beyond both countries.


And we have something that is a very fair deal. And we look forward to getting in and digging and working and getting some of the rare earth. But it means we’re going to be inside, and it’s a big commitment from the United States. And we appreciate working with you very much. And we will continue to do that.

We have had some very good discussions with Russia. I spoke with President Putin, and we’re going to try and bring this to a close. It’s something that you want and that he wants. We have to negotiate a deal. But we’ve started the confines of a deal, and I think something can happen.


The big thing is the number of soldiers being killed. We’re losing thousands of soldiers. So, on both sides, we’re losing a lot of soldiers. And we want to see it stop. And we want to see the money get put to different kinds of use, like rebuilding.

And we’re going to be working very hard. But we’ve had a lot of very good conversations. And we’ll say, until we came along, the Biden administration didn’t speak to Russia whatsoever. They didn’t speak to anybody. They just allowed this to continue.


And I will say that — I’ll say in front of you — you’ve heard me say it a thousand times. If I were President, this war would have never happened. We would have had a deal negotiated for you without having to go through what you’ve gone through.

But your soldiers have been unbelievably brave. We’ve given them great equipment, but somebody has to use the equipment. They’ve been unbelievably brave, and we give them great credit. This was supposed to be over very quickly, and here we are three years later. So I give tremendous credit to your generals and your soldiers and yourself in the sense that it’s been very hard fighting, very tough fighting. They’re great fighters, and you have to be very proud of them from that standpoint.


But now we want to get it over with. It’s enough, right? We want to get it over with. So it’s an honor to have you here. Thank you very much for coming.

I think we’re going to sign the agreement at the conference in the East Room in a little while, right after lunch. And we’ll be having lunch together. We’re also discussing some other things, and we appreciate everybody being here. It’s somewhat of an exciting moment, but the really exciting moment is when they stop the shooting and we end up with a deal. And I think we’re fairly close to getting that, and an honor to have you. And please, would you like to say something?


VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Thanks so much, Mr. President. Thank you for invitation. And really, I hope that this document, first document, will be first step to real security guarantees for Ukraine, our people, our children. I really count on it.


And of course, we count that America will not stop support. Really, for us, it’s very important to support and to continue it. I want to discuss it with details further during our conversation and, of course, the infrastructure or security guarantees, because for today, I understand what Europe is ready to do. And, of course, I want to discuss with you what United States will be ready to do.

And I really count on your strong position to stop Putin. And you said that enough with the war. I think that it’s very important to say these words to Putin at the very beginning of war, because he is a killer and terrorist. But I hope that together we can stop him.


But for us, it’s very important to save our country, our values, our freedom and democracy. And, of course, no compromises with the killer about our territories. But it will be later.

And of course, what I wanted, we spoke about it by phone with you about the drone’s production. We have very good drone’s production. I think the best one in the world for today because of the war.

DONALD TRUMP: Yes.


VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: And, of course, we need very much the air defense. You have the best air defense in the world. And really, you helped us under attacks of Russians. And I want to speak how we can exchange the licenses. We are open to share the licenses of all our drones with you, of course, with the United States. And we need licenses for quick production of air defense. Even after the war, we need our nation to be calm, that we are secure. So that’s why we need this air shield.

And of course, about this, I want to speak about the contingents. I think that France and UK already spoke to you. And we know that Europe is ready. But without United States, they will not be ready to be as strong as we need.


VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: And then the last point, last but not least, about exchange, about our people and children. And you know that these crazy Russians, that they stole 20,000 of Ukrainian children. They changed their names. They changed their families, relatives, and now they’re in Russia. We want to bring them back. And really, it’s a big dream, task and goal for me and our warriors.


By the way, Mr. President, we brought, we exchanged, we released more than 4,000 warriors from Russian prisons, but there are thousands more in the prison. I wanted to share with you some images, how it’s… Just, can I now?

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, go ahead.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: If I may, please, one minute. I just want you to understand in what circumstances, in what situation they are and what the attitude of Russia to our prisoners. Those guys, just you, before and after, you see, before and after, just you to understand.


Now thousands of such guys, ladies and men, they are, and that’s, so they don’t eat, they beat them and they do a lot of bad things. So even during the war, there are rules, everybody knows there are rules during the war. These guys, they don’t have any rules, you see that, 50, 60 kilograms to them and a lot of such things.

And I didn’t want to show you the changes, images of children, because I will share, just share with you, and then it’s looking tragic.


DONALD TRUMP: No, it’s tough, sir.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Yeah, I don’t want it very much to give you, you see. This is pastor, by the way, the stolen pastors, because it’s not Russian church, stolen pastors and moved pastors to the prison. We at the end of last year, we brought three pastors and we could exchange them. And this is pastor, you see, right?

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, it’s tough.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: So I wanted to show you this.

DONALD TRUMP: We want to get that ended, right?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Yeah, yeah, of course, of course.

DONALD TRUMP: I think we will. I think we will.

Questions from the Press
DONALD TRUMP: And, of course, do you have any questions for him?

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. With the, how much money is the US going to put into the fund that is being created today? And how does this provide long-term security for Ukraine?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, we don’t know exactly how much, because we’re going to be putting some money in a fund that we’re going to get from the rare earth that we’re going to be taking and sharing in terms of revenue. So it’s going to be a lot of money will be made from the sale and from the use of rare earth.

And as you know, our country doesn’t have much rare earth. We have a lot of oil and gas, but we don’t have a lot of the rare earth. And what we do have is protected by the environmentalists, but that can be unprotected. But still, it’s not very much. They have among the best in the world in terms of rare earth. We’re going to be using that, taking it, using it for all of the things we do, including AI and including weapons and the military. And it’s really going to very much satisfy our needs. So something that just worked out really well.

DONALD TRUMP: …lot of oil and we have a lot of gas. We have a lot, but we don’t have rare earth. So this has just about every component of the rare earth that we need for computers, for all of the things we do. It puts us in great shape. I think they’re going to have great luck. I think once we make the agreement, that’s going to be 95% of it. They’re not going to go back to fighting. I’ve spoken with President Putin and I think, I mean, I feel very strong. I’ve known him for a long time and I feel very strongly that they’re very serious about it.

Everyone’s talking about security. I said let me make the deal first. I have to make the deal first. I don’t worry about security right now. We have to have a deal because right now last week 2,000 soldiers died on both sides. They’re losing 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 a week. So as we sit here and we talk, people are getting shot and dying on the battlefield. And you know, they’re not American soldiers, but they’re Russian soldiers and they’re Ukrainian soldiers, and we want to be able to stop it. We want to be able also to spend money on other things. We don’t want this. This is a tremendous amount of money.

What the Biden administration did was terrible. They were giving money but they had no security on the money. Europe, as you know, gave much less money but they had security. It was in the form of a loan. They get their money back and we didn’t. And now at least we’re protected because the American taxpayer has to be protected too. But this is an incredible agreement for Ukraine because we have a big investment in their country now, and what they have very few people have. We’re able to really go forward with very high-tech things and many other things including weaponry that we’re going to use in many locations but that we need for our country. This allows us to do this.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: In the document, there is one of the very important points. If we speak about business and investment, we never had LNG terminals in Ukraine. This document will, I mean the next document, but anyway here we see in the framework we see a really good deal for these LNG terminals. For us it is very important, and I think for security of European continent. We have the biggest gas storage, we have the biggest in Europe.

DONALD TRUMP: Yes, yes, and we can use it.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Your gas for LNG. You use it for LNG and we will do it. And really we can help Europe because Europe really helped.

DONALD TRUMP: President Trump said that they made less support but they are our friends and they are our very supportive partners. They really gave a lot, Mr. President, they really…

DONALD TRUMP: They did, but they gave much less.

REPORTER: Mr. President Trump, you have repeatedly called the deal with Ukraine a historical one. And as the President of the United States, you make historical decisions which affects America and other world. So what place in the world history do you want to take and do you associate yourself with any famous historical figures?

DONALD TRUMP: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln… I would say I’m far superior to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. You know I’m only kidding, right? I say that the fake news is going to go wild. They’re going to say he considers himself to be better than Washington. But you never know, you never know. I don’t compare myself to anybody. I’m just here to do a job.

We’ve had a great 35 days or whatever it might be, a month, a little more than a month. We’ve accomplished tremendous amounts. Not only this, this would be a very great achievement if we could get this war stopped and get them back to normalization. I think that’s going to happen, and we’ve had very good talks on both sides as you know.

But I think we’ve done a very good job just generally. If you look at all of the things we’ve done in 30 days, there’s never been an opening for a president of the first month, there’s never been a first month like we’ve had. And this is one of the very important things. This to me is one of the most important things because we have tremendous deaths taking place as we speak, and I don’t want to have that.

Think of the parents. Think of whether they’re in Russia or Ukraine, think of the parents of all these people being killed needlessly. This all should have never started. This would have, if I were president, this would have never started.

REPORTER: Do you feel like the U.S. is on your side, that President Trump is on your side at this moment? What do you think?

DONALD TRUMP: He wants to know… Do you think that’s sort of a stupid question? I guess we wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: I think that the United States is on our side from the very beginning of occupation, and I think that President Trump is on our side. And of course, I’m sure that United States president will not stop support. This is crucial for us, it’s important for us. Yes, and Putin, the president speaks about the people and the soldiers which are dying, but they came to our territory, they came to our land, they began this war and they have to stop. And I think this is the question, really the most important question: can President Trump, I hope yes, with some other allies, stop Putin, withdraw these enemies and withdraw these troops from our land? And I think that you asked about the history – I think that if President, or when he will stop Putin, if President Trump will bring peace to our country, I think he will be on this wall in time.

DONALD TRUMP: We’ve had very, very good talks.

REPORTER: I just wanted to ask for both of you, firstly, are there compromises that you think that President Zelensky is going to have to make? And President Zelensky, is there anything that you may be able to offer, for example, elections?

DONALD TRUMP: I think you’re going to have to always make compromises. You can’t do any deals without compromises. So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think. That’s all we can do.

I’m here as an arbitrator, as a mediator to a certain extent between two parties that have been very hostile, to put it mildly. They’ve been very hostile. This has been a vicious war. This has been a vicious war. You know, it’s a very level battlefield and those bullets go out. And as I’ve said many times, we’re talking about it with Pete many times, the only thing stopping those bullets is a human body. And in the case we’re talking about, generally young human bodies are stopping a lot of bullets.

It’s dead level. That’s why it’s great farmland. It’s great land, it’s great farmland, but there’s very little protection against the bullets that are being and other things that are being shot. So all I can do is to see if I can get everybody at the table and get an agreement. I think we’re going to end up with an agreement, otherwise I wouldn’t probably be even here today.

REPORTER: Mr. President, I’ve got two questions for you. Think ultimately your legacy will be the peacemaker and not the president that led this country into another war and ended foreign wars?

DONALD TRUMP: I hope it will. I mean, I hope I’m going to be remembered as a peacemaker. This would be a great thing if we could do this. I’m doing this to save lives more than anything else. Second is to save a lot of money, but I consider that to be far less important. So I hope I’m going to… Thank you Brian for that question, was a nice question. I hope I’ll be known and recognized as a peacemaker. This would be a great thing to solve. This is a very dangerous situation. You know, this could lead to a third world war. This was headed in the wrong direction if this…

REPORTER: My second question for President Zelensky: Do you ever wear a suit? You’re the highest level in this country’s office and you refuse to wear a suit. Just want to see if you own a suit? A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the authority of your office.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: I will wear a costume after this war finishes. Okay? Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better, I don’t know. We will see. Maybe something cheaper.

REPORTER: Are you going to send more arms to Ukraine in case there’s no peace?

DONALD TRUMP: Sure. Hopefully, I won’t have to send very much because hopefully we’re going to have it finished. We’re looking forward to finishing this quickly. We’re not looking forward to sending a lot of arms. We’re looking forward to getting the war finished so we can do other things. But we very much appreciate the agreement because we needed what they had. And we’re treating our country fairly now. Biden didn’t do that. Biden didn’t—he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. This should have never happened. This should have never started. But, you know, sure, the answer is yes, but hopefully we won’t have to send much because I’m looking forward to getting it done quickly. Very quickly.

REPORTER: Does that mean you’ll provide security guarantees, Mr. President?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t want to talk about security yet because I want to get the deal done. You know, you fall into the same trap like everybody else. A million times you said over and over, I want to get the deal done. Security is so easy. That’s about 2 percent of the problem. I’m not worried about security. I’m worried about getting the deal done. The security is the easy part. Security is very nice. Everybody stops shooting. And now when Europe put people there—I know France is going to. I know the U.K. is going to. I know other countries are going to, and they happen to be right next door. We haven’t committed, but we could conceivably. You know, we have security in a different form. We’ll have workers there digging, digging, digging, taking the raw earth so that we can create a lot of great product in this country. So, in that sense, you have something. But we haven’t determined that yet. I will say, in speaking to France and in speaking to—and they were here, as you know, last week and just the other day—they have committed to a lot of security. I don’t think you’re going to need much security. I think once this deal gets 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 is going to be over.

Yeah. Please, go ahead. Go ahead.

REPORTER: Thank you. Mr. President, thank you. You had Hilary McCrory and Keir Starmer at the White House this past week, both of whom praised your courage and conviction to lead the pathway towards peace. Part of that involved, though, reengaging in Russia and diplomatic relations, something that previous leaders lacked—the conviction to do so. What gave you the moral courage and conviction to step forward and lead that?

DONALD TRUMP: Boy, I love this guy. Who are you with? Well, that’s why I like him. One American does a great job. That’s very—I like the question. I think it’s a very good question. It is—it’s a pathway to peace. It’s a pathway to getting something solved. And I feel that, as the head of this country, I have an obligation to do that. Plus, you know, we’re very much involved. We got involved. It’s too bad we got involved because there should have been no involved because there should have been no war. And there shouldn’t have been October 7th. That would have never happened. As you know, Iran was broke. They had no money to give to Hezbollah. They had no money to give to Hamas. They were stone-cold broke. And then, under Biden, they became rich as hell. They went from no money to $300 billion in a period of four years. And they gave a lot of that money away. And you see what happened. And that’s a real mess also that we hope to be able to solve. But, no, I appreciate your question very much. I feel I have an obligation to try and do something to stop the death.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: I can answer. Yes, I can answer for you. Please, please.

DONALD TRUMP: And I do like your clothing, by the way. You’re going to have to… I think he’s a great guy, by the way. I don’t know if you two like each other, but you know what? I think he’s a great guy.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: No, I like this guy. I think he’s a great guy. So, I have more serious things to answer on Saturday. I will answer on more serious things if I can.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: About security guarantees and about ceasefire. We can’t just speak about ceasefire and speak and speak. It will not work. Ceasefire will never work because I’m the president with this experience, and not only me. Ukraine, before my presidency, from 2014, Putin broke agreements 25 times. 25 times he broke his own signature. 25 times he broke ceasefire. But he never broke to me. He never broke to me.

DONALD TRUMP: No, no, you were the president.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: He never broke to me. In 2016, you’ve been the president, Mr. President. You’ve been the president, but he had, of course, not with you, but he had during those period, he had conversations with our side and we had Normandy format, you know, with France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia, and he broke agreements 25 times. That’s why we will never accept just ceasefire. It will not work without security guarantees.

Security guarantees, maybe president is right about this document and other, but this document is not enough. Strong army is enough because Putin’s soldiers are afraid of our soldiers when we are strong enough. If we are not strong enough, if we are empty, if our storage is empty, we can’t defend our land.

Today, you know, he knows that we have, all the world knows that we have meeting, yes? Why is he using ballistic missiles? Putin today is using ballistic missiles on our hospitals, schools, and so on. So he knows that we are here and that President Trump really has goodwill to stop this war. And you hear now the president. So why is he using these weapons? So he doesn’t want to stop. He doesn’t want to, but I hope that we will do it. Really, we’ll do it.

Security, when we speak about security guarantees, when the Europeans are ready for contingencies, they need USA backstop. If there will not be United States, we will never have any strong contingencies from the Europeans because they don’t want to divide allies. Connection between the United States and the main and strongest ally and Europeans. And this is crucial. This is important. That’s what we want to speak about very much. This is very important.

And air defense. We have big deficit with all these systems. And we need to have this. We need it very much. Otherwise, Putin will never stop and will go further and further. He doesn’t want peace. He hates us, you know? It’s not about me. He hates Ukrainians. He thinks that we are not a nation. He thinks and he shares this thought. I think maybe with your team also. I don’t know. But with all the Europeans, in media, officially and unofficially, he always said that there is no such country, such nation, such language, and such life like Ukrainian. No, he really doesn’t respect all the Ukrainians and he wants to destroy us. And you are right, Mr. President. That’s 2%. This document, maybe other documents. It’s a very good start.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Very good. But it will not be enough to stop this person. Mr. President, another big question. This is the rule of the war. During all the centuries, all the history, this is the rule of the war. Who began those pain? This is the rule. Putin began this war. He has to pay all money for renovation. He has to pay. Of course, some Russian assets what we have in Europe, about 300 billion. We can use them. We can use for renovation and buy military support from the United States also. We can do it, but it’s not enough. I know from your question that you didn’t buy military-liberal funds. I wouldn’t know.

Wait a second. I asked this question that you didn’t ask because I wanted to know if you want to position yourself in the middle between Russia and Ukraine or only Ukraine.

DONALD TRUMP: No, I’m in the middle. I want to solve this thing. I’m for both. I want to get it solved. And it’s wonderful to speak badly about somebody else, but I want to get it solved. If we can solve it, great. If we can’t solve it, they’re going to have to fight it out. And who knows what’s going to happen? But I want to see it get solved.

REPORTER: May I follow up? There’s one more question about U.S. troops in Europe. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, your predecessor sent additional troops through Eastern Europe, including Poland. Are you committed to keeping these troops on the eastern flank of NATO in the future?

DONALD TRUMP: I’m very committed to Poland. I think Poland has really stepped up and done a great job for NATO. As you know, they paid more than they had to. They are one of the finest groups of people I’ve ever known. I’m very committed to Poland. Poland’s in a tough neighborhood, you know.

REPORTER: What about the Baltics?

DONALD TRUMP: The Baltics? It’s a tough neighborhood, too. But we’re committed. We’re going to be very committed, and we’re committed to NATO. But NATO has to step up, and the Europeans have to step up more than they have. And I want to see them equalize because they are in for far less than we’re in, and they should be at least equal. You understand that? Why is the United States? We have an ocean in between. Why is the United States in for so much more money and other things as Europe? With that being said, as you said, they’ve also been, obviously, very helpful. But we have put in far more than they have, and I think they should equalize. I’m very committed to the Europeans.

REPORTER: About the agreement again today, what changed between the first time that Secretary Vessit gave President Zelensky the agreement and today, the signing?

DONALD TRUMP: We made a deal. I’m a business person, we made a deal, that’s what changed. I didn’t think we were going to make a deal, and we ended up making the deal, so that changed.

REPORTER: Mr. President, how do you envision a trilateral summit with President Zelensky and Putin?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know, but well, they don’t like each other, I can tell you that. They do not like each other, this is not a love match, and it’s unfortunate, that’s why you’re in this situation. The United States should not have allowed this to happen, okay? The United States, run by a man that didn’t know much, I’m going to be very nice, run by an incompetent person, very incompetent person, should never have allowed this to happen. I’ve stopped wars, I’ve stopped many wars, like people will tell you, I’ve stopped wars that nobody ever heard about, I’ve stopped wars before they ever started. You can look at some of, I could give you a lot of nations that would tell you right now they were probably going to war, I could tell you right now there’s a nation thinking about going to war on something that nobody in this room has ever even heard about, two smaller nations, but big, still big, and I think I’ve stopped it, but this should have never happened.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: About any negotiations, first of all, I want really to tell you, and I think that everybody understands that Ukraine, more than Ukrainians, nobody wants to stop this war, but in the future, any negotiations, it’s understandable that two sides of the war, not Russia and the United States, because this is not a war between Russia and the United States, this is a war of Russia against Ukraine and Ukrainian people, so these two sides will be, anyway, will be at the negotiation table, then of course the United States, like the strongest partner of Ukraine, and of course Europe, I think Europe is very important, I want to speak about it with the President.

Yes, Europe is very important for us, because we really defend Europe for today, all Europeans really recognize that we are defending life, and they have real life, and our people are dying, that’s why they helped us, and also it’s about the nature, yes, between, like the President said, you have big, nice ocean, big airs between us, but if we will not stay, Russia will go further to Baltics and to Poland, by the way, but first to the Baltics, it’s understandable for them, because they’ve been the USSR, you know, they’ve been one of the republics of the USSR, and Putin wants to bring them back to his empire, it’s a fact, and when he will go there, if we will not stay, you will fight, you are American soldiers, it doesn’t matter, do you have ocean, or not, your soldiers will fight.

REPORTER: Mr. President, would you be willing to visit Ukraine, Libya, or Odessa, which is going to be a third-year olympic team?

DONALD TRUMP: I don’t want to talk about Odessa, let’s not talk about Odessa, I want to talk about making a deal, getting peace, we’d have to talk about Odessa, but a lot of cities have been destroyed, a lot of cities that are not recognizable, there’s not a building standing, and a lot of…

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: You have to come and to look, no, no, no, we have very good cities, yes, a lot of things have been destroyed, but mostly, it is a life, and people work, and children go to school, sometimes it’s very difficult, sometimes closer to front line, children have to go to underground schools, or online, but we live, Ukraine is fighting, and Ukraine lives, this is very important, and maybe it’s Putin sharing this information that he destroyed us, and he lost 700,000 people, 700,000 soldiers he lost, yes, so…

REPORTER: Mr. President, when did you last speak with President Putin, and what did he say? And what did he tell you that gave you the assurance that he wanted peace?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, that’s what I do, my whole life is deals, I know pretty good, and I really, I’ve known him for a long time, I’ve dealt with him for a long time, he had to suffer through the Russia hoax, you know, Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax, it was all Biden, it was nothing to do with him, so he had to suffer through that, and he was able to do that, I think that he wants to make a deal, and he would like to see it end, that’s all I do, that’s what I do, my whole life, that’s what I do, is make deals, and I’m in the middle of a mess, because this is a real mess, it’s a very dangerous one, if this doesn’t get solved now, it’s not going to get solved for a long time, so I hope we’re going to get it solved, in the back please.

REPORTER: Thank you Mr. President, Prime Minister Farmer claimed repeatedly that his government believes in free speech, and does not engage in censorship, but his custody of his government arrests people for memes and fraud crimes, and even more words than this, pressuring American companies to censor Americans on his behalf, how can he be a reliable, structurally partner in these decisions that are demonstrably false on such important lines?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, we actually spoke to him about that yesterday, and we thought they took it very much too far, J.D. was very strong on it, so was I, so was Marco, and we’ve been speaking to him about it, Marco would you like to say something about it? We have concerns obviously with the conduct of various, particularly as it impacts Americans, and there’s real concern that American speech, which is online, could fall into the hands of the British, or any country’s jurisdiction, and so this is the point the Vice President made

REPORTER: In Munich, and I think it’s a very compelling one, that what unites us with Europe, as much as anything else, is these shared values, and one of them being free speech. If Americans are threatened by it, we’re going to need to take action in that regard. It’s actually a very important question. We spoke about this in detail with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, and others at lunch yesterday, and I know that Secretary of Commerce Lutnick followed up in private meetings last night. This is really important – we believe Americans have the right to speak their mind, even if we in this room disagree with them. They have the right to speak their mind in the public square, which is often online these days, and we’re going to defend that right, as it pertains to American companies and American citizens, vigorously if we have to. I do think that under the President’s leadership, we’re going to find common ground with our friends in the UK on this question, but it remains to be seen. The principle that will guide us is, we believe in free speech in this country, and we’ll fight for it for American citizens.

REPORTER: Mr. President, on the deal, is there any other oil and gas component to the deal at all?

DONALD TRUMP: A little bit, mostly. On LNG? But we’re not really looking for that so much, we have more than anybody in the world, by far. So no, we’re not talking about it too much, but a little bit, I think it affects also, but for the most part, no.

REPORTER: And sir, is there any agreement from Ukraine to purchase U.S. LNG as part of the deal, or not LNG at all?

DONALD TRUMP: No, we don’t need that.

REPORTER: Some of those minerals are in the east of Ukraine. You just mentioned that you guys spoke to Vladimir Putin a couple of days ago. Just to be clear, that’s a new call, not the one you’ve spoken to.

DONALD TRUMP: I’ve spoken to him on numerous occasions.

REPORTER: Okay, and how was the latest call? What did you discuss? How did it go?

DONALD TRUMP: Are you serious with that question?

REPORTER: I am, I’m not joking.

DONALD TRUMP: It went well. I think that we’re going to have a deal.

REPORTER: On the minerals deal, Mr. President, some of those minerals are in the east of Ukraine, not far from different lines and in areas that Russia has occupied. Will you direct President Putin to withdraw his forces from that area if there’s U.S. interest?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’ll take a look at the time. We have a lot of area. It’s a very big area we’re talking about. So we’ll take a look. I’ll study that and I’ll see.

REPORTER: And who would protect those minerals if they are U.S. interests? Would that be Ukraine?

DONALD TRUMP: They’ll be protected. The agreement will protect them. The agreement, yeah. We’re signing an agreement.

REPORTER: The agreement when Russia tries to invade or orders Russian aggression in response.

DONALD TRUMP: I just told you, I don’t think that’s going to happen. And if that were going to happen, I wouldn’t make a deal. If I thought that was going to happen, I wouldn’t make a deal. You ought to focus on CNN on survival, not asking me these ridiculous questions. Focus on surviving, because CNN’s got such low ratings. I don’t think they’re going to survive. Let’s go.

REPORTER: I already mentioned Poland. Poland was under Russian control for decades after the Second World War. When I was a kid, I looked at the United States not only as the most powerful country, richest country in the world, the country that has great music, great movies, great muscle cars, but also as a force for good. And now I’m talking with my friends in Poland, and they are worried that you align yourself too much with Putin. What’s your message for them?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, if I didn’t align myself with both of them, you’d never have a deal. You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say, “Hi, Vladimir, how are we doing on the deal?” It doesn’t work that way. I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world. I’m aligned with the world, and I want to get this thing over with. You see the hatred he’s got for Putin. It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He’s got tremendous hatred, and I understand that. But I can tell you the other side is exactly in love with, you know, him either. So it’s not a question of alignment. I have I’m in line with the world. I want to get the thing set. I’m aligned with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough. I could be tougher than any human being you’ve ever seen. I’d be so tough. But you’re never going to get a deal that way. So that’s the way it goes. One more question.

[J.D. VANCE]: Hey, I would respond to this. So look, for four years, the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin. And then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country. The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy. We tried the pathway of Joe Biden of thumping our chest and pretending that the president of the United States’ words mattered more than the president of the United States’ actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.

REPORTER: Can I ask you?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Sure. Yeah. OK. So he occupied our parts, big parts of Ukraine, parts of East and Crimea. So he occupied it in 2014. So during a lot of years, I’m not speaking about Joe Biden, but those time was Obama, then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now President Trump. And God bless. Now President Trump will stop him. But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what the contact in 2015, 2014. So how is that?

[J.D. VANCE]: Yeah. Exactly right. Yes.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: But during 2014 till 2022, this was the situation – the same that people have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversation, my bilateral conversation. And we signed with him, me, like a new president in 2019. I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, Macron and Merkel. We signed ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed with him a gas contract. But after that, he broke the ceasefire. He killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, J.D., are you speaking about? What do you mean?

[J.D. VANCE]: I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Yes. But Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect…

[J.D. VANCE]: I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office, try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring it into this country.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Did you say what problems we have?

[J.D. VANCE]: I have been to Ukraine.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: How much?

[J.D. VANCE]: I have actually, I’ve actually watched and seen the stories and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people into your military? And do you think that it’s disrespectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: A lot of questions. Let’s start from the beginning. First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you, but you have a nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future. God bless. You don’t know that.

[J.D. VANCE]: God bless. God bless. You will not have a war.

DONALD TRUMP: Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: I’m not telling you.

DONALD TRUMP: Because you’re in no position to dictate that. Remember that. You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good. We’re going to feel very good and very strong. You’re right now not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad…

DONALD TRUMP: Let’s be right about it. You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards. Right now, you don’t have cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country that’s backing you. Far more than a lot of people said things could have.

Have you said thank you once in this entire meeting? No. In this entire meeting, have you said thank you? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October, all for some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the President who’s trying to save your country.

Please, you’re saying that if you speak very loudly about the war, you can’t speak. He’s not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Can I answer?

DONALD TRUMP: No, no. You’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble. I know. You’re not winning. You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Mr. President, we are seeing in our country things drawn from the very beginning of the war. We’ve been alone and we are thankful. I said thanks in this cabinet.

DONALD TRUMP: We gave you, you stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment and your men are brave but they have used our military equipment. If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks. In three days. I heard it from Putin. In three days.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: This is how many U.S. in two weeks.

DONALD TRUMP: Of course, he has. It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: Can I just say thank you? I said it a little bit.

DONALD TRUMP: Except that there are disagreements and let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong. But you see, I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important. That’s why I kept this going so long.

You have to be thankful. You don’t have the cards. You’re buried there. You have people that died. You’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, I don’t want a cease fire. I don’t want a cease fire. I want to go and I want this.

Look, if you could get a cease fire right now, I tell you, you take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop dying. Stop the war. But I think you don’t want to say that to you.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: I want a cease fire.

DONALD TRUMP: Because you get a cease fire faster than a degree of color, people of all cease fire, what they see that was not for you. That wasn’t with me. That was with a guy named Biden. It was not a smart person. That was with Obama. It was your excuse me. That was with Obama who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets.

In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins. You got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards with us. You have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards. It’s going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change.

REPORTER: What if Russia breaks the ceasefire?

DONALD TRUMP: What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? Okay. What if they broke it? I don’t know. They broke it with Biden because Biden, they didn’t respect him. They didn’t respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony. That was a phony Hunter Biden. Joe Biden’s scam. Hillary Clinton shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam and he had to go through that and he did go through it.

We didn’t end up in a war and he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, “Oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia.” The 51 agents. The whole thing was a scam and he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff.

All I can say is this. You might have broken deals with Obama and Bush and he might have broken them with Biden. He did. Maybe, maybe he didn’t. I don’t know what happened, but he didn’t break them with me. He wants to make a deal. I don’t know if you can make a deal.

The problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States and your people are very brave, but you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out, but you don’t have the cards. But once we signed that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing.

All right. I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think? This is going to be great television. I will say that. All right. We’ll see what we can do about the reaction. Thanks.
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