The following is the full transcript of President Donald Trump’s remarks on his role in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, after a call he had with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine.
Listen to the audio version here:
Trump on Russia-Ukraine Peace Efforts
REPORTER: Do you have a plan to give this award to any other family, possibly behind themselves, in the position of having made this sacrifice, and then after the testimony, question about your death? Having to do from a previous?
TRUMP: We’re looking at the possibility of that, yeah. You had a lot of people, a lot of people die in the line of duty, when you think of it. And we figured it was time to start. We haven’t had the situation arise, this was a terrible situation. We haven’t had it arise yet, but we’re looking at going back a little bit and see what we can do about that. Yes, strongly.
Potential Vatican Role in Peace Talks
REPORTER: On your call with President Putin today, you’d mentioned that the Pope would like to take a role, potentially, in mediating these talks. Does that mean the U.S. is taking a step back from…
TRUMP: No, no, no. I think it would be great to have it at the Vatican. Maybe it would have some extra significance. And I saw that it was discussed yesterday, so I thought, and people told me that they’d be honored to do it. I would imagine they would be. So, no, I think it would be maybe helpful. There’s tremendous bitterness, anger, and I think maybe that could help some of that anger. So, having it at the Vatican would be, in Rome, would be a very, I think it would be a great idea.
REPORTER: Thank you.
Mr. President, as you know, two and a half months ago, Ukraine, President Zelensky, agreed to that 30-day ceasefire that’s been on the table all of that time. What was the extent of your conversation with President Putin today about having him agree to that same 30-day ceasefire proposal that you, Mr. President, put on the table?
Efforts to End the Conflict
TRUMP: Well, what we’ve done, and very strongly, is we said, let’s get this thing going. I had many of the leaders of European nations on the line with me right after the call. And we have to get that thing solved. 5,000 young people every single week, on average, and I’ve seen satellite pictures. You don’t want to see these pictures.
We’ll have to see what happens. This was not my war. This is not a war that would have happened if I were president. This is not my war. I’m just here to try and help. We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars on this war, and yet that’s not, frankly, we made much more than that just in four days in the Middle East. It’s a lot of money, but we do much.
This is about thousands of people dying every single week. 5,000, 6,000 people dying every single week. And just like you have the relatives here, wives and children and everything, you have these soldiers. They say goodbye in Ukraine and in Russia, and then their parents never see them again except maybe in pictures of horrible scenes, because I’ve seen some scenes I’ve never seen anything like it. So we’re going to see if we can get it taken care of.
REPORTER: Yeah, please. First off, our thanks to the members of law enforcement who are here, and our condolences to the families who are very sad for their loss. Mr. President, on Ukraine and on your call today that you had with President Putin, you said last week that you thought nothing was going to happen, no advances would be made until you and Putin got together. Do you still feel that way?
TRUMP: I think something’s going to happen. It’s a very—big egos involved, I tell you. Big egos involved. But I think something’s going to happen. And if it doesn’t, I’d just back away, and they’re going to have to keep going.
Again, this was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation. It should have remained. But we have—because the past administration felt very strongly that we should be involved, we got involved much more than Europe did in terms of the money and all of the things that we gave. We gave massive amounts, I think record-setting amounts given to a foreign— there’s never been anything like this, both weaponry and money.
And Europe gave a lot also, but they didn’t give anywhere near what we gave. We gave probably almost three times the amount, and it’s just a shame. The whole thing is a shame. The level of death here is just a shame.
Direct Communication with Putin
REPORTER: Did you ask President Putin to meet with you?
TRUMP: About what?
REPORTER: About Ukraine.
TRUMP: Of course I did. I talked to him about it. I said, when are we going to end this splatter? I’ve known him for a long time now. I said, when are we going to end this bloodshed, this bloodbath? It’s a bloodbath. And I do believe he wants to end it.
You know, when I made the call, I told the people last night— I spoke to the heads of the different countries, Germany and Finland. We had Italy, as you know, and the U.K. was on the line today, and a couple of others. And then they were, in turn, calling everyone. Ursula was there from the European Union. She was terrific. And we—you know, we spoke for a long time about it. And they got a problem. It’s a big, big problem. It’s a terrible war.
It’s very hard to extradite themselves away from what’s taking place over there. The amount of—the amount of anger, the amount of hate, and the amount of death. It’s very hard. Very tough situation. But I said to them, we got to get going. And I did say, also, if I thought that you couldn’t do it, I’d step away. Because what are you going to do?
We don’t have boots on the ground. We wouldn’t have boots on the ground. But we do have a big stake. And the financial amount that was put up is just crazy. It’s crazy. This isn’t—this isn’t for us. This is for somebody else. The amount of money that we put up is record-setting. There’s never been anything like this. And that includes weapons. There’s never been anything like this yet.
REPORTER: Please. And, Mr. President, on the medal, how far back do you intend to look to consider further recipients? And then, on your call today, if Putin ultimately proves to be the obstacle to peace, is further arming Ukraine on the table at that point?
Trump’s Assessment of Putin’s Intentions
TRUMP: Well, we’ll look. I mean, we’re going to look. I hope that—I like to think positively, frankly. I just can’t believe that they allow this to continue. This would have never happened if I were president. And most people admit that. And it didn’t happen for four years. And October 7th would have never happened, either. That’s the attack on Israel. That would have never happened. So sad. A lot of things wouldn’t have happened. But so sad to see it.
Now, I think that there’s a good chance we can get this done. I believe Putin wants to do it. Now, if I thought Putin didn’t want—I mean, that’s what I do my whole life is, like, deals. One big deal. And if I thought that President Putin did not want to get this over with, I wouldn’t even be talking about it, because I’d just pull out.
REPORTER: What did you hear that gave you confidence that he does want peace versus buying time?
TRUMP: I think he’s had enough. I think he’s had enough. This has been a long time. This has been going on for more than three years. When you think, right? It’s been going on for a long time.
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. When you implored him to stop previously, Vladimir, stop on social media, and he didn’t. He just continued. I’m curious. Did you bring that up with him in your phone call today? You might be able to talk about it. Sorry. You previously on Truth Social implored President Putin to stop. You wrote, Vladimir, stop. And he did stop. Quite the contrary. I’m curious. Did you bring that up on your call with him today?
TRUMP: No. No, I didn’t bring that up. But I did say, it’s time. You got to stop this thing. And I believe he wants to stop. Look, I would be, I think, very able to tell whether or not he wanted to or wouldn’t. I thought there was a very good chance, like a 50-50 chance that he would say, I want to take the whole thing. I didn’t know what he was going to say. And then they have a different kind of a problem. But I believe he wants to stop.
Trump’s Conditions for Continued Involvement
REPORTER: Are you sure? You said twice just now about backing away or walking away if it looks like it’s going to be an intractable problem. Do you have a red line in your head of what would cause you to back away?
TRUMP: Yeah, in my head. But not something I’m going to announce. But yeah, definitely in my head, I do.
REPORTER: What exactly would that look like? Because this isn’t our war. This is not my war. This is not the war.
TRUMP: I mean, we got ourselves entangled in something that we shouldn’t have been involved in. And we would have been a lot better off. And maybe the whole thing would have been better off. Because it can’t be much worse. It’s a real mess. It’s a death trap.
So I think that, yeah, I wish I do have a certain line. But I don’t want to say what that line is, because I think it makes the negotiation even more difficult than it is.
REPORTER: Mr. President, thank you all for your sacrifice. I’m so sorry for your loss. You mentioned the bloodbath you want to see end in Ukraine. You mentioned that you believe Putin wants peace, but he just attacked Ukraine yesterday. So what makes you think that he wants peace?
TRUMP: He’s in a war. You know what I mean? Nobody said, don’t. They’re fighting. They’re attacking. They’re attacking each other. And people are dying all the time. He’s in a war. He’s fighting a war. Nobody said he was going to stop. I think, is it terrible? Yeah, it’s terrible. I do. I think it’s terrible.
