This is the Tom Hartman program.

Welcome, our program on the line with us, our buddy Phil Itner, the veteran war correspondent based these days out of Kiev, Ukraine. He's the host of the podcast On the Edge. You can also find his video blog over on YouTube. It's Philip Itner, P-H-I-L-I-P, I-T-N-E-R. Itner, Philip, whose last name, first name is how you find him on blue sky and on X. Phil, welcome back to the program.

I'm hearing that Putin and Trump are going to have a meeting next week,

and then I'm hearing that no, the White House says ain't going to happen.

Is this going to be an opportunity for Putin to show Trump the video that he's acquired from Epstein or something?

I mean, what's going on here?

I've been quondering that here as well. I mean, what's going on here? I've been quandering that here as well.

I mean, are they going to meet?

It's not going to meet.

Does it mean then a subsequent meeting between Putin and Zelensky?

Why is Zelensky not included in this original potential meeting?

This is the problem that Trump finds himself in is that, frankly, there is a relationship between Donald Trump and Putin. As nefarious as

you want to take it or whatever speculation you want to have about that

relationship, there is definitely something going on between those two gentlemen, which

then subsequently calls into question the relationship between Putin and Zelensky,

Trump and Zelensky, and can a ceasefire or a alleged peace,

which nobody really expects, but some sort of progress on the diplomatic stage happen

with a Trump partnership relationship with Putin and then the subsequent relationship with Ukraine.

We are in a very strange place, and I think we have to see how this shakes out.

It's not a done deal by any measure. Yeah. Well, and every time Trump and

Putin gets off with the prize and Trump walks off looking like a chump, might have something to do

with why the White House is saying, no, there won't be a meeting, but who knows? I mean, you know,

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