This Trump, Russia, Ukraine situation, it's crazy.

And while this may feel like just another run-of-the-mill Monday to you, it may actually be one of the most consequential days in recent memory. Because you've got NATO and Ukraine meeting with Trump at the White House to discuss Russia's war. And even that is a fairly impromptu gathering that was hastily thrown together following Trump's controversial meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday. And well, initially, today's meeting was supposed to be just Trump.

And Zelensky, you had European leaders not wanting to risk a repeat of what happened last time, right, when J.D. Vans decided that Zelensky wasn't grateful enough and he threw the whole thing off the rails. So this was already a big deal made all that much bigger, thanks to the leaders of Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Finland, all deciding they needed to be there as well as the General Secretary of NATO and the European Commission President. And this is a key thing is that the leaders and attendants have a wide range of political views. Right on one end of the spectrum, you have UK Prime Minister Kier Starrmer, who's from the left-leaning Labor Party, and then on the other end, there's Italian Prime Minister Georgia Maloney, who's ideologically similar to Trump on many issues. And there's a lot at stake here, as Russia

kindly reminded everyone by launching strikes on Ukraine this morning that killed at least 10. An attack that Zelensky responded to by saying, this was a demonstrative and cynical Russian strike. They are aware that a meeting is taking place today in Washington that will address the end of the war. But to be fair, there Ukraine launched their own strikes into Russia when Putin was in Alaska. That said, as far as the meeting, as far as the negotiations,

one of the war. Though to be fair, there, Ukraine launched their own strikes into Russia when Putin was in Alaska. That said, as far as the meeting, as far as the negotiations, one of the big questions is, well, what exactly is on the bargaining table? And well, based on Trump's meeting with Putin on Friday, a lot. And so notably here, Trump and Putin emerged from this meeting earlier than expected and without a formal deal. The two, then holding a super awkward press conference where Trump seemed intensely mopey and defeated. And then, shortly after, Trump made the surprise announcement that he was dropping his demand that Russia and Ukraine reach a sea spy. Saying the two countries should start negotiating a peace deal instead and telling Zelensky that Russia had demanded that the remainder of Ukraine's Donbass region be handed over as a condition for ending the war. With Trump then also indicating that he intends to pressure Zelensky into agreeing to Putin's terms, with him writing in a post-entry social late last night. President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to, or he can continue to fight. With him then adding, quote, remember how it started, no getting back Obama given Crimea 12 years ago without a shop being fired, and no going into NATO by Ukraine. Some things never change. But Trump's wishes will likely be a tall order. Because in Putin's version of a peace plan, Russia would get not only all of the Donbass, but also the Ukrainian land that it currently holds, meaning that Ukraine would need to give up even more land. But you have many saying that's just a non-starter for today's talks, because Zelensky has long claimed that Ukraine would not give up land to Russia and reward it for its aggression. And that's without mentioning the massive problem that Zelensky cannot even legally agree to a deal that gives up land. Because Ukraine's constitution actually flat out bans territorial concessions unless there's a nationwide referendum. And And according to local pollsters, 78% of Ukrainians are against it. But either way, the world's hoping for some answers coming out of this meeting, and even before things got underway, we had a teaser. And that, because before the meeting with the European delegation, he met with Zelensky for a quick talk with the press, which had a sense of deja vu, with some exceptions. Are Ukrainian lawmakers joke that at least there wasn't a yelling match this time?

Zelensky also made his own jokes to lighten the mood,

such as when the reporter who called him out for not wearing a suit last time

complimented Zelensky's outfit today.

President Zelensky.

In the same suit.

You see, I changed you.

The things I'm getting more serious with questions like whether Ukraine would hold elections

after a peace deal, and he had Zelensky assuring that it would happen as long as there were good security guarantees. And that was a central theme to these questions. What exactly does Ukraine want as guarantees and what would Trump be willing to give? And Trump, for his part, was vague on the matter when asked multiple times. Like, for example, when directly asked if those guarantees would involve U.S. troops, Trump said, 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, there'll be a lot of help. When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help. Trump then going on to say that Europe would be the first line of defense,

since they're local, but that the US would, quote, be involved. And when Zelensky was asked, what type of guarantees would be needed to form a peace deal? His response was everything. Now, with all of that, one big thing that's been discussed a lot since Putin met with Trump in Alaska is the possibility of an Article 5 like pact for Ukraine. Because NATO's Article 5

is the meat of the alliance and it states for Ukraine. Because NATO's Article 5 is the

meat of the alliance, and it states that an attack on one nation is treated as an attack on all of them.

In Ukraine, obviously, they want those protections, but Russia has made it very, very clear that

it will not accept Ukraine joining NATO, except maybe not. Or because yesterday, White House Special

Envoy Steve Whitkoff claimed that Russia was open to the U.S. and its allies offering Article 5 like protections to Ukraine. So it sounds almost essentially like joining NATO, and right now, as of recording, it's unclear what exactly that means. And in this meeting, you had Zelensky and Trump largely dodging responding to questions about it. Instead, they said that they would talk about it behind closed doors with the other European leaders. But the meeting did reveal something, and that is Trump is very much pushing for a trilateral meeting with Russia and Ukraine. If everything works out well today, we'll have a trilat. And I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that. And it appeared that Zelensky was excited for that, which makes sense as his country has said, that there cannot be a peace deal without Ukraine at the table. And then with all this, because it's one of those days, you know, as I was getting ready to wrap up today's show, you had Trump, Zelensky, and the European leaders all coming out to quickly speak to the press. And it was a bit of, I think, the technical term, is circle jerk, with everyone thinking everyone else for being there, but also there was some consistent messaging. One honorable mention was the push to have Ukrainian children return to their homes. Thousands have been displaced and some forcibly removed to Russia and they weren't the only ones worried about the kids. I mean, multiple times today, you had Zelensky praising First Lady Melania Trump for a letter that she sent to Putin asking for him to end the war in order to protect the children. Which is something that the President of the European Commissions echoed when she spoke. And then in addition to that, there were three big demands that almost everyone made. First off, security guarantees. At least in broad strokes, it seems just about every European leader and maybe even Trump are open to Article 5 like protections for Ukraine. Though there, I'm sure the devil will be in the details. Then the next major thing was a ceasefire during any peace talks. And with that, you saw things like the German chancellor when he was speaking. He mentioned that

there will be a lot of complicated negotiations coming up. But that...

To be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire, the latest from the next meeting on.

I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So let's work on that

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