Trump: Tomorrow I meet Putin. More important is the second meeting—Putin, Zelenskyy, me, maybe some European leaders. We’ll see.
I think Putin will make peace, Zelenskyy will make peace. If they can get along, it’ll be great.
1/
Q: Will you offer Putin access to rare minerals to end the war?
Trump: We’ll see what happens. The meeting is big—important for Russia, important for us. For us, it matters because we’ll save a lot of lives. 2/
Trump: We’re not giving Ukraine any money—we supply equipment, NATO pays 100%+, and I raised NATO spending from 2% to 5% of GDP.
They owe us $2B, just sent $1B. Biden gave $350B, got nothing. We signed a rare earth deal to get years of supply and recoup costs. 3/
Trump: I’ve solved six wars in just over six months—one lasted 37 years, Congo–Rwanda 31 years.
Pakistan–India had 6–7 planes shot down, close to nuclear—we stopped it. Made peace in all six.
I thought Ukraine–Russia would be easier. It’s the hardest. 4/
Q: Will you offer Putin rare earths?
Trump: We used them as payment for the $350B wasted in Ukraine.
Europe spent $100B and now pays for everything. We spend no money, only time to end the war.
Rare earths matter less—I’m focused on saving lives. 5/
Q: Could your peace incentives reward Putin for invading Ukraine and send the wrong signal?
Trump: No. This war should never have started—it didn’t under me, not discussed for four years. I saw it coming after I left. Everyone’s to blame, including Putin. 6/
Q: Does Putin have a strong hand tomorrow?
Trump: If I weren’t president, he’d take all of Ukraine. CNN calls his visit here a win for him, I’d say the opposite. I think Putin wants a deal. This war should’ve never happened. I’m president, and he’s not going to mess with me.
7/
Q: Would you cut NATO troops in places like Poland to get Russia to agree to peace?
Trump: That hasn’t been put before me. I’ll think about it later, but it’s not on the table now. 8/
Q: Is anything less than an unconditional ceasefire a U.S. win tomorrow?
Trump: Goal is to set the table for the next meeting, maybe in Alaska. I’ll know in minutes if talks are good or bad—bad ends fast, good gets us peace soon. 9X
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