I would love to get your insight here on
what is realistic to expect from the US
when it comes to security guarantees and
will it be enough to deter Vladimir
Putin?
I
>> think the answer to the last question,
Tyler, is yes. But you asked what could
the Americans bring to this coalition of
the willing that the French and the
British are leading. But by the way,
it's about 30 nations. Um, so the
coalition of the will of the willing is
pretty broad and and has pretty much
economic power and probably a a fair
amount of military power, but there are
some things that the Americans can
provide um that most of the Europeans
don't have. Um, President Trump actually
mentioned one of them air cover. Um, US
air forces air capabilities um are are
massive. um that could be brought to
bear and you don't need to have American
boots on the ground as they say. You
don't need American soldiers or airmen
on the ground to provide that kind of
air support and air cover um using the
United States Air Force. Um they can fly
out of Poland or fly out of Romania or
fly out of Germany. Indeed, we've seen
they can fly out of United States. And
so so there's a lot that we can bring to
bear, the Americans can bring to bear on
to contribute um to the coalition
willing that the Brits and the French
are leading um that that that don't
require this. This stuff doesn't require
boots on the ground.
>> Ambassador Taylor, another sensitive
question in this of course is land. And
following yesterday's multilateral
meeting, German Chancellor Frederick
Murs discussed the possibility of
Ukraine seeding territory as part of a
peace deal. Let's have a quick listen.
The one aspect which has not been
discussed today is that Ukraine should
not be forced to seed any territories.
Russia's demand that Cube give up
Donbash region is comparable to put in
perspective to a proposal that the US
give up Florida. Florida.
>> Ambassador Taylor, we're hearing a
different tune from uh Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin when it comes to land uh
at least from Frederick Ms. But what
advice would you give to Wimir Zalinski
when it comes to this whole question of
territory? Will he ultimately have to
make some concessions? And would you
recommend that?
>> No. No, I would not recommend it and
he's not going to have to make them. Um
yeah, Putin wants that. Um and Putin
probably put that in Donald Trump's ear
in Anchorage last week. Um but um
President Trump just brought those ideas
back. I don't think he's figured out yet
what he would what President Trump would
recommend. But in terms of recommending
to President Zilinski, no one needs to
do that. President Zinsky knows exactly
what he needs to do and it's of a piece.
It is perfectly consistent with what
Ukrainians want. that is they want the
end of the war. They want this war to
stop. They're tired. They've been
fighting for three and a half years.
They've been fighting for 127 1272 days
1273 days. Um and they want it to end.
But they do not want to give up
territory. But there's a key distinction
here. The Ukrainians grudgingly accept,
Michael, that the Russians are in 19% of
their country. and they grudge the
Ukrainians grudgingly accept that
they're not the Ukrainians are not going
to push them out push the Russians out
of that 19% militarily anytime soon. So
even though they're not willing to give
up territory and give up claim to that
territory, legal claim to that
territory, they are willing to
acknowledge de facto that the Russians
are there. And that's a big difference.
And that's also and President Zilinski
is going to make exactly that point, I'm
sure. And that's what the the German
chancellor is talking about as well.
President, the reason it wasn't talked
about yesterday is because they're not
going to tell Zalinsky to give up
territory.
The Florida analogy is a good one. Um,
so so that it wasn't talked about
yesterday. Um, Putin may want it, but
the Europeans don't, Ukrainians don't,
and we shouldn't.
>> Well, something else that Ukraine wants,
we know, is membership when it comes to
the European Union, for example. And we
had mentioned at the top of the show
that President Trump held a phone call
with Victor Orban about why the
Hungarian prime minister is trying to
block Ukraine from joining that that uh
political and and economic block as
well. Do you see a viable path here for
Ukraine when it comes to EU membership
if we know already allies have said that
NATO membership for example is going to
be off the table?
>> Well, first of all, NATO membership is
not off the table. Um, it may be off the
table today, Tyler, but it's not off the
table. I mean, you ask the Ukrainians,
ask most Europeans, um, if it's still
viable, and they say yes, it should
happen at some point, but there are some
Europeans, um, and there are some
Americans who would say it's not on the
table right now. So, that's that's
number one. On EU, that that train is on
the way. That ship is sailing. Um, they
are uh the Ukrainians are well on the
way to the EU. Um, and I'd be very
interested to know what the conversation
was between Trump and and Orban. Orban
has been a thorn in the side of the
Ukrainians. Um, but the EU is the right
destination for Ukraine. They are ready
to go there. They're working on it.
There's a lot of work as you all know
very well what it takes to get into the
EU. But the Ukrainians know that and
they're working on hard. And most
Europeans, with the possible exception
of the guy you're showing on the screen
there, Mr. Orban, um, are are fully
supportive. The Ukrainians have a big
have a big stake. Um and the Europeans
have a big stake. So I think that's uh I
think that's that train is moving.
>> Ambassador Taylor, in the minute we have
left, what do you see as happening in
terms of this bilateral meeting between
Vladimir Vladimir Putin and Wimir
Zalinski? Do you see it actually
happening? Will Putin accept this idea?
And is it a good idea for them to meet
without say a third party as perhaps a
chaperon?
>> On your first question, Michael, Putin
doesn't want to end this war. Uh Putin
wants to drag it out. He wants to keep
pounding the Ukrainians until they give
up. They're never going to give up, but
he's going to keep pounding until he's
forced to come to the table for a
ceasefire. So, no, I don't think he's
eager. I don't think he's has any
intentions of coming to a bilateral
meeting. He may say something on the
phone to President Trump um to tell
President Trump that he's willing to do
it. But all the official story coming
out of Moscow is that they're going to
up the level of their delegation to
these talks. The right now the
delegation is very low. It's a deputy
minister of culture. So they're they're
not serious about these negotiations and
and Putin is not either. Putin wants all
of Ukraine and he wants to pound them
until he gets