What an extraordinary remarkable insert
your superlative here evening. It was
late afternoon at the White House with
the sight of so many European leaders
descending upon Washington DC to protect
almost body lagardlike falankike
Vladimir Zalinski to try and ensure that
there was no repeat of the bust up the
showdown in the Oval Office that we saw
back in February. Was it a success or
not? I'll share my thoughts with you on
that in a second. And what we can say is
that there is already further movement
this morning. The prime minister K star
is going to chair a virt virtual meeting
of the so-called coalition of the
willing his phrase this morning to
update leaders on the outcome of what
discussions in Washington yesterday.
That's the coalition a group of nations
essentially including the UK, France,
Germany that have pledged to protect
peace to act as a guarantor of peace in
Ukraine when and if it is achieved.
German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz saying
the meeting will discuss those security
guarantees which were profered hinted at
insinuated by Donald Trump yesterday.
More on that in a second. Poland's prime
minister Donald Tusk will also attend.
Meanwhile, the former Russian President
Dmitri Medvief posted his disdain for
the group on social media this morning.
The anti-Russian wararmongering
coalition of the willing failed to
outplay at POTUS on his turf, he wrote
on X. And that I think embodies exactly
where we're at this morning, which is a
sixth monthlong
fight battle for Trump's ear for his
perception. That is what everything
yesterday was about. when you saw
European leader after European leader
kiss the ring of Donald Trump get to bow
down in front of him be obsequious even
towards him it was about inhabiting the
universe of Trump when they said things
about how brilliant the trade deal was
with the EU about how much closer he's
brought Europe to peace than has been
the case for three and a half years it
is not because they believe any of this
stuff essentially most of them will have
little time for Trump. It is all about
trying to court his heart and soul and
trying to convince him as to which side
is the true impediment to peace and the
path to the Nobel Peace Peace Prize he
so desperately craves. That was what
Vladimir Putin was doing in Alaska on
Friday. That is what Karma, Friedrich
Mertz, Emanuel Macron, Ursula
Vanderelion and others were doing in
Washington yesterday. Russia for its its
part has shown what an impediment to
peace it is just overnight despite those
talks in the White House on Monday.
Ukrainian officials reporting fresh
attacks launched by Russia overnight.
Overnight Ukraine's foreign minister
Andre Cibia had posted on X this
morning. Overnight Russia launched 270
drones as well as ballistic and cruise
missiles into Ukraine. There's been
damage to the energy in infrastructure
and injured civilians. This once again
demonstrates how critical it is to end
the killing, achieve a lasting peace,
and ensure robust security guarantees.
So, where were we after last night?
Well, as as always with these things,
there's a positive and negative side of
the ledger. This is my brief assessment
as to where we are. Positives, Trump was
charmed by Zalinski by comparison to
last time. The suit gambit clearly
worked well. Zalinsky handled that
adroitly and with some plum. It couldn't
it wasn't worse than last time. It was
much better. That said, that is a low
bar. pretty much the only way it could
have been worse than last time if they'd
ended up in a fist fight with each
other. But clearly it went much better.
The Western leaders played Trump well.
They appealed to his vanity. They
appealed to his ego, which is pretty
much the only thing they can do in this
situation. The ball is back in Putin's
court to some extent. He has now got to
decide whether to have a bilateral
meeting with Zilinski, something he has
been very reluctant to do uh because he
has described Zilinsky as a Nazi and
described him as an illegitimate leader.
All of these lies and nonsense and
macity. So that is something he will now
be under some pressure to do. Although I
suspect he will just try and kick it
into the long grass. Trump clearly wants
a deal. I mean you used to say think of
Trump as an isolationist. He's not
acting like an isolationist now. Far
from it. He's putting himself at the
center of the global order. He wants for
whatever reason I think some noble
reasons. I think he genuinely does want
to stop the killing. I think it
horrifies him when he sees it on cable
news which he watches a lot of. He
clearly is desperate for a Nobel Peace
Prize more prosaically and more
selfishly. But nonetheless, he clearly
wants something. He's not a a
disinterested party in this or an
uninterested party. He wants something
to come out of it, which the European
leaders are trying to clearly play with,
that's all positive. On the negative
side, these security guarantees which
have been hinted at, they are highly
nebulous. It struck me yesterday, it
felt to me yesterday that what the eur
Europeans were doing their best to do
was to talk up whatever mega security
guarantees Trump has hinted at without
being completely sure as to what they
mean or what Trump will actually do. And
they're trying to bounce him slightly,
which could backfire. Trump is still
clearly enamored with Putin. He trusts
him when he shouldn't. He buys into
Putin's origin story of the war, which
is a bad thing. the new sanctions which
were hinted at only a week ago, they're
gone. They're not on the table anymore,
it appears. And he's no longer
interested in a ceasefire. Again, a
Putin objective. So, there were some
positives, there were some negatives.
And although Clear Stalmer is talking
about Emanuel Macarron some big
breakthrough, to me, what they basically
agreed to do yesterday is to keep
talking. That means everything's still
on the table, but relatively little was
achieved. There is still this big
question of course as to whether there
will be boots on the ground, something
the Russians have rejected the idea of.
Want to talk to you this morning about
what you think was achieved at that
meeting yesterday. whether you think
Trump is a peacemaker after all and
indeed whether in theory you would at
least be willing to consider the idea of
sending British troops to Ukraine.