MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Ukrainian President Zelenskyy flanked by his allies from Europe taking command of negotiations with Trump at Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome and delivering a powerful counter-offer for an unconditional ceasefire with Russia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is leading the negotiations between Ukraine and the US at the Pope's funeral?
Ukraine's President Zelensky is commanding respect and taking the initiative in negotiations with the United States, really taking the upper hand, and Donald Trump looking like the weak one now in the negotiations. So during the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, Zelensky was surrounded by his friends, his strong allies. You had French President Emmanuel Macron,
You had the United Kingdom Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. You had the European Union Commission President, von der Leyen, and others surrounding Zelenskyy. and standing strong with Zelensky. I mean, literally right here, you have Macron and Keir Starmer with Zelensky as they were speaking to Donald Trump. I mean, Trump looked addled. He looked fatigued. He was wearing a blue suit at the funeral of
Pope Francis, the only person not wearing a black suit and a long black tie, which was the dress code. And one of the ways Zelensky's been outmaneuvering Donald Trump, standing with his allies in Europe, the real coalition of the willing. making it clear that there are bright lines that Ukraine will not cross in any negotiations.
Ukraine making it clear that they're the ones who agree to an unconditional ceasefire, and it's Vladimir Putin who refuses to do an unconditional ceasefire. Ukraine also making it very clear they're not going to give up Crimea. They're not going to give up territories that are Ukrainian territories that were either annexed or stolen by Russia in an unlawful invasion.
So the United States trying to jam under Trump, trying to jam down Zelensky's throat, a mineral deal, you must give up Crimea, you can never join NATO, and Zelensky's saying no. We want peace. We're agreeable to an unconditional ceasefire, unlike Putin. But we and our European allies have our own terms and we're standing on business. We're standing strong.
So that's what was happening in Rome over the weekend. And this followed that meeting on Friday between Donald Trump's special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin. And it also followed, while that meeting was taking place, there was also the general, the Russian general, who was assassinated as his car blew up in Moscow as well. So there was that development that happened too.
So that was all going on on Friday. Now, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's special envoy to Russia, he met with Putin for approximately three hours. It was the fourth visit. There was another visit a few weeks back where he put his hand on his heart and looked like he was like pledging allegiance to Putin. In this meeting with Putin, you can see how inexperienced and amateurish Steve Witkoff is.
To be clear, Steve Witkoff is not a diplomat. He's like a New York real estate guy who just knew Donald Trump. And so he shows up to this fourth meeting with Putin. Without an interpreter, without anybody from the United States embassy, without anybody, just shows up alone. And then when he gets there, he looks at an interpreter provided by Putin. He's like, are you from the embassy?
Are you my interpreter? This is unheard of. You do not show up alone there. to meet with Putin in a negotiation when Putin's team is there and then wonder who the interpreter is who's even been provided there by Putin. It's just not the way you conduct business. And Putin was doing that to mock and humiliate the United States when that was taking place.
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Chapter 2: Which European leaders are supporting Zelenskyy in Rome?
I outlined the consequence of the Russian attacks that we've been talking about in Sumy and Kiev and other places. To protect the lives of Ukrainians, there is a critical need to strengthen our air defense. We are counting on the support of our partners. I thank Emmanuel for his steadfast support of Ukraine and for all the efforts that help our people endure and bring peace closer.
As it relates to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, Zelensky writes, the steps necessary to establish a full and unconditional ceasefire and to develop further security guarantees were the main topics of our discussion. We summarize the outcomes of the meetings between representatives of Ukraine, U.S., France. UK, Germany and Paris and London.
We will continue to work within the coalition of the willing. The unconditional ceasefire must be achieved in the air at sea and on land and must become the first step toward establishing a just peace with reliable security guarantees. Only strong guarantees can ensure lasting peace and protect people's lives. And then he met with Donald Trump right there, which we talked about yesterday as well.
And then Donald Trump made that post after that meeting transpired and took place. One of the things that's also worth noting as well is, you know, Donald Trump had previously given this Time interview, interview with Time magazine, where Trump claimed that bringing peace to Ukraine in 24 hours was just a joke. He said it was just jest.
That's what he told Time Magazine, that nobody took him seriously, except fake news took him seriously, which is kind of a ridiculous thing to say. We should all be reminded what Donald Trump's promises were, because their promise is broken. This is what Donald Trump was saying during the campaign. Let's play this clip right here. Let's play it. It would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
Yes, it would. How would you do that? I know Zelensky very well. that war between those two countries in 24 hours. It won't even take that long. I will get the war ended. I'll stop all of those lives from being wasted and lost. And there'll be no more bombing of Ukraine.
So that's where things stand right now. The Kyiv Independent is also reporting that in terms of what's going on on the front line of the war, while Russia has made some marginal gains here and there, the gains that Russia has been making is not at a level of significance where Ukraine fears that it's in a position of significant weakness, where it has to negotiate some sort of surrender.
Ukraine feels strong about its position. Russia has put all these resources into this latest offensive, and by and large, they're bogged down, again, with certain skirmishes here and there that, you know, slight gains here and there, but nothing that, as of right now, Ukraine, European intelligence are fairly confident that this can be done.
dealt with and eventually pushed back and that they feel confident in their position. But when you take a look at this all, I think it shows the strength of Zelensky's negotiating position, how he managed to handle everything, I think, really intelligently in Rome and having his allies by his side, taking command, taking the initiative in these negotiations.
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