Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Hosts Zelenskyy at White House. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 18, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We begin this afternoon with major breaking news.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to depart the Ukrainian embassy in Georgetown at any moment on his way to the White House, with key European leaders already waiting inside for a series of imminent critical meetings in the Oval Office.

These are live images outside the Ukrainian embassy. This is all unfolding as right now parts of Ukraine are still smoldering from new Russian strikes, at least 10 killed in attacks overnight, including an 18-month-old girl and two other children.

And just moments ago, air raid sirens were heard in Kyiv.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's right. President Trump, in advance of these negotiations, has ramped up pressure on Zelenskyy, saying the power to make peace is now in his hands, also urging him to give up Crimea, or a claim to Crimea, and any aspiration of joining NATO.

Let's get right to Kristen Holmes, who is live for us at the White House on a huge day there -- Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna and Boris, any moment now, we expect Zelenskyy to arrive.

Obviously, as you said, he hasn't quite left the embassy yet, but it's going to be a quick shot here. The color guard just started setting up behind me. I'm not sure if you can see the flags there. They line the driveway, and that's when we will see Zelenskyy come in.

He will be greeted by President Trump. The two of them will have a bilateral meeting. We expect that they might make comments at the top of that meeting. Obviously, we saw on Friday that, when Putin sat down with President Trump, they did not talk to the cameras. They did not talk to reporters, which was quite strange, given what we usually see from President Trump.

So we will see whether or not that shifts today and Zelenskyy and Trump speak to reporters who are in the room there. Now, let's talk about what exactly is on the table. We can start with what Putin is offering out of Russia. We know that he wants control of the Donbass region, as well as Crimea, and he wants Ukraine excluded from NATO. In exchange for that, he's going to freeze what's happening on the

front lines there. Now, President Trump has shifted that a little bit in what he is calling for. He is saying, essentially, that there is no hope to regain Crimea, so Ukraine should drop that hope all over -- altogether, and, second, that they will never join NATO, saying some things don't change.

But what I really want to point to in this kind of what Trump is calling for is the first line of a TRUTH Social post that he put out, because he says this. He says: "President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to, or he can continue to fight."

The reason why that is so critical is because it shows you where President Trump's head is currently at. He has now punted this to Zelenskyy, and that's going to really set the tone for this meeting. How is President Trump going to react to Zelenskyy?

We know President Trump wants two big things, a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy, as well as an end to the Ukraine war. Here, giving this power to Zelenskyy, saying it's up to him -- of course, this war was waged on Zelenskyy by Putin. It is Putin's war. He is essentially saying that you might be the obstacle, Zelenskyy might be the obstacle to peace here.

And that could shift the tone and tenor of this meeting. Obviously, we all remember the last time the two men sat down in the Oval Office. It was incredibly contentious. One thing to keep an eye on is the fact that White House officials, U.S. officials spoke with Ukrainian officials about very many details around this meeting, including what Zelenskyy was going to wear, essentially the White House and these U.S. officials suggesting that he not wear his traditional military attire, but instead get dressed up.

Remember, that was another point of contention in the Oval Office meeting back in February. Things to keep an eye on, their relationship has shifted. But, again, if Trump starts to view Zelenskyy as an obstacle to peace, to him getting the peace deal he wants, that could change things again.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for that live report from the White House.

As we are watching and waiting to see when President Zelenskyy departs the Ukrainian Embassy on his way to the White House, let's go now to Ukraine, where air raid sirens are going off again today in Kyiv. Russia has been intensifying strikes just days after Putin's meeting with President Trump. Overnight, we saw another wave of just brutal attacks far from the front lines.

Ukrainian officials say this strike on a residential building in Kharkiv killed at least seven people, and that included an 18-month- old girl and a 16-year-old boy. SANCHEZ: We're hearing from Ukrainian officials that another three

were killed when a Russian ballistic missile hit Zaporizhzhia. In the same region, a 15-year-old boy was killed after a Russian bomb fell on his home.

At the same time, Ukraine's commander in chief is warning Russia that concentrating its forces for a potential offensive in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions is happening as we speak.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is live for us in Kyiv.

And, Ben, as we await Zelenskyy's arrival at the White House, are there any concessions that Ukraine is willing to make at this stage of the war?

[13:05:05]

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Publicly, we have not heard anything, Boris, Brianna, from President Zelenskyy or other Ukrainian officials about what they are willing to concede.

Their position has been all along that they want Russia to return all territory that it currently occupies. And that includes Crimea, which they took over back in 2014. Their attitude is, it wasn't us who invaded Russia. It was Russia that has invaded us. They're occupying our land and we want them to leave all of it.

Clearly, the reality of the situation on the front lines, where the Russians currently occupy 20 percent of the country, means that in order to reach some sort of end to this war they probably will have to concede some territory, but certainly they have not publicly suggested that there's any willingness on the part of Kyiv to do that.

Now, interestingly, we were earlier talking about this TRUTH Social posting by President Trump, saying that essentially President Zelenskyy could end the war almost immediately if he wanted to. Well, President Zelenskyy responded on social media to that not directly, but indirectly, by saying that Russia should not be rewarded for its participation in this war. The war must be ended and it is Moscow that must hear the word stop.

Many Ukrainians feel at this point that President Trump has not told them to stop. And what we have seen, as you mentioned, overnight, it was for the first time in several days a fairly intense barrage fired from Russia into Ukraine, 140 drones, according to the Defense Ministry here, three ballistic missiles, at least 10 people dead.

And I'm talking just about civilians, not about soldiers on the front line -- Brianna, Boris.

KEILAR: All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much.

And we're joined now to talk more about this, as we are -- we should mention President Zelenskyy heading from the Ukrainian Embassy to the White House. So, as we watch there on the north side of the White House, he should be arriving there in just moments and we will be bringing that to you live.

We're joined now by retired U.S. air force Colonel Cedric Leighton, CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier in CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

And, as we do await what is going to be a very dramatic moment, especially the way things ended in February, the last time Zelenskyy was at the White House, Kim, I think we should talk about the tricky line that Zelenskyy has to walk here, considering you had Trump last night saying, give up aspirations of joining NATO, give up your claim to Crimea.

He's backing off the cease-fire. He's backing off the sanctions track with Russia. How does Zelenskyy stand up for Ukraine without ticking Trump off?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: We're going to find out just how good an actor Zelenskyy is today, because he has to show Trump that he can be just as amenable to peace as Vladimir Putin was in Alaska, while politely and firmly saying, no.

Yes, we want peace, but we can't give up territory that the British Defense Ministry says it would take Russia another four years to win by fighting. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are stuck there, and it would set such a bad precedent.

I mean, what -- if you're Taiwan right now, this is a really disturbing thing to watch Washington pressuring Ukraine, obliquely at this point, to give up territory for peace with a bad actor who's broken every agreement they have ever signed.

SANCHEZ: Jeff, stepping back, it's hard to ignore the history between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump. I mean, one of their conversations led to Donald Trump getting impeached the first time, right? So there's an interesting background here.

And the fact that we're watching to see if Zelenskyy wears a suit, sending a message potentially to appease Trump, says not only a lot about the position that he's in, but also Trump's presidency and his view of his power.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: There's no doubt. I mean, this is a full circle moment in one respect, the continuation of a chapter here. We do know that President Zelenskyy, based on a video that was posted just a short time ago from a meeting he had this morning, he's wearing a black suit and a black-collared shirt, much the same as he wore at the funeral of Pope Francis when the president had -- the American president had a much more friendly meeting with him.

Not that any of that should matter, but that is one of the things back in February that touched off the vice president, J.D. Vance, and President Trump when he was asked, when Zelenskyy was asked a question by a very Trump-friendly reporter why he did not to wear a suit.

[13:10:04] But you are right. President Trump feels more a kindred spirit with Vladimir Putin than he does Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That was clear on Friday. So I'm very interested to see how this greeting goes. I do expect President Trump will welcome President Zelenskyy with open arms.

And it's not inconsequential that this is President Zelenskyy's meeting. He is the leader who is being officially greeted by the president. The other American leaders, quite literally -- the European leaders, excuse me, went in the south door of the White House, effectively the back door of the White House, but they are standing by.

So how this is going to play out, the president, the American president, and the Ukrainian president are scheduled to meet one-on- one, and we will likely hear some remarks. And then the European leaders will join. What we do not know, though, is this going to become just a large working group in the White House?

Is this going to become a real life-conversation that they have had in virtual conversations here? But, to your point, Jim, such a good one, the acting skills of President Zelenskyy are going to be on hand here, because President Trump has been effectively giving the Russian lines.

I mean, he -- effectively, you don't need Vladimir Putin here because President Trump is effectively saying that the ball is now in your cart, President Zelenskyy. And he's not the one who invaded. So that's why this is fraught with so much history, but also the future of Ukraine quite literally hangs in the balance.

KEILAR: Yes.

And let's take a look. Colonel, you're there at the Magic Wall. Let's take a look, if you would map out for us, where things are in this war and also just talk to us strategically about what it would mean for Ukraine to cede that land, as you have Trump demanding in Crimea, but you have Putin demanding in the east considering appeasement of a dictator, the history of that is certainly fraught.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, absolutely, Brianna.

So one of the key things here is, we need to keep in mind that, in 2014, these are the territories that the Russians took, Crimea, and this part of the Donbass region right here, part of Luhansk and part of the Donetsk regions. And so that was 2014.

Now let's take a look and see what has actually happened. When you look at the map today, Russia has this territory right here in the east. The Ukrainians regained all this yellow area right here since the invasion of February 2022.

But the key thing here is, right in this area, right there, where you have a basic idea that, in the Donbass region, you have these elements right in this area that are going to be absolutely critical. If Ukraine can keep this area, they will assure their security. If they can't, that's going to be a major, major problem for them.

So, then, when you look at some of the other areas right here, the Kharkiv region, this is a video from earlier today. This is the kind of stuff that the Ukrainians have to deal with on a daily, nightly, and even hourly basis. So, when they see these kinds of -- when you see these kind of destruction here, this is what Zelenskyy is talking about when it comes to these types of areas that need to be defended.

And we have to remember, Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine, a major metropolitan area. The Russians have areas right here and right here that they could potentially swap with Ukraine. But, of course, when you look at this area right here, Russia wants all of this, even though they have never contacted -- they have never entered this area in terms of their military forces at all.

SANCHEZ: I just want to point out that flags are now raised up by the service members as President Trump has emerged from the Oval Office and now the vehicle carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is approaching the door there at the White House.

Let's watch and listen as the Ukrainian leader greets President Trump.

QUESTION: President Trump, sir, your message to the people of Ukraine as world leaders gather here today?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We love them. We love them.

QUESTION: And Russia continues to attack civilians (OFF-MIKE) in Kharkiv, killing many.

KEILAR: A couple takeaways from that entrance. Trump appreciated the suit. He pointed it out.

SANCHEZ: Yes, he pointed at it, yes.

KEILAR: He pointed it out. He appreciated that he wore a suit to the White House this time. And asked for his message to the Ukrainian people, he said, "We love them."

[13:15:01]

SANCHEZ: Yes, a significant moment there from President Trump. He was asked about Russia's overnight attacks in Ukraine, as we have reported, at least 10 people killed, including multiple children. The president not giving an immediate response there, but undoubtedly it will be part of the conversation.

And, notably, Kim, part of Trump's defense of his meeting with Putin on Friday was that, initially, before the meeting, he insisted that a cease-fire should be reached before more substantive discussions would come regarding a broader peace plan. That did not happen.

Let's actually go to Kristen Holmes, who's at the White House right now and watched the arrival. Kristen, walk us through Trump's defensiveness with some of these

posts, lashing out at critics who suggested that he went soft on Putin.

HOLMES: Yes, and that's something we have seen for the last several days since this meeting. I mean, we saw him basically attack media, pundits, saying, I don't need their help. I can do this. This is not something they know about.

But I want to point out what we just saw there. I know you guys mentioned he clearly appreciated the suit. He looked him up and down. He put his arm around him at one point. He said, "We love the Ukrainians."

That was a fairly warm welcome when it comes to President Trump. So it gives you an idea of at least where the starting point is here today. And one thing to make clear, they are really, they being the White House, centering this day around this meeting. It is not being centered in any way around these European leaders who he's going to meet with later.

President Trump, as far as we understand, has not actually even greeted the European leaders. He was not there waiting for them on the South Lawn. There was not this kind of camera press -- presence that was there. We just had the one shot of them getting out of their cars.

Now you have Zelenskyy pulling up in front of the West Wing, getting out and a firm handshake. But, again, there was some warmth shared between the two of them. So you can see the shift in their relationship. This is going to be an incredibly hard conversation. We know that Zelenskyy and the European leaders have been briefed on what President Trump and Putin talked about behind closed doors.

But this is going to be Trump really laying out the details of what he believes the agreement should be to end this war. And one thing to keep clear here, we have talked a lot about ceding territory and joining NATO, but another part of this that's really been incredible to watch the shift has been this idea of shifting from a cease-fire to a peace agreement.

And that is notable because it allows Putin to do what he's doing right now, which is continue to bomb Ukraine, to continue to harm civilians, to continue to be at war while these negotiations were going on. President Trump for months has called for a cease-fire. Now, after meeting with Putin, he's saying, well, we should probably just go straight to a peace agreement.

Well, you're going to hear Zelenskyy talking about this because this is something that he has been calling for, this cease-fire, so that the bombing stops, that the people in the country don't have to live this way. Now, with this shift, we will see how that plays out as well.

There is so much at stake here, and really when it comes to the Ukrainian people, the meeting today is even higher stakes than it was when President Trump sat down with Vladimir Putin on Friday, because now they're going to be trying to iron out some of those details to see what is actually possible.

KEILAR: All right, very good points.

Kristen Holmes at the White House for us, stand by, if you would.

We're going to get in a quick break as we are monitoring this fascinating moment, President Zelenskyy there entering the White House, President Trump graciously welcoming him. We're going to see if that tone continues for this visit.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Let's actually go right back to the White House, because the press has been let into the Oval Office, where President Donald Trump is meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Let's go ahead and listen.

(CROSSTALK)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: ... between us.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you very much. It's an honor to have the president of Ukraine with us.

We have had a lot of good discussions. We have had a lot of good talks. And I think progress is being made, very substantial progress in many ways. We had a good meeting, as you know, just a short while ago with the president of Russia.

And I think there's a possibility that something could come out of it. And today's meeting is very important. We have, I guess, the seven very powerful leaders from Europe. And we're going to be meeting with them right after this meeting. And thank you very much for being here.

ZELENSKYY: Thank you so much, Mr. President.

[13:20:01]

If I can, first of all...

TRUMP: Yes.

ZELENSKYY: ... thank you for the invitation, and thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts, to stop killings and stop this war. Thank you.

And using this opportunity, many thanks to your wife, first lady of the United States. She sent a letter to Putin about our children, abducted children. And my wife, she -- first lady of Ukraine, she gave the letter.

TRUMP: That's very nice.

ZELENSKYY: It's not to you, to your wife.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Oh, I want it. I want it.

(LAUGHTER)

ZELENSKYY: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So we are saying this sensitive topic, yes, yes, please.

And thanks to our partners and that you supported this format that after our meeting we can have leaders who are around us in the U.K. and France, Germany, Italy, Finland, E.U., NATO, I mean, all partners around Ukraine supporting us. Thanks to them. And thank you very much for the invitation.

TRUMP: Thank you very much for being here.

QUESTION: President Trump...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes, Peter, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, President Trump.

So, President Zelenskyy, you say in a post on X today, Russia must end this war, which it itself started. President Trump, you say President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to. Which is it?

TRUMP: No, I think that's true. I think they will -- we're going to have a meeting. I think, if everything works out well today, we will have a trilat.

And I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that.

QUESTION: And is this the end of the road for American support for Ukraine? Is today's meeting deal or no deal?

TRUMP: I can never say that. It's never the end of the road. People are being killed, and we want to stop that. So I would not say it's the end of the road.

No, I think we have a good chance of doing it. It's been almost four years now that -- a lot of people were killed last week, a lot of people last week, I mean, millions of people killed, but a lot of people last week, for whatever reason, a big number, a lot of soldiers, both, on both sides.

And I know the president, I know myself, and I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it end.

QUESTION: And as you -- you met with Putin on Friday. Today, you have got President Zelenskyy here. As you listen to Russia and Ukraine, which side has the better cards?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that. I'm just going to -- I'm just here to be -- look, this isn't my war. This is Joe Biden's war. He's the one that had a lot to do with this happening. And we want to get it ended. And we want it to end good for everybody.

We want it to end good. The people of Ukraine have suffered incredibly.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: President Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy, are you prepared to keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths for another couple years, or are you going to agree to redraw the maps?

ZELENSKYY: Thank you for your question.

So, first of all, we live under each day attacks. You know that today have been a lot of attacks and a lot of wounded people. And a child was dead, small one, one year-and-a-half. So, we need to stop this war, to stop Russia, and we need support, American and European partners. We will do our best for this.

So -- and I think we show that we are strong people, and we supported the idea of the United States, personally of President Trump to stop this war, to make a diplomatic way of finishing this war. And we are ready for trilateral, as the president said. This is a good signal about trilateral. I think this is very good.

Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Yes. If the peace deal will be achieved, are you going to be willing to send American peacekeepers to Ukraine?

TRUMP: Well, we're going to work with Ukraine. We're going to work with everybody. And we're going to make sure that, if there's peace, the peace is going to stay long term. This is very long term. We're not talking about a two-year peace, and then we end up in this mess again.

We're going to make sure that everything's good. We will work with Russia. We're going to work with Ukraine. We're going to make sure it works. And I think, if we can get to peace, it's going to work. I have no doubt about it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Your team has talked about security guarantees. Could that involve U.S. troops? Would you rule that out in the future? TRUMP: We will let you know that maybe later today. We're meeting

with seven great leaders of great countries also. And we will be talking about that. They will all be involved. But there will be a lot of help.

When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help. It's going to be good. They are a first line of defense, because they're there. They're Europe. But we're going to help them out also. We will be involved.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, Vladimir Putin mentioned that the war will not end without addressing the root causes of this war. Do you -- have you had an understanding, what are the root causes of this war?

[13:25:05]

TRUMP: Well, look, the war is going to end. When it ends, I can't tell you. But the war is going to end. And this gentleman wants it to end. And Vladimir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it. And we're going to get it ended.

It was -- I have done six wars. I have ended six wars. And I thought this maybe would be the easiest one. And it's not the easiest one. It's a tough one. A lot of reasons for it. And they will be talking about it for a long time. But they will be talking about the others. Look, India, Pakistan, we're talking about big places.

When you look at -- you just take a look at some of these wars, you go to Africa and take a look at that, Rwanda and the Congo, Republic of the Congo. That's been going on for 31 years. And so we have done a total of six. And we really have six, not including the fact that we obliterated and it turned out to be a total obliteration, the nuclear and, as you said, the nuclear, the future nuclear capability of Iran.

And this one, I think we're going to get solved also. I think -- I feel confident we're going to get it solved.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

Can you tell us about your conversations with European leaders and what they need to see to support an end to the war?

TRUMP: Yes, well, we're going to be meeting with a great representative group and seven very powerful, very big countries, great people, all friends of mine and friends of yours. And we're going to have some suggestions made.

They want to see peace. They would like to see peace.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Go ahead, please, in the red, in the red. QUESTION: President Trump, do you think it's fair for Ukraine and

Russia to achieve a lasting and durable peace if Ukraine cedes its territories that Russia hasn't yet conquered? Do you think it's a fair peace for Ukraine?

TRUMP: We're going to have a lasting peace, just to answer the first part of your question. We're going to have a lasting peace. I hope it's going to be immediately. I hope it doesn't have to go on.

And I think people, the whole world is going to be very happy when that's announced.

Yes, please.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: You posted on social media, Mr. President, a very touching letter from the first lady. And the letter was hand-delivered to President Putin. And it calls for an end to the war, essentially, because of the children and the children's future.

Why did the first lady feel that letter was necessary? Was it because she believes that Mr. Putin is the aggressor in the war? Is a similar letter being hand-delivered to President Zelenskyy?

TRUMP: So the first lady felt very strongly. She's watched the same thing that you watch and that I watch.

I see things that you don't get to see, and it's horrible. But when -- she's got a great love of children. She has a wonderful son that she loves probably more than anybody, including me. I hate to say it, but she loves her son. She loves children, and she hates to see something like this happening.

And that goes for other wars too. I mean, she sees the heartbreak, the parents, the funerals that you see on television, always funerals. We want to see something other than funerals. No, she felt it was a beautiful letter. It was very well received by him. And she did ask me to say she would love to see this end. She would love to see it end.

And she says it very openly, very proudly, and with great sorrow, because so many people have been killed.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Brian (ph). Go ahead, Brian.

QUESTION: Yes. Yes, sir. I have got a question for each of you.

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: First of all, President Zelenskyy, you look fabulous in that suit.

TRUMP: I said the same thing.

QUESTION: You look good.

TRUMP: I said the same thing.

QUESTION: Yes, looks good on you.

TRUMP: Isn't that nice? That's the one that attacked you last time. See. Now he's...

ZELENSKYY: I remember that.

QUESTION: I apologize to you. You look wonderful.

No, my first question for you, President Zelenskyy...

ZELENSKYY: But you are in the same suit.

(LAUGHTER)

ZELENSKYY: You see, I changed. You're not.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Maybe yours is much better.

ZELENSKYY: Please.

Real quickly, upon peace, God willing we get peace, are you open to holding an election in your country?

Zelenskyy: Yes, of course. We are open for elections, yes. We have to do safety circumstances. And a little bit, we need to work in the Parliament, because, during the war, you can't have elections.

But we can do security. We need, maybe -- how to say. We need a truce, yes, everywhere in the battlefield, in the sky and the sea, yes, to make possible for people to do democratic, open, legal, legal elections. So, we are ready.

TRUMP: So, you say, during the war, you can't have elections.

So, let me just say, 3.5 years from now -- so, you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections.