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Trump to Setup Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting Soon; Hamas Agrees to a New Ceasefire Proposal, Israel Unchanged Their Stance for the Deal; More Than 6000 Words Added to the Latest Cambridge Dictionary Listing, Including Nonsensical Words and Social Media Jargons. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 19, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

After a high-stakes White House summit, President Trump says the leaders of Russia and Ukraine could soon have a meeting of their own.

And Hamas says it has agreed to a new ceasefire proposal as Israel vows a military assault on Gaza City. We'll have a live report from Cairo.

Plus, an emotional debate in Uruguay. Lawmakers consider a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to die with dignity.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.

Well, U.S. President Donald Trump says he's already working to arrange another meeting amid a push to end the war in Ukraine. But this time, it would be between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That word came as Trump hosted the Ukrainian president and key European allies for talks at the White House, just three days after the U.S. president sat down with Putin.

Trump stepped away from Monday's talks to phone the Russian president, and it was during that call the German chancellor says that Putin agreed to hold a meeting with Zelenskyy within the next two weeks. A Kremlin aide said the call was candid and constructive, but stopped short of confirming Putin had agreed to a bilateral meeting.

Zelenskyy, though, says he's ready to talk with Putin under any format, and said he had a good conversation with Trump, a far different outcome than the last Oval Office meeting in February. On Monday, the leaders appeared to share a mostly united front.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I believe a peace agreement at the end of all of this is something that's very attainable, and it can be done in the near future.

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think if we play this well, we could end this.

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones now. The path is open. You opened it last Friday.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I think that we had very good conversation with President Trump.

TRUMP: Very good.

ZELENSKYY: And it really was the best one, or sorry, maybe the best one will be in the future. But it was really good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Zelenskyy says security guarantees were discussed on Monday, and that included plans for Ukraine to purchase $90 billion in U.S. weapons through European funding. Leaders did not discuss redrawing Ukrainian boundaries, according to the NATO chief, who said any talks about territory would need to involve Zelenskyy and Putin, a sentiment shared by the Ukrainian leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translator): The question of territories is a question that we will save for me and Putin to decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian is following this from London and joined us now live. Good morning to you, Claire. So how are these developments from the Oval Office meeting being received overall? And of course, what's been the reaction in Russia?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Rosemary, I think if you're looking at the optics and the mood of that event, it went as well as it could have done, I think, for Ukraine. It was a real wholesale concerted effort by Europe to appear united, to wrest the narrative back from that Alaska summit between Trump and Putin.

And I think, you know, they managed to do that to some degree. Of course, also the level of fanfare, I think, was designed to offset the ceremony and grandeur of that Alaska summit. And I think to a great extent they achieved that too, exercising also the demons of that February Oval Office showdown between Trump and Zelenskyy.

So all of that, I think, was a very good sign for Ukraine. But in terms of the concrete results of the summit, I think it's a little unclear at this point, because, of course, there are two key things, right? There's security guarantees and then there's this moving to the next step of a bilateral or trilateral meeting, essentially getting Putin and Zelenskyy in the same room.

And on the security guarantees, we went from Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy on Sunday, telling CNN that there would be some kind of Article 5 style language to Trump saying on Truth Social after this meeting that the guarantees, he said, would be provided by European countries with the coordination by the United States.

So we don't know what that means as of yet. We're hearing from the British Prime Minister speaking to the BBC this morning saying that talks on that should continue in Washington today among members of their respective teams. So a lot of concrete details still need to be ironed out on that security guarantees, of course, are a very complicated topic.

[03:05:07]

And on the next step of advancing to a bilateral and trilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, possibly also involving Trump himself, well, look, Zelenskyy has said he's ready to do this. The Europeans are also ready to perhaps facilitate that within Europe.

But as for the Russian side, well, look, this is what we got from the Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, who gave a briefing after the call between Putin and Trump. He said, and I quote, "The idea was discussed that it would be appropriate to study the opportunity of raising the level of representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian sides, that is, the representatives taking part in the mentioned direct talks."

I think you can file that under extreme obfuscation as Chancellor Merz said, the next steps will be the most complicated ones. Still, though, even when the cameras weren't necessarily known to be rolling, President Trump expressing optimism. Take a look at this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think he wants to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, look, optimism, not just in that moment, but across the meetings that we saw today. But I think, look, the reality on the ground is somewhat different. And that claim, I think, will ring pretty hollow on a day when Russia fired 270 attack drones and 10 missiles at Ukraine, the highest number in August so far, Rosemary?

CHURCH: Clare Sebastian reporting live from London. Many thanks for that, I appreciate it.

Joining me now from London is CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas. Good to have you with us.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Thank you, Rosemary. It's great to see you.

CHURCH: So, Monday's high-stakes meeting between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents, along with a united and coordinated group of European leaders, ended with a plan for future bilateral and trilateral meetings at an unknown time and place. The other big issue was security guarantees for Ukraine, modelled on NATO's Article 5, an attack on one is an attack on all, backed up by a security force on the ground from Europe, and possibly even the U.S., with President Trump not ruling that out.

How will all this work, though? And how much progress do you think was made at these talks Monday?

THOMAS: Well, I think ultimately this is very much about a kind of an incremental move forwards towards achieving what every leader underscored yesterday, which is some kind of peace agreement. President Trump has a tendency, he did this after the Alaska meeting with President Putin, to talk about outcomes before allowing the process to move forward. And that meeting yesterday was highly transactional in so many ways.

The delegations that arrived from Europe were very much there to sort of bolster President Trump's kind of credentials in this peace discussion negotiating process by underscoring unity, by underscoring their desire to move things forward. But for them, the absolute priorities and the end games here involve the security questions.

First of all, an umbrella security for the European space in the broadest context. And I think having the Finnish Prime Minister there was a strong indication as to how key those border states, Baltic States as well, are in this particular process.

And that moving forward, a security guarantee and a sustainable outcome and possibly even a deterrent to future Russian incursions involve United States military commitment moving forward to that space and to NATO. And I think that those dimensions, those aspects were highlighted during that particular meeting yesterday in which all sides moved forward and got something out of it, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Dominic, the more divisive issue of a ceasefire was discussed with all the European leaders agreeing with Zelenskyy that an immediate ceasefire was necessary before any future talks take place. And Trump appeared more inclined to a ceasefire compared to his total rejection of the idea after Friday's Alaska summit with Putin. What did you make of Trump's sudden shift on the ceasefire issue?

THOMAS: Well, I think that there's always a tendency that President Trump has a pattern of moving with the general consensus in the room. And I think that we saw a move towards that yesterday.

Though having said that, not all leaders in their individual publicly screened kind of praise of Trump drew attention to that particular aspect. I mean, Prime Minister Meloni of Italy was talking about deterrence and the sort of the root causes. So I think that there are some gray areas.

[03:09:54]

There's on the one hand, obviously, a realization that the public reception of this, the sort of fatigue around this concerns the killings, the death toll, the impact that this is having on morale regionally, the way in which it's sort of eroding trust in leaders in their capacity to solve this.

So you saw some sort of cracks in that, which was in a meeting, which ultimately was overwhelmingly moving towards a kind of coordinated presence, a coordinated action and trying to enlist President Trump in achieving a sustainable solution with the full understanding that public opinion wants a ceasefire before this happens.

Of course, President Putin, at the time being, certainly does not seem inclined to move in that particular direction. And we'll have to see when this trilateral meeting is organized, what position we're at that point, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Dominic Thomas, many thanks for joining us and sharing your perspective and analysis, I appreciate it.

THOMAS: Thank you.

CHURCH: Now to the war in Gaza, where Hamas says it has agreed to a new ceasefire proposal, it's similar to the plan that was on the table when negotiations fell apart last month. A senior Hamas official says it calls for the release of 10 living and 18 deceased hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners; original source says Hamas also wants written American guarantees for a ceasefire after 60 days.

An Israeli official says the government's position has not changed. It wants all hostages released, the disarming of Hamas and security control over Gaza. Egypt and Qatar are looking to restart negotiations in Cairo.

So let's bring in CNN anchor and correspondent Becky Anderson, live in Cairo, Egypt. So Becky, what are you hearing this morning in response to Hamas agreeing to a new ceasefire proposal?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, "CONNECT THE WORLD": Well, no official word yet from Israel as to whether it will consider this proposal, which is a partial or phased proposal. Certainly, though, that we do know that the Israeli Prime Minister has hardened his position of late and has said that any proposal, any framework, any plan to release these hostages and end this war needs to be a comprehensive plan and needs to include the defeat of Hamas.

So we await the official response. We were told yesterday by a source briefed on the matter that once the proposal had been accepted by Hamas, that it would be then sent to Israel. Sources told me that Steve Witkoff, the U.N. envoy, would also be invited to Cairo to try and provide some momentum for where we are at now.

Let's just remind ourselves what we know at this point. Hamas yesterday, on Monday, accepted a proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar, which would provide the framework for a comprehensive solution to end this war. Sources briefed on the matter told me that mediators had secured 98 percent of what was the original Steve Witkoff plan back in May for this ceasefire and hostage plan, which had been accepted at the time by Israel.

Now that's important to note, isn't it? 98 percent of the details secured by mediators. It is not clear what that 2 percent outstanding is at this point. And that's important because, of course, the devil is in the detail of all of these plans.

We have been here before when it felt like we were close to a comprehensive sort of solution, only to be disappointed.

Let's just remind ourselves what we know of that original plan, tabled back in May by Steve Witkoff. It's called the Witkoff Proposal. And that included a 60-day temporary truce, the release of half of the hostages for an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners, the size of the buffer zone that Israel would retain around Gaza, and the scope of the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Not yet clear, it wasn't really clear in what was the original Witkoff plan. What is absolutely clear is Hamas wants to see an end to this war, a ceasefire, and wants that embedded, as you rightly point out, with guarantees from the Americans. Since that last plan back in May, of course, Israel has hardened its position.

[03:15:05]

It has announced a new security operation, as it describes it, in Gaza, and it wants to go after Hamas and defeat it. And last night, without responding to this proposal from mediators, the Israeli prime minister said it is clear that Hamas is on the ropes.

So I think a sense of optimism here, but measured as the mediators await that response from Israel. I spoke to the Egyptian foreign minister in Rafah yesterday, and this is what he told me when we discussed a deal in principle. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Help me out here. What or who is holding up a ceasefire today?

BADR ABDELATTY, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: To be frank with you, the lack of political will, especially from the Israeli side. We are pushing the Hamas side in order to show more flexibility.

ANDERSON: What does that mean, show more flexibility? Israel says it wants to defeat Hamas and clearly feels it is close to doing that. Will Hamas surrender at this point?

ABDELATTY: I mean, again, we have to be practical, we have to be reasonable. What we have to do now is to implement the proposal of Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Special Envoy.

ANDERSON: Which is a phased partial agreement, a temporary truce.

ABDELATTY: At least to have a cooling off period, to allow more trucks to enter into Gaza. And during these 60 days of the ceasefire, to engage in serious negotiations to make the ceasefire sustainable. Can I be clear, foreign minister, is that the only proposal on the

table at present? The Witkoff proposal to all intents and purposes?

ABDELATTY: This is the practical one. Of course the Israelis are talking about ending the war.

ANDERSON: A one and done.

ABDELATTY: They are not having a comprehensive deal. But they are putting impossible conditions to be realized on the ground.

ANDERSON: Can you explain what those impossible conditions are?

ABDELATTY: I mean, by talking about, of course, disarming Hamas now. That they will not allow neither Hamas or Fatah or the Palestinian Authority to be there in Gaza. This is something, you know, not logic and not practical.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, mediators insist that this is the best possible solution to ensuring that the lives of hostages aren't further endangered through an escalation in this conflict and that the humanitarian situation can be addressed. Because importantly, let's remember that there is little to no humanitarian aid getting into Gaza at present. We've all seen those images of starving children.

What this deal would allow in the 60 days in the first instance would be a surge of humanitarian aid through those crossings into Gaza. And we were at the Rafah crossing yesterday. The Egyptian foreign minister insists that the Rafah crossing, which is only one of six crossings, five between Israel and Gaza and the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, they say that the Egyptian side of that Rafah crossing is open 24/7 but because the Israelis have bombed the other side of it in Gaza it is not possible to get aid through.

And we saw evidence of trucks lining up at that border once again. We're told there were 5000, I didn't actually see 5000 trucks there. But there is an enormous amount of aid clearly built up at that border waiting to get in.

So the hardening of the positions from both, it has to be said, the Israelis and the Americans will worry mediators at present. And we are, as I say, we don't have the official response from the Israelis nor from the Americans, it has to be said.

But this deal, as far as mediators are concerned, is the best opportunity to de-escalate at this point, get access to those who need humanitarian aid and ensure that the lives of those hostages who are being held in Gaza aren't further endangered. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Becky Anderson in Cairo with that live report. Many thanks.

And still to come, more states are sending National Guard troops to the U.S. capital answering President Trump's call to support his crackdown on crime. Back with that and more in just a moment. [03:20:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm watch for much of North Carolina's Outer Banks region. Hurricane Erin is not expected to make landfall, but the Category 3 storm has already prompted mandatory evacuations along parts of North Carolina's coast.

It's a cause for concern for beachfront homes in the area, which have been prone to crumbling into the ocean even without a hurricane skirting past. Erin is the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and forecasters already have their eye on another tropical system which could become the next big storm later this week.

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Louisiana's governor has deployed more than 100 members of the state's National Guard to Washington, D.C. It is the 6th U.S. state led by a Republican to dispatch troops to the nation's capital amid President Trump's crackdown on crime in the city. But local officials say the response is overblown.

CNN's Brian Todd has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON D.C.: This is not about D.C. crime.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser growing more frustrated over the escalation of federal agents and National Guard troops on the streets of the nation's capital.

BOWSER: You know it doesn't make sense. The numbers on the ground in the district don't support a thousand people from other states coming to Washington, D.C.

TODD (voice-over): Republican governors from West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi have announced they are sending additional National Guard troops to Washington in response to President Trump's call to increase law enforcement on the streets.

TRUMP: We went from the most unsafe place anywhere to a place that now people, friends are calling me up, Democrats are calling me up and they're saying, sir I want to thank you and you did that in four days.

TODD (voice-over): But Mayor Bowser does not seem to share that sentiment.

BOWSER: Why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans, that's the question.

TODD (voice-over): Around the capital today, D.C. National Guard troops could be spotted near national monuments and major transportation hubs.

TODD: Have they told you anything about your mission, like what you're supposed to be doing around Union Station at least?

UNKNOWN: Just helping out with local law enforcement.

TODD: Are you carrying any firearms?

UNKNOWN: No.

TODD (voice-over): A White House official had previously told CNN that National Guard troops in Washington may now be armed. But a Defense Department official tells us that so far guardsmen on the street in D.C. are not armed and have not been requested to carry firearms. The official says they'll be prepared to arm if they get the order.

Not everybody agrees that National Guardsmen should be sent in from other states. One Republican governor, Phil Scott of Vermont, turned down a second request from President Trump to deploy its National Guard troops to D.C. to help Trump in his mission.

The governor's office saying in part, "While public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country, in the absence of an immediate disaster and unless local and regional first responders are unable to handle such an emergency, the governor is opposed to utilizing the National Guard for this purpose."

Some popular right-wing media figures are saying that even the current escalation of law enforcement in Washington, while controversial, still isn't enough.

CHARLIE KIRK, HOST, "THE CHARLIE KIRK SHOW": We need full military occupation of these cities until the crime desists, period. We need a desisting of crime in our cities.

We're not going to put up with it. I want to be able to walk Magnificent Mile in Chicago.

TODD (voice-over): Data from the restaurant reservation company Open Table shows a 25 to 30 percent drop in D.C. reservations since the surge. But one week since Trump's announcement of federalizing the D.C. police, he's already claiming victory.

TRUMP: All I want is security for our people. But people that haven't gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C. in two years are going out to dinner.

TODD: A defense department official tells CNN West Virginia is sending about 350 of its National Guard troops to Washington. That official says some of those troops from West Virginia have already arrived. Now, we didn't see them on the streets of D.C. on Monday, but that official says that those troops from West Virginia will be integrating with the other forces soon.

That same official says that troops from Mississippi, South Carolina and Ohio will be here in the coming days. And we just heard from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry that he is sending about 135 of his state's National Guard troops to Washington.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: President Putin and Zelenskyy reportedly agreed to a meeting, and it could happen within weeks. What's known about the proposed talks, that's just ahead.

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[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Hamas says it has agreed to a new ceasefire proposal in Gaza. Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are trying to restart negotiations that fell apart in July. Hamas says the new plan calls for the release of 10 living and 18 deceased hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, two Israeli officials told CNN that Israel had received the Hamas response from mediators.

After a lengthy investigation, the oldest son of Norway's crown princess has been indicted on charges including rape, abuse against one former partner and acts of violence against another. Marius Borg Hoiby could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. His attorney says "our client denies all charges of sexual abuse as well as the majority of the charges regarding violence."

SoftBank is set to invest $2 billion into American chipmaker Intel. It's the latest bid from Intel's new CEO to catch up to its competitors.

[03:35:07]

He met last week with President Trump, whose administration has also expressed interest in taking a stake in the company.

The Ukrainian president is pushing for an unconditional meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia suggested two-way talks with Ukraine followed by a trilateral meeting with Donald Trump. But President Zelenskyy says he's ready for any format of talks with President Putin and the question of territory is between them alone.

This comes as seven European leaders met with President Trump in the Oval Office insisting that a ceasefire must still precede talks with the Kremlin. The U.S. and Russian leaders spoke by phone earlier before President Trump returned to his meeting with President Zelenskyy. The top U.S. diplomat said all this points to progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The President suggested that Zelenskyy and Putin meet so we're working on that now to try to set that up for them to meet somewhere which again would be unprecedented.

Just the fact that Putin is saying sure I'll meet with Zelenskyy that's a big deal. I mean I'm not saying they're going to leave that room best friends. I'm not saying they're going to leave that room with a peace deal but I think the fact that people are now talking to each other this wasn't happening for three and a half years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Despite the Trump administration's optimistic tones a gulf remains between the key players. CNN's Tom Foreman looks at what each side is hoping to accomplish and what's actually realistic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really worth reviewing what everybody wants out of these talks. What does Russia want? Russia wants their position holding part of the eastern part of Ukraine, the Donbass region and Crimea to be made official and permanent and maybe other lands beside.

What they're mainly wanting out of this is to normalize the fact that they invaded this country and to say well now that's just the way things are. Let's quit talking about invasion, let's talk about what we have and let us hold on to it.

What does Ukraine want? Obviously they would want to reverse that.

They would want to say we're a sovereign nation, you had no business coming in here in the first place. We would like you to give up all this territory and go back to where you belong in Russia.

Now that may not be possible in these talks the way they're being approached right now. So Ukraine may have to deal a little bit more on the idea of saying let's give you a little less of the Donbass, let's not give you a land bridge from there down to Crimea along that area, let's not let you push all the way up to the Dnipro River, let's not let you get a deeper hold within Ukraine from which you could launch a future attack.

What does Europe want out of all of this? They want to see if Russia can somehow be pushed back and not given that deeper hold where they can push on and maybe go beyond Ukraine by taking the whole country at some point. That's one of the big concerns here.

How do you contain Russian ambitions by keeping them pushed back? And what does the United States want in all of this?

Well the President has made it clear over and over again what he wants is some kind of a deal that he can plant his flag on. Something where he can say look, I finally delivered on that promise I had that I would end the conflict. It's just not clear how he's going to get that end in a way that all these different parties can agree to. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Whatever a peace deal may look like, the stakes aren't arbitrary lines on a map. What the U.S. president calls a swapping of territories would mean a grave loss of Ukrainian homes and histories. And it's important to remember that Ukrainians have already paid a horrific price in the war they neither asked for nor started.

The United Nations Office of Human Rights has recorded nearly 50,000 civilian casualties since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Those include nearly 14,000 innocent men, women and children who have been killed in Vladimir Putin's war.

And the toll on the battlefield is much higher. A recent report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that Ukrainian forces have suffered nearly 400,000 casualties with up to 100,000 people killed. And Russian forces have suffered nearly one million casualties with as many as 250,000 soldiers killed.

Mark MacCarley is a retired U.S. Army Major General and is the founder of MacCarley and Rosen Consultants and Lawyers, PLC. And he joins me now from Berlin. I appreciate you being with us.

MAJ. GEN. MARK MACCARLEY (RET.), U.S. ARMY, AND FOUNDER, MACCARLEY AND ROSEN, PLC: My pleasure.

CHURCH: So even before these high-stakes talks to end the war in Ukraine took place at the White House Monday, Russia has continued to pound the war-torn nation. What is the latest on where things stand right now on the battlefield?

[03:40:01]

MACCARLEY: Well, what we're looking at as of yesterday is a continued push by the Russians along that same line of contact with what most of us see as Russia's most significant objective, and that is to secure the entirety of Donbass. And if Russia succeeds and pushes along those lines and pushes south to Kirschen, Russia then establishes that land corridor to Crimea.

So Russia at the present is incrementally moving forward. It has had what best can be described as some small successes in villages along the line of contact, although we have to give some credit to the Ukrainian army for essentially holding that line. So while there has been advance by the Russians, the situation is not significantly different than what it was at the beginning of this year.

CHURCH: And one of the main points of discussion at these critical White House talks on Monday included details on security guarantees for Ukraine once the fighting ends, which would be modelled on NATO's Article 5 that states an attack on one is an attack on all, backed up by boots on the ground, which would include peace troops from Europe and perhaps also from the U.S., as President Trump didn't rule that out. So how would a security force like that work exactly?

MACCARLEY: I thought about this and anticipated this question and wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speculate as to how this particular security framework could be structured. Now it's going to take me a minute or so to explain.

In Europe itself there has been over the last 15 years or so an effort on the part of Europe, Western Europe essentially, to come together with what could be essentially called an emergency response force or as now called an emergency response capability. What does that have to do with Ukraine?

It could be that those contributing states, for instance France with Macron as one of the biggest exponents, trumpeters of this particular security outline, could find themselves in Ukraine.

But I have some reservations. I'm not confident that there is that type of sincere commitment on the part of Western Europe to actually put boots on the ground, boots that could become targets for Russian aggression.

Now there is another mechanism that the U.S. has explored. This goes back, gosh, about almost 40 years and that is to put together essentially what's called a multinational force and observers. And the history of that particular organization goes back to the agreements between Israel and Egypt following the Camp David Accords where both sides agreed that there would be a neutral force led by the United States.

It doesn't have to be led by the United States if you use the same parallel, but that force would consist of neutrals. That multi, what we call the acronym is NFO, still exists.

Perhaps it's become not as relevant because of the current conflict, Hamas-Israel, but it is staffed by about 17 different countries over the course of time. Fijians are big proponents as well as Colombians.

That force could be put in place. It's basically not a force that would take up the responsibility of repelling further Russian aggression, but it would be a tripwire, meaning if the Russians tried to start again, you would see the loss of life among those NFOs or at least the alert by those members of this NFO Ukraine to the fact that Russia was again perpetrating an aggression and assault into Ukraine.

So that's the type of framework coupled with what some people call snapback sanctions. Snapback sanctions were addressed by Senator Lindsey Graham of the United States.

[03:44:53]

Severe sanctions could come into place if after the two sides, Zelenskyy and Putin come to some sort of agreement, at least as to the composition of this, what really -- what is meant by security guarantees. Perhaps that would be a mechanism that could be used as well. Meaning if Russia again attacks, then severe sanctions would be put in place.

CHURCH: Major General Mark MacCarley, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it. MACCARLEY: Thank you.

CHURCH: Still to come, one woman's fight for a dignified death after years of suffering from ALS. She's campaigning for an assisted dying law in Uruguay. We'll explain.

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[03:50:00]

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CHURCH: Right now, just a handful of countries worldwide legally allow euthanasia or assisted dying. A woman in Uruguay who's been suffering from ALS for years is now hoping her country will join that list.

She's asking for the law to be changed so she can have a dignified death. But what is dignified to one person is often considered murder to others.

CNN's Dario Klein has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARIO KLEIN, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is not just another day for Beatriz Gelos. With the help of friends, she manages to reach the Uruguayan parliament because she wants to witness a moment she has been waiting for years.

She says the ribbon she wears is in favor of euthanasia.

Gelos suffers from ALS. She says doctors predicted she would die from the neurodegenerative disease 15 years ago, but her decline was much slower than expected.

I am worsening too slowly, she says, and I would like this to end.

Slowly, she lost mobility in almost her entire body and can do almost nothing on her own. She has trouble breathing and even sleeping.

KLEIN: She's saying that she would like this to go faster. Her life is like hell and she's having a lot of pain in every position.

KLEIN (voice-over): That is why she says she's hopeful that the so- called dignified death law will be approved in Uruguay.

She was there when the lawmakers passionately debated the law.

FEDERICO PREVE, REPRESENTATIVE, FRENTE AMPLIO (through translator): It's about love, about humanity, about empathy. It's about people with very tough illnesses who are suffering.

UNKNOWN (through translator): Do we want to be a society that offers death as a response to suffering?

KLEIN (voice-over): And almost unintentionally, she became a face of the debate.

LUIS GALLO, REPRESENTATIVE, FRENTE AMPLIO (through translator): Behind euthanasia, there are real people, human faces who are here with us in the stands.

KLEIN (voice-over): Lawmakers read a letter out loud that she wrote them two years ago.

GALLO (through translator): My life would be more dignified if I could clean myself, write by hand, talk on the phone, scratch and itch, drink water when I'm thirsty, or take care of others. I don't know if with my increasing difficulties, even with palliative care, day-to-day life will be bearable, which is why I want the peace of mind of knowing that I will be able to choose when the time comes, whether it's worth continuing this ordeal or not.

KLEIN (voice-over): But her request is not just for her.

KLEIN: Many other people suffer horrible sickness. I didn't know there were so many things that they had no cure.

KLEIN (voice-over): Among those who oppose the law is the Uruguayan Catholic Church. Gelos is a Catholic who sometimes, she says, believes in God.

KLEIN: Sometimes yes, sometimes she doesn't. She feels sometimes the presence of God. She has already earned her place in heaven, which she has lived here.

KLEIN (voice-over): I asked her if she believes there is something else after death. I don't know, she says.

Do you want that there is something? Yes, she nods.

Dario Klein, CNN, Montevideo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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[03:55:00]

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CHURCH: No, you're not, Delulu. Skibidi really is in the dictionary. It's one of 6,000 words that the Cambridge Dictionary added to its online edition in the last year.

Skibidi, which was coined by a YouTube series, is an intentionally nonsensical word that has no real meaning on its own. Depending on the way it's used, it can have many different meanings like cool or bad.

Delulu is much easier to understand. Of course, it's a play on the word delusional and means choosing to believe things that aren't real or true.

Another word added is tradwife, an abbreviated form of the term traditional wife. It's used to describe influencers who glorify that role.

And finally, a word plucked from the headlines, broligarchy, a mashup of bro and oligarchy. It's a reference to the tech leaders who attended President Trump's inauguration in January. There's some new words you can use today.

Thanks very much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Danny Freeman after a short break.

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