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Trump Meeting With Zelenskyy at White House; Talks Happening Day After Trump & Putin Agree to Meet. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 17, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:34:10]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're continuing to follow the Breaking News in the nation's Capitol. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just arriving at the White House moments ago. Here he is being greeted by President Donald Trump, who he's trying to convince to send Ukraine powerful long-range missiles for its war against Russia. Tomahawk cruise missiles that could allow Ukraine to hit more precisely and deeper into Russia, something that could be a game changer in a fight that has now lasted about three years.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Now. Putin insists it would not be a game changer, but a lot of questions about whether he's being honest about that. Sources tell us Trump has not ruled out sending Tomahawks to Ukraine. And while he isn't expected to commit to doing so today, our sources do caution that could change once Trump is one-on-one with Zelenskyy. And we are awaiting this meeting as we, see it beginning here. We don't have audio, but we are looking at pictures right now as the president is there.

[13:35:00]

You see the vice president and the secretary of state and the defense secretary and treasury secretary as well. We're joined now and we're going to keep an eye on this. If they do start talking, we will dip into it and bring it to you. But for right now, let's talk with William Taylor -- Actually, let's listen in. The audio has now started.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- fifth to perform at the White House for some of the people. If the cabinet members are good, if they're doing a good job, we'll let them come along with some others. Right? We're going to have a good time, December 5th.

Well, thank you very much everybody. It's an honor to be with a very strong leader, a man who has been through a lot and a man who I've gotten to know very well and we've gotten along really very well. And we had a big call yesterday, as you know, with President Putin and we'll be talking about it. President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has endured a lot. I mean, he really has. He's endured a lot and we've endured it with him, to be honest. It's been a long time and I think we're making great progress. So, we're going to be talking about that today.

We'll be talking about what took place yesterday with my phone call with President Putin. And I think that things are coming along pretty well. It began with Alaska where I think certain guidelines were discussed, and we want to see if we can get this done. This was long ago into the Biden administration, I came here and we inherited this. And we'd like to see if we could finish it, end it. We want it ended.

So many people have died in this war. And we're going to -- we're going to get it ended. So, I just want to thank you all very much. If you have a couple of questions go ahead, please.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President --

TRUMP: In fact, before I do that, let me just ask the president to say a few words. Thank you. President?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Pleasure. Glad to meet you again, Mr. President. Thank you very much for the invitation. Again, my congratulations with your successful ceasefire in the Middle East.

TRUMP: Yeah, thank you.

ZELENSKYY: Yeah. And you did it. And I think this is a momentum to finish Russia's war against Ukraine.

TRUMP: Yeah.

ZELENSKYY: I think that yes, we understand that Putin is not ready. I think not ready, but I think that I'm confident that with your help, we can stop this war and we really need it. We see that they don't have successful steps on the battlefield and it's good. I think that their army is weak now, but a lot of losses. They have a lot of losses and in economy and people. And I think this is very important moment. And I wanted to thank you, Mr. President, after our phone calls yesterday, I had a good opportunity to meet with the big American energy companies and they're ready to help us.

TRUMP: Yes.

ZELENSKYY: Yes. After all these attacks on our infrastructure, Russian attacks and et cetera, and I had also meetings, thanks to your team. We had meetings with good military companies. We spoke about air defense and I want to share it after --

TRUMP: Right.

ZELENSKYY: -- with details where we are. Thank you. Thank you so much.

TRUMP: Thank you very much. Very good.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President.

TRUMP: And I think he looks beautiful in this jacket.

ZELENSKYY: Yeah?

TRUMP: Is it beautiful? I hope people notice it's a good -- it's actually very stylish. I like it.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yeah, please go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under the Biden administration, the White House was fearing all the possible escalation. They were not allowing the Ukrainians to strike into Russia fearing of this escalation.

TRUMP: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would your administration allow Ukrainians to strike deep into Russia to strike --

TRUMP: We're going to be talking about that. That's something we'll be talking about. You're right. It's an escalation. But we'll be talking about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, will President Zelenskyy join you in Hungary to meet President Putin?

TRUMP: Because it's a leader that we like, we like Viktor Orban. He likes him; I like him. It's a country that's a safe country, done a very good job. He's been a very good leader in the sense of running his country. He doesn't have a lot of the problems that other countries have. And so, we've decided that we'll be going to be with Viktor Orban and he will -- I think he'll be a very good host.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump --

TRUMP: It's in Hungary, yeah. We're doing Hungary. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With Putin, is it trilateral meeting, or is it just you and Putin?

TRUMP: To be determined, but I would say most likely it's going to be a double meeting. It'll be a double meeting, but we will have the President Zelenskyy in touch. There's a lot of blood -- bad blood with the two presidents.

[13:40:00]

And I'm not speaking out of turn when I say it is a very difficult situation. We just settled the war in -- after thousands of years, I guess, people say anywhere from 500 to 3,000 years. And I was in rooms, as you saw, because you were with me. A lot of you were with me last week with leaders that didn't like each other, but they were able to get along. These two leaders do not like each other and we want to make it comfortable for everybody. So one way or the other, we'll be involved in threes, but it may be separated.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump -- doesn't agree to peace in Hungary --

TRUMP: Was he what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if President Putin --

TRUMP: Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From Ukraine. You actually had a conversation with me.

TRUMP: Good, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if President Putin doesn't agree to peace in Hungary? What do you do then? Do you have (inaudible) for that?

TRUMP: Well, let's see what happens. I mean, you know, what if? It's -- I think he will. I think that President Putin wants to end the war, or I wouldn't be talking this way. I think he wants to end the war. I spoke to him yesterday for two-and-a-half hours. We went through a lot of details. He wants to get it ended. I think that President Zelenskyy wants to get it ended. Now we have to get it done.

(CROSSTALK)

CARA CASTRONUOVA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, LINDELL TV: President Trump, Cara Castronuova from Lindell TV. And although I love asking you questions, today my question is for President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.

TRUMP: Sure, go ahead please.

CASTRONUOVA: Thank you. Our president -- President Zelenskyy, President Trump just broke a peace deal in the Middle East that all Americans, both sides of the aisle, are very proud of. But to meet that deal, both sides had to make concessions. Our president has stuck out his neck in many ways to make a peace deal for your war as well. What specific concessions are you willing to make to end this war with Russia? Will you give up joining NATO? Americans have foreign war fatigue and our presidents, as he said, we need our Tomahawks too.

ZELENSKYY: To me?

CASTRONUOVA: Yes, you, President Zelenskyy.

ZELENSKYY: OK. Thank you very much. What concessions are you willing?

TRUMP: That's some question, right? Thank you.

ZELENSKYY: So many questions in one. Thank you very much for your question. First of all, I think we need to sit and speak. The second point, we need ceasefire. Even now, you see in the Middle East, it's very difficult to hold ceasefire. Everywhere, in every war, it's very difficult. We want peace; Putin doesn't want. That's why we need pressure on him. We will speak with president today what we need. We understand what we need to push Putin to negotiation table.

And as I said previously, so we are ready to speak in any kind of format, bilateral, trilateral, doesn't matter. Matter, just peace, this is important. And we don't speak about NATO -- or NATO for Ukrainians is very important. Of course, it's our decision, decisions of allies to decide where we are.

CASTRONUOVA: But are you willing to give up on NATO?

ZELENSKYY: Yeah. But the most important thing, the most important thing for people in Ukraine, which are under each day's attacks, to have really strong security guarantees. NATO is the best, but weapon is very important. Allies on our side is very important. And between us, for us, bilateral, security guarantees between me and President Trump is very important. I'm -- I don't know. We didn't speak with details about it, but this is the most important document because United States is very strong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you are the middleman right now, hoping to end this conflict. Who is doing a better job negotiating? President Zelenskyy or President Putin?

TRUMP: I think they're both doing a great job in that sense. We have to get it done. It's -- we've got to take some of the hatred of each other, you know, they don't like each other. I say that in front of President Zelenskyy, but I say it in front of President Putin too. They have tremendous bad blood. It's really is what is holding up, I think, a settlement. I think we're going to get it done. And we have to make it long-lasting, as I said, in the Middle East, everlasting, right? Everlasting.

And the Middle East is a much more complicated situation. We had 59 countries involved and every one of them agreed and it's sort of amazing. Most people didn't think that was doable. This is going to be something -- I really believe that's going to get done. I had a very good talk yesterday with President Putin. I think he wants to get it done.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Zelenskyy, right behind you. When we were in Israel with President Trump earlier in the week, we heard a lot about the difference in diplomacy between President Trump and President Joe Biden before him. What do you see as the biggest difference in diplomacy between President Trump and President Biden?

[13:45:00]

ZELENSKYY: President Trump has a big chance now to finish this war. President Biden now is not the president, so he doesn't have a chance to finish this war. And President Trump is really showed for the war that he can manage ceasefire in Middle East, and that's why I hope that he will do this and we will also have such big success. For Ukraine, it is a big chance and I hope that President Trump can manage it.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I would say the biggest difference is, one is extremely competent and the other one is grossly incompetent.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, a few weeks ago in New York, when you two met, you said that you think Ukraine could ultimately take back all the territory that it's lost so far. Do you still think that's the case, or do you think there'll have to be some sort of swap of territories?

TRUMP: You never know, war is very interesting. You never know, do you? You just never know with war, war and peace, but you never know.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia calls from Tomahawk supply to Ukraine as an escalation, yet it continues using similar cruise missiles like Kalibr.

TRUMP: Yeah. Who are you with? Who are you with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ukraine.

TRUMP: You are Ukraine?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. But Russia continues even using the cruise missiles and also nuclear capable ballistic missiles in Ukraine since 2022. So, do you consider providing Ukraine with the Tomahawk or similar missiles as an opportunity to equalize the possibilities of Ukraine and Russia, and push Moscow to the negotiation table?

TRUMP: Yeah, sure. We're going to be talking about that. That's why we're here. OK? Fair question. Exactly as he told you to say it, but we're going to be talking about it. OK? Yeah, please.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your message to India and Hungary, who is still refusing --

TRUMP: You said India and Hungary? That's an interesting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: India and Hungary --

TRUMP: India and Hungary, it's an interesting combination.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- refuse to stop buying Russian oil.

TRUMP: Well, India is not going to be buying Russian oil anymore. And Hungary is sort of stuck because they have one pipeline that's been there for years and years and years, and they're inland. They don't have sea. They don't have sea. And I spoke with the very great leader of Hungary, and they are -- it's very hard for them to get oil. I understand it. We have -- Hungary's in a very interesting position because they can't have ports, they're surrounded by land. So we'll see what happens there.

But India will not be buying oil from Russia. And they've already de- escalated and they've more or less stopped. They're pulling back. They bought about 38 percent of the oil, and they won't be doing it anymore.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, Melania Trump has been helping you in achieving peace in Ukraine.

TRUMP: Who has?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First Lady Melania Trump has been helping in returning abducted Ukrainian children from Russian captivity. President Zelenskyy, do you appreciate those efforts? How do you assess them? And did you ask her to step in and to help you?

ZELENSKYY: No, she wanted to do it. She just felt very strongly about the children. And she has done a really good job, I think, in bringing it to the fore. We have a lot of children involved. Now, it's -- some people say it's 20,000, and some people say it's 300. There's a big difference between that. So nobody really knows. But, she felt very strongly about the children. She thinks about the children all the time.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, if you OK Tomahawks to Ukraine, what's going to happen if the United States is in a conflict and we need the Tomahawks? Do we enough?

TRUMP: Well, that's a problem. We need Tomahawks and we need a lot of other things that we've been sending over the last four years to Ukraine. We've been -- we gave -- we gave them a lot. Now we have a different situation. We send it to the European Union, they pay for it and all that, and they have plenty of money. But, we -- it's beyond the money. We need Tomahawks, and we need a lot of other weapons that we're sending to Ukraine. And one of the reasons we want to get this war over is exactly that.

It's not easy for us to give, you're talking about massive numbers of very powerful weapons. So, that's one of the things we'll be talking about. Hopefully they won't need it. Hopefully we'll be able to get the war over with without thinking about Tomahawks.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I think, we're -- I think we're fairly close to that.

ZELENSKYY: Can I?

TRUMP: Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, please.

ZELENSKYY: Just to understand, so for today, of course we want to finish this war, but the war is another, technological war. You don't use just Tomahawks. If you want to target a military goal, you need thousands of drones. It goes together with such missiles.

[13:50:00]

Ukraine has such thousands of our production drones, but we don't have Tomahawks. That's why we need Tomahawks. But United States is a very strong production. And United States has Tomahawks and other missiles, very strong missiles. But they can have our thousands of drones. That's why, where we can work together, where we can strengthen American production.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so, just so that I understand, so you're suggesting kind of a trade, if President Trump OKs Tomahawk missiles to help you launch into Russia --

ZELENSKYY: Yes. It's about military goals. It's only about military goals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. But then you would authorize some kind of an exchange where --

ZELENSKYY: Yes, of course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the U.S. gets --

ZELENSKYY: Yes. We have proposition. We have -- we have big proposition with our drones. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump. I don't mean to be brokering an arms deal here, but is that something that you would be interested in, Ukrainian drones?

TRUMP: We are, yeah. Or we would, we have a lot of drones right now. We build our own drones, but we also buy drones from others. And they make a very good drone. I mean, we -- droned warfare has really come to the fore over the last couple of years because of this war. I will say there's nothing like the jets. We locked out a lot of drones in Israel. We were knocking them out for Israel, and we were doing it with extremely fast and powerful jets following the drones and knocking the hell out of them.

So it's -- we've -- we know a lot about the drones and we know a lot about the great jets, the great ones, the ones well, and the B-52s, which were totally under -- they were stealth. They were undetectable. So we have a lot of different weapons. And we -- I have an obligation also, though, to make sure that we're completely stocked up as a country because you never know what's going to happen in war and peace. Right? You never know what's going to happen. So we're going to be talking about Tomahawks and we'd much rather have them not need Tomahawks, would much rather have the war be over, to be honest, because we're in it to get the war over. We're not -- we're selling a lot of different types of weapon, as you know, to the European Union. We're not in it for that. We're in it to get it over. We're losing thousands of people a week, thousands of people -- Russian, Ukrainian, and mostly soldiers. I mean, mostly soldiers. But, we're in it to see that end, and if we can end quickly, and I think we can, I mean, I had a very good talk yesterday. We're going to be talking about it. But I had a very productive talk yesterday with President Putin. We'll see what happens.

But, the war in the Middle East was far more complicated. We got that one done, and I think we have a good chance. I think President Zelenskyy wants it done. And I think President Putin want it done. Now, all they have to do is get along a little bit.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you give us an update on the trade negotiations with China or perhaps Secretary Bessent can?

TRUMP: Yeah, I will. And I'm going to let Scott do that, but I think we're doing very well. I think we're getting along with China. Chinese would like to have something as of this moment. We'll be meeting in a couple of weeks. We'll be meeting in South Korea. Myself --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think (inaudible) will go forward?

TRUMP: I think so. It looks like it's going forward. I think so. They want to meet -- we like to meet. I have a very good relationship with President Xi and we're going to see what happens. But for years, we were taken advantage of by China very badly. We were losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year to China. We really built their military, if you think about it, the kind of money that presidents allowed to be lost to China was just insane.

And then when I came into office, as you know, I put very severe tariffs. So we, took in hundreds of billions of dollars in my first term from China. Biden let that go because it was so much, he let it continue but he gave all sorts of exceptions. And by the time you looked at it, Scott, I would say there wasn't -- it wasn't the same thing. He was -- he would give an exception for anything. If you got up and went out to dinner, he'd give you an exception. So it wasn't the same thing.

But, I put on very serious tariffs. So we took in hundreds of billions of dollars, and then we -- I left office. The election was rigged. I left office and that was the story. Now I come back and we are in a very strong position because of tariffs. We're in a very powerful position because of the fact that we have tariffs. If we didn't have tariffs, we would be in a very weak position. We would be in a weakened state. But with tariffs, we've made hundreds of billions of dollars, not only from China, but from others. And China wants to talk and we like talking to China. So we have a very good relationship.

[13:55:00]

And we're going to be meeting in South Korea, couple of weeks. And I just got back from a long trip. I'm going on another long trip. And Scott, do you want to say a few words on that, please?

SCOTT BESSENT, (R) UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Yes, sir. So the entire relationship stems from the great respect that the two leaders have for each other. China did a substantial unprovoked escalation last week. We were unable to get in touch with them since then. It is been IMF World Bank week (ph). They have had working level people here. There have been meetings. The vice premier, who is my counterpart, and I will be speaking this evening at around 8:30, 9 o'clock. And then, he and I and a delegation will meet in Malaysia probably a week from tomorrow to prepare for the two presidents to meet.

So again, I think that things have de-escalated. We hope that China will show the respect that we have shown them. And I am confident that President Trump, because of his relationship with President Xi, will be able to get things back on a good course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the hope for that meeting with you and President Xi some kind of trade deal then? Or could be more --

TRUMP: Could be. Look, I think we're in a very strong position. I think we're in a very strong position. We are getting, as of November 1st, I could move it up if I wanted, but a 100 percent tariff over and above what we get now. So that would make it about 157 percent and China doesn't want that, and they want to talk and we're talking. And I think we'll make a deal that will be good for both. I think we will do something.

But you have to understand, we never got anything from China. It was a one-way street for many years, for decades. It was a one-way street. And they became rich because of the United States. And frankly, president said let's be nice. They didn't know. They just didn't know. They didn't understand what was happening to them. But I understood it. I understood it long before I ran for politics.

I used to watch in amazement at how stupid our country was, how stupid they were, and we're not stupid anymore. And that includes with the European Union, that includes with Japan and South Korea. We're -- all we want to do is be treated fairly, but the fairly is hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars coming into the United States. And it's our national security, it is secure because of tariffs. If we didn't have tariffs, we would have no national security.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you --

TRUMP: So it's very important.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you seek China's help in ending the war in Ukraine? Do you need them to put pressure on Russia?

TRUMP: I'll be discussing that, but I'd love -- I'd love to see it ended before that.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I mean, I think we have a chance of ending the war quickly if flexibility is shown on behalf. And again, we're not losing people. The United States is not, we're not losing people. We're not spending money. We're getting paid for the ammunition and missiles and everything else that we're sending to the European Union. European Union, but to NATO. But it's very similar. If you look at the countries, I mean, it's very similar. And we just made a very fair trade deal with the European Union and what we wanted -- and we made a very good deal with NATO too. You know, they pay for all of this.

That's not what we're in this for. We're in it to save thousands of lives every week, thousands and thousands of lives. That's why we're in it. And I think -- I think we have a very -- I think we have a very good chance of bringing this war to a conclusion.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Turkey's president and your cabinet has done, honestly, an excellent job. I think that a lot of people could agree to that.

TRUMP: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm speaking as someone who lost my father in a war, so I know the human cost. What would your advice be to American leaders, to world leaders, to neocons, to TV hosts, who often speak about conflict in abstract or strategic terms rather than the human cost and the human terms like you have?

TRUMP: Look, my only statement is we have to get together. It's a very small group of people. It's the president, the president, and the president. OK? Three presidents. And I'm the mediator president. And I'm mediating, not an easy situation. It should be easy, but it's a lot easier when people understand each other, when they get together, when they like each other. We don't necessarily have that situation as far as like is concerned. Maybe it can turn around. Maybe it can.

But in the meantime, we'll have them keep a little bit of distance, and we're going to see if we can get it done. This is number nine. OK? This will be number nine for me, I've solved eight. Including the Middle East, I've solved eight. This I thought would've been among the easiest we solved. President Putin mentioned yesterday, Armenia, all of the different wars. He said it was amazing because we -- but the big one that he was surprised that we were able to settle was the Middle East. He thought it was incredible. He was very generous in that sense.