Dan Mitchinson: US correspondent on the White House claiming plans are under way for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet

The White House is claiming plans are well underway for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin's and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

US President Donald Trump met with Zelenskyy and several foreign leaders earlier in the week.

He's also now ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine under any peace deal.

US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says it's clear Trump doesn't want to be a part of any discussions between the leaders.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International Correspondence with Ends and Eye Insurance, Peace of mind
for New Zealand business. Eric the Stenton will be so
proud of me. Dan Mitchinson, US correspondent with US. Dan,
welcome back. It's wonderful to have you back with us.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good to be back with you too.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Yeah, you've missed out on a lot of good stuff
going on in US politics. So talk to me about
the American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, Trump says he doesn't want boots on the ground,
but he might be willing to do some air support.
And apparently they've got the plans for this bilateral meeting
between Putin and Zelenski. But what I find interesting about this, Heather,
is President Trump says he thinks it would be better
if the meeting happened without him, And he said he
just wants to see what goes on. So from my

(00:43):
point of view, that means that he doesn't think anything
is going to come out of that and he wants
to stay as far away from it, saying, hey, I
did my part. We got these two together. It's Veelensky
and Putin that can't you come together for an agreement?

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yes, But the thing is Zelensky and Potent and going
to meet like Poten is not going to meet Zelenski
unless there is an actual, credible agreement on the table
that may well be signed. So why doesn't Trump want
to be there?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Then that's that's the question. I mean. But you know,
the same thing could be said going into the last
meeting that Trump had with Putin. Did anybody really really
think that anything was going to come out of that? No?
Absolutely not, And if you did, you were a fool.
Nothing came out of that. You know, they shook some hands,
they got some FaceTime on television, and there's a little

(01:29):
bit of hope down the road. But that's what this
whole thing has been about.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Pump the brakes on this, ok, because you are not
the only person saying this, I mean you are, you
are basically everybody, every analyst in the world are saying this.
Who thought that when Potent and Trump sat down that
there was going to be a deal? That's just ridiculous,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well? I think so too. But you looked at the
media leading up to this.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
And it was like no, But Dan, Dan, jeez, you've
you've come in and you're like, Wow, I didn't miss
this at all because now I'm being attacked, But not
because nothing, not because I didn't think there was going
to be a deal, but because this is not how
it works. You don't sit down and get one deal
like there a series of meetings, multiple meetings over weeks
before you get a deal. So anyone thinking there was

(02:11):
going to be a deal in Alaska was an idiot.
And anyone thinking there was going to be a deal
out of the White House meeting was an idiot. If
there is a deal, it takes a long time, doesn't it.
So why don't we all just settle down and see
how it goes?

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I well said, because when the commentators are going, wow,
they're going into the third hour of this meeting, there's
something that's definitely going to be coming out of the word. No,
nothing's going to come out of a three hour meeting.
Like you said, these things lead weeks and months to
get a deal like this.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, Dan, I'm glad you're back because you and I
are seeing eye to eye on this. Now, tell me
why the adults are buying the kids meals? Is it
a cost a living thing?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, it's a little bit of a cost of living thing,
but and they're finding that these orders are up by
thirty percent in the last few years, even with all
the restaurant traffic down because the fast food restaurants here
have taken a hit because of the economy. But a
lot of it also has to do and I find
this kind of interesting with changing eating habits. A lot
of that has to do with those appetite suppressing medications

(03:05):
that are going out there. So they're saying that, you know,
and it's one way to save money at a fast
food place. You can get a kid's meal for four
to six bucks. Sit down restaurant maybe six to nine,
maybe ten twelve dollars. So people are just sort of
looking at at you know, trying to lose it a
little bit of weight. They're saying, we don't want to
be completely full. We want something that we can get
that's relatively cost efficient.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
This is I'm taking some hot from this because you know,
and to be frank, your kid sized meals are probably
the same size as our adult sized meals in New Zealand,
so it's a good thing. Now, have you got your
tight tight.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Cassipt I don't, but I do have a couple of
cassette players lying around here. In fact, my son a
few years ago thought it was the coolest thing in
the world to have one of those things that you
could just have strapped to your belt and he could
listen to one cassette at a time. But apparently Taylor
Swift is going to be releasing her Life of a
show Girl in October on vinyl and streaming and a
cassette tape. Now, I don't know about you. I don't

(03:57):
know the last time I bought a casset tape. I mean,
I've got him in the garage somewhere. But there's been
attempts to revive these things. I guess we have about
a half million cassettes that were sold in the last
year here in the US, which is nowhere near the
four hundred and forty four hundred and fifty in the eighties.
But the interesting thing, real quick, why there's a sort
of little resurgence here is music experts are saying that
tapes provide a different type of listening experience. You know,

(04:19):
it's not perfect, but you can flip it over, look
at the art, listen all the way through. And they
say that's another way to connect. I say, that's an
idiot observation because those things were the most I mean
you remember how many times it is the tape would
come out of your and you had to use a
pencil to try to stream it back in.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, and then go.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yep, I wouldn't do that.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
I said, no, bug of that. I don't know why
the kidscerns this nonsense. Thank you, Dan, Dan Mintion some
UIs correspondent. I just love that retro nostalgia makes you
lose your mind. Dy here that all of you US
correspondents are like Barry negative towards Trump despite the positive
things he's done. Do you know what everybody? I just
feel like everybody in the world is itching to say
Trump's an idiot, he was wrong. I just feel just

(05:03):
he may well be. It's entirely possible that his way
of banging heads diplomacy doesn't work. But can we just
see if it works before we say it hasn't worked?
Just tie her on that. For more from Heather Duplessy
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