Lauren Tomasi: Channel 9 US Correspondent on the meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy, European leaders

Donald Trump's focussing on a peace deal rather than a ceasefire as talks with Ukraine's President get underway. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House for talks with Trump and several European leaders today.  

Trump also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday and says he'll have a phone call with him after today's talks.  

Channel 9 US Correspondent Lauren Tomasi told Mike Hosking the meeting has been quite warm so far, with it appearing to be a room full of friends as opposed to heads of state.  

She says that it’s a good thing for Europe, who has come into this supporting Zelenskyy, as they know the security of Ukraine will have ramifications on Europe. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So in a place that holds a lot of important meetings,
today seems bigger than most of course, half of Europe's
leaderships at the White House as we speak, in support
of the Ukrainian president. The plan seems to be a
security guarantee from Russia, but no NATO for Ukraine, a
chunk of land and for that, apparently the war is over.
It seems at this point anyway, they're all sitting around
the dining table. It seems at this point anyway, there
will be some sort of trilateral We will discuss on

(00:23):
the level of leaders during trilateral meeting, and President Trump
will try to organize such meeting.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
And he said that he will come or not come.
Ukraine will be.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Happy if if if you will won't be there, will
be there.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, thank you, and I.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Think this is very important. Okay, So it's good vibe
so far. Lauren Tamasi has Channel nins US correspondent. She's
at the White House and as well us.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Lauren morning, Good morning to you, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
What's the vibe.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Look, it's been really interesting today because coming in this
we knew that the tone and tenor of this meeting
was going to be so critical for Ukraine and over
it has been really warm so far. Vladimir Zelenski arrived here. Interestingly,
he was actually wearing a suit coat, which may seem inconsequential,
but last time he was wearing his standard military fatigues
and that's something Donald Trump took issue with, and he

(01:14):
commented today, the US President, that he was looking nice.
As he got out of the vehicle, they kind of
gave each other a pat on the back and then
went into that Oval Office meeting. And certainly it was
much more friendly inside the Oval Office as reporters asked questions.
But look, one big thing is we're not looking at
a ceasefire now. Donald Trump says he wants a peace

(01:34):
steal and that is much harder to obtain. And Donald
Trump says that the fighting will keep on going until
they obtained that piece deal.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
I'm watching them sit around the dining table at the moment.
This is all playing out for the world to see,
and I assume at some point they're going to go
behind closed doors. Zelenski's been behind closed doors. The fact
it still seems friendly, I guess, is a good sign,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah. Really interesting so that they weren't actually inside the
Oval Office alone for long, perhaps around forty five minutes
or so. And we don't know if Zelensky had the
opportunity to brief his European colleagues and allies ahead of
this big meeting with Donald Trump, but certainly it seems
very I don't know how to call it chummy if
you like. I mean, Donald Trump was commenting and saying

(02:18):
that the German Chancellor's tan was looking very good. So
it's a room full of friends, is the appearance today,
and that certainly, you know, it is a good thing
for Europe who has come into this supporting Zelenski because
they know that the security of Ukraine will have ramifications
on Europe.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
The tangible out of today must be a trilat, I'm assuming,
because none of them is in any position to make
cast iron guarantees. Have've got to go talk to parliaments
and countries, don't.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
They exactly right, And that's something that Donald Trump appears
to be making progress, or so he says, making progress
on and that's the next big thing to come out
of this. But of course then you look back to Alaska.
Donald Trump, going into that said the next meeting would
be the important one, and we expected to see that
trilateral meeting faster. Now we don't yet have a date,

(03:08):
a day, a time, a location for the trilateral meeting,
but Donald Trump did say that Vladimir Putin is expecting
his call as his meetings here at the White House
wrap up.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Fantastic, Lauren, appreciate it very much. We'll stay in touch.
Lauren to Marsci, who's Channel Lines US correspondent at the
White House this morning. So just to remind you, we
get right. They're sitting around the dining table at the
White House at the moment, it's all in public view,
and they're just it's all it's all hot air at
the moment. I mean, there's going to be some business
done behind some closed doors. And then at the end
of that we get the Putin phone call. I'm assuming
they go back to Alaska for a trilateral O. Why

(03:39):
wouldn't you, They probably haven't packed up from the other day.
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