Matt Terrill: Former Chief of Staff to Marco Rubio on the peace deal between Ukraine and Russia

Ukraine's President is ready to sign the US deal for a ceasefire only hours after America's decision to pause military aid to the war torn nation. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his fiery meeting with Donald Trump at the White House was "regrettable". 

He's ready to work with Trump to sign a minerals deal and reach a peace deal. 

Former chief of staff to Marco Rubio —who is now the US Secretary of State— Matt Terrill told Andrew Dickens reaching a peace deal was a huge part of Trump's campaign. 

He says this administration is standing by the deal because they believe in its economic and security guarantees. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well he did it. Donald Trump has paused all military
aid into Ukraine. This comes just days after his row
with Zelensky in the Oval Office. White House officials have
noted the pause could be lifted if Zelenski shows a
new commitment to peace talks with Russia. I'm joined again
by Matt Terrell, who joined us a couple of weeks ago,
Marco Rubio's former campaign manager. Hello, Matt, very great to

(00:22):
be with you.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Look, so a day ago, Zelensky said he'd signed the
minerals deal. Last night the Prime Minister of Ukraine said
they'd signed the military deal. They're saying this because they're
comfortable with the security guarantees that Europe is offering. So
why is America punishing him again?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, a quick crush of my title is the chief
of staff from Mark Rutbu's presential campaign in twenty sixteen.
Is just quick correction there. But great to be with
you again, and I'll just say that, you know, look,
I mean what we're seeing right now it takes shape
is on the heels of the Friday meeting between President
Zelenski President Trump. You know, President Trump feeling there's always
taken the action that he sees fit as this military aid,

(01:02):
if you will, this US aid to Ukraine. And I
think at this stage, right now, the real question everyone
has is what happened next. I think right now we're
going to just pause and wait and see. But certainly,
I think right now, Persident Trump has been very transparent,
very clear about what he expects, and that is that
he wants to bring peace to this war. He campaigned

(01:22):
I'm bringing peace to this war, and he campaigned on
doing it in a negotiated way. And I think right
now where this administration is at, that they felt that
this agreement would have been a good deal economically, not
just for both Ukraine and the United States, but also
in his own right with service and security guarantees. So
we'll see what happens here. We're seeing a lot of
moving parts, of course takes shape here, but pausing that

(01:43):
aid is something that's obviously breaking news and frankly nothing
that people should be too shocked by. Giving how that
meaning went on Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, what's the reaction mean like in the United States
of America, Because our Americans struggling with some of the
concisions that Prisident Trump is making to Russia.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, I think a lot of Americans first and foremost
viewing this. You know, if you look at the recent
polling on this, the vast majority of Americans, over seventy
percent of Americans want this war to end. And look,
the reality is, I think Americans recognize that there's ampathy
concessions on both sides, but you can't get there in
terms of discussing those concessions unless you bring the necessary
parties to the negotiating table and then includes Presidents Lensky

(02:22):
being at the negotiating table, but also President Putin. And
what your seeing administrations say most recently is that they
feel as though this war is a war of attrition
and the only way to end it is to get
both parties, both Presidence Lenski and President Putin to the
negotiating table. I think the administration has been clear that
you know you're going to have to likely see concessions
on both sides here, but you don't know what those

(02:43):
will look like until you negotiate, until you have discussions,
And that's where I think the administration is at wanting
to get those discussions going booked by President Putin as
well as by President of Lenski.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
The more familiar edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Listen live to Newstalks, it being from five am weekdays well.
Follow the podcast on iHeartRadio