Let's watch. That doesn't work that way. I'm not aligned with Putin. I'm not aligned with anybody. I'm aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world. I'm aligned with the world. And I want to get this thing over with. You see the hatred he's got for Putin. It's very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate. He's got tremendous hatred. And I understand that. But I can tell you the other side isn't exactly in love with him either.

So it's not a question of alignment. I'm aligned with the world. I want to get the thing set. I'm aligned with Europe. I want to see if we can get this thing done. You want me to be tough? I could be tougher than any human being you've ever seen. I'd be so tough.

But you're never going to get a deal that way. So that's the way it goes. All right, one more question. I would respond to this. So look, for four years in the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin. And then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country.

The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy. We tried the pathway of Joe Biden of thumping our chest and pretending that the President of the United States' words mattered more than the President of the United States' actions. What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That's what President Trump is doing. Can I ask you?

Sure. Yeah? Yeah. Okay. So he occupied our parts, big parts of Ukraine, parts of East and Crimea. So he occupied it on 2014. So...

2015.

2014. 2014. I was not here. That's exactly right. Yes, but during 2014 until 2022, the situation was the same. People have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped here.

You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversations, my bilateral conversation, and we signed with him, me, like a new president in 2019, I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, Macron and Merkel, we signed ceasefire, ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed with him gas contract, gas contract.

Yes, but after that, he broke this ceasefire. He killed our people, and he didn't exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn't do it.

What kind of diplomacy, J.D., you are speaking about? What do you mean? I'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President, with respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the President for trying to bring it into this conflict. Have you ever been to Ukraine that you say what problems we have?

I have been to... I've actually watched and seen the stories, and I know that what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you've had problems bringing people into your military? And do you think that it's respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country? A lot of questions. Let's start from the beginning. First of all, during the war,

Everybody has problems. Even you. But you have nice ocean and don't feel now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless. You don't know that. God bless. God bless. You will not have the war. Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel. I'm not telling you. Because you're in no position to dictate that. You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel.

We're going to feel very good. We're going to feel very good and very strong. You're right now not in a very good position. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position, and he happens to be right about that. You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now.

With us, you start having cards. Right now, you're playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have. Have you said thank you once?

Even today, you went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your country.

Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can... He's not speaking loudly. He's not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble. Can I answer? No, no. You've done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble. I know. You're not winning. You're not winning this. I...

You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us. Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong from the very beginning of the war. We've been alone, and we are thankful. I said thanks in this cabinet. You haven't been alone. We gave you, through this stupid president,

If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over

In two weeks. In three days. I heard it from Putin. In three days. This is something new. Maybe less. In two weeks. Of course, yes. It's going to be a very hard thing to do business like this. Again, to say thank you, except that there are disagreements, and let's go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you're wrong.

We know that you're wrong. But you see, I think it's good for the American people to see what's going on. I think it's very important. That's why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful. You don't have the cards. You're buried there. Your people are dying. You're running low on soldiers. Listen, you're running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, I don't want to cease fire. I don't want to cease fire. I want to go, and I wanted this. Look,

If you could get a ceasefire right now, I'd tell you you'd take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed. Of course we want to stop the war. But you're saying you don't want a ceasefire. But I said to you. I want a ceasefire. With guarantees. Because you'll get a ceasefire faster than an agreement. Ask our people about ceasefire, what they think. That wasn't with me. It doesn't matter for you what this means.

That was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person. That was with Obama who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins.

You got to be more thankful, because let me tell you, you don't have the cards. With us, you have the cards. But without us, you don't have any cards. The Press One more question to Mr. Vice President. I'm sorry, here. The President It's going to be a tough deal to make, because the attitudes have to change. The Press What if Russia breaks these talks? What do you do then?

What are you saying? She's asking, what if Russia breaks the ceasefire? What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? Okay? What if they broke it? I don't know. They broke it with Biden because Biden, they didn't respect him. They didn't respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia

Russia, Russia, Russia. You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff. It was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn't end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden's bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden's bedroom.

It was disgusting. And then they said, oh, oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia, the 51 agents. The whole thing was a scam. And he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff.

All I can say is this. He might have broken deals with Obama and Bush, and he might have broken them with Biden. He did, maybe. Maybe he didn't. I don't know what happened. But he didn't break them with me. He wants to make a deal. I don't know if he can make a deal. The problem is, I've empowered you to be a tough guy.

And I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave. But you're either going to make a deal or we're out. And if we're out, you'll fight it out. I don't think it's going to be pretty, but you'll fight it out.

But you don't have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you're in a much better position. But you're not acting at all thankful. And that's not a nice thing. I'll be honest, that's not a nice thing. All right, I think we've seen enough. What do you think? This is going to be great television, I will say that.

We'll see what we can do about it. Guys, come on.

Right, witnessing there a playback conversation, the meeting with President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Very tense moments there inside of the Oval Office. Going back and forth there, the Ukrainian president, the U.S. president, and also Vice President J.D. Vance. We are expecting later on today to have a joint news conference between both of those world leaders. Live now, look there, Washington, D.C. We'll see you back here after this break.