Bash: Will US Stand By Ukraine A Sovereign Democracy Or Strongman Who Ordered Brutal Invasion Of Ukraine

The media keep saying Zelensky wants a security guarantee, but what they fail to mention is that his "security guarantee" demands a nonstop flow of billions of U.S. tax dollars, weapons, and death. In his push for this, Zelensky has branded Putin a "terrorist," escalating tensions rather than seeking resolution. If Zelensky truly wanted a security guarantee, he would have pursued peace instead, as Trump has suggested

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Dana Bash: The Ukrainian mineral deposits. Zelensky is hoping to get some sort of security guarantee from Donald Trump in exchange for that of course this is all about the future of Ukraine which does hang in the balance and one of the many questions right now is will the US stand by Ukraine a sovereign democracy or the strongman who ordered a brutal invasion of Ukraine. CNN's Nick Payton Walsh is live in Kyiv, Ukraine but we'll start here in Washington at the White House. Jeff Zeleny is there for us Jeff we're starting to get some notes from inside the meeting give us a sense of what is happening and more importantly you're reporting from your sources surrounding this meeting.

Jeff Zeleny: Dana the central question hanging over this extraordinary meeting with the two presidents is what type of guarantee if any security guarantee will the United States extend to Ukraine. In short will you the US abandon Ukraine and we're hearing the questions now coming to the leaders inside the Oval Office, we'll see them later but Zelensky has just said a few moments ago that he believes that Trump is on our side so that signals the posture going into this meeting that both leaders obviously would like to make a deal obviously for very different reasons. But that has been a central question here as these two men are meeting for the first time since September. It was last September in Trump Tower when Trump was a candidate for president again that Zelensky met with him. At that point the discussion was about the future of security guarantees but now it is so much different because Trump has reset the relations with Russia he has opened the door to discussions with Vladimir Putin. In this meeting just a few moments ago, we're told according to reporters in the room that does Zelensky had described the Russian leader as a terrorist of course that is something we have not heard Donald Trump say at all. In fact just yesterday he says I trust him to make a deal so those are the outlines of this conversation here. But there is no doubt that Zelensky wants to leave this meeting with some type of assurances and reassurances that the US will be on their side.