Iran’s new Defense Minister:

Iran’s heavy fighter will take off next year. The aircraft is entirely made in Iran.

Q: What are the implications of Trump waiving sanctions for Russia?

Zelensky: Strengthening Putin’s war against us.

Zelensky:

Putin feels victory with sanctions, with the diesel deal, and then Starlink.

We have to be very honest.

Q: Who do you think is to blame for the disruption to the Starlink and Starshield services? Do you think it was a deliberate interruption?

Zelensky: It was the message from the American government to limit this speed, and technically, SpaceX did it.

Q: Has the Starlink system been fully restored? What's the status right now?

Zelensky: No, we have limitations.

Q: Has the U.S. cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine?

Zelensky: It was blocked for a period of time, and then it was unblocked by the American side. We are very thankful.

Now it works.

Zelensky:

Only the U.S. has this intelligence to tell us when Russia uses ballistic missiles.

We didn't get it for three days.

Zelensky on Trump:

I hope that Trump will change his decisions, because I think they are all mistakes.

It will not help us, and it won't help the United States.

Zelensky on Putin:

We can't change the truth. We can't compare me and Putin.

Putin killed children. He is a terrorist.

Q: Do you still believe Trump is an ally of Ukraine?

Zelensky: I hope so.

Zelensky:

If the U.S. supports Putin, I mean, it's unbelievable. It's a tragedy, a historic mistake and a big tragedy.

If the U.S. officially takes the side of Russia, of course we will not prevail. We will not be able to stand.

Zelensky:

We hope that Trump will be on our side, or at least in the middle.

Bessent:

Let's look at what's really happening here: the Europeans have given Russia and Vladimir Putin more money than they have given the Ukrainians.

They continue to gorge on Russian energy.

Bessent:

In the spring, I asked our European allies to join us in putting secondary tariffs on China and India. They refused.

So why should the U.S. bear the burden?

Bessent on Russia:

President Trump sanctioned the two largest Russian energy companies, which dealt a catastrophic blow to the Russian energy industry.

So no one has been tougher on Russian sanctions than President Trump.

Bessent on Russia:

I will point out the UK in May waived its embargo on diesel and jet fuel made with Russian crude.

So, you know, where is the outrage for the rest of the world?

President Zelensky does not criticize his European partners.

Bessent on Russia:

The Europeans are financing the Russian war machine.

The U.S. imports $4 billion of Russian products; $1.8 billion of that is fertilizer. The Europeans import more than ten times that.

Welker: President Zelensky also said there was a break in intelligence sharing as well.

Bessent: President Zelensky should be very careful about making statements like this that aren't true.

Welker: Zelensky says Ukraine will not prevail if the United States sides with Russia. Is the president siding with Russia here?

Bessent: No. Again, that's a false binary. What does the U.S. provide?

The U.S. provides intelligence, Starlink. We allow NATO to buy U.S. armaments and resell them to Ukraine.

Welker: Why lift the sanctions now? What has Putin done to deserve sanctions relief now?

Bessent: That's not true. No sanctions were lifted Friday. No sanctions were lifted.

Welker: There was a law that was supposed to put more sanctions in place, and the president effectively waived that.

Bessent: No sanctions were lifted. There was a 60-day period. Examine what's going on. The only thing that has been lifted is the diesel embargo.