Ukrainian negotiators to meet with US representatives on Thursday, Zelenskyy says – Europe live

If you expected some big lines on Ukraine or Europe from Trump’s State of the Union address overnight, well, there was hardly anything – but he did speak positively about Nato.

Here are the key bits, via this NPR transcript of his speech.

On Nato:

Nato countries, our friends and allies, and they are — they’re our friends and they’re our allies, have just agreed at my very strong request to pay 5 percent of GDP for military defence rather than the 2 percent, which they weren’t paying; we were paying for almost all of them. … Now they’re paying five as opposed to not paying for it. … And getting that 5 percent was something which everyone said would never be done, could not happen. We got it really easily with one meeting and [it’s] a big difference between 2 percent that’s not paid.

We were paying the freight of many of them. Very few were paid out. Now 5 percent then they’re paid. And everything we send over to Ukraine is sent through Nato and they pay us in full. They pay us totally in full.

On Ukraine:

“And we’re working very hard to end the ninth war, the killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine, where 25,000 soldiers are dying each and every month.

Think of that, 25,000 soldiers are dying a month. A war which would have never happened if I were president, would have never happened. As president, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must.”

Trump also paid tribute to a Ukrainian refugee killed in Charlotte last year, Iryna Zarutska.