The Duran Podcast - Zelensky trainwreck media show. EU promises to cover Ukraine costs

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Zelensky trainwreck media show. EU promises to cover Ukraine costs

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is going on in Ukraine. And let's start things off with this press media event that Olensky cobbled together, Ukraine 2025. Obviously, he put this together because of all the negotiations taking place in Riyadh, all the comments coming out of the Trump administration. And so he puts together this media event, which, he thought was going to help his position, ended up completely destroying his position, torpedoing his entire position as president, to the point where he actually said he will quit. Yes, he says, I'll quit if I get NATO, I'll quit if I get this. And when I heard that statement, I said, it doesn't matter what you say. The minute someone says, I will quit, if you're a manager, you've managed

people. The minute someone says I will quit, it doesn't matter what they say after that. It doesn't matter. It's over. When someone says that, it's done. I can't believe he came out and said it. He also disputed the $500 billion that Trump wants in the mineral deal. He said that the $100 billion that he believes has been invested in Ukraine is in the form of a grant, not alone. I'm They basically said, I'm not giving the money back. It was given to me by Biden. They gave it to me and were keeping it, which means that the money's been lost. It's been spent, it's been stolen. Who knows? But this press event did him no favors whatsoever. And of course, we always go back to what we have been saying for many years now, which is stop putting Zelensky in front of people

to speak, stop it. The more he opens up his mouth, the worse it gets. For Ukraine, for himself, your thoughts. Well, for project Ukraine, but I think what has happened, and I think you've characterized the press conference extremely well, by the way. What the press conference was, what this whole event was, and it wasn't just, of course, Zelensky who was speaking, Yarmaki's chief of staff spoke there.

Siersky, the commander of the army, spoke there as well. I mean, it was all an attempt to put a show of force together to try to push back against the Americans. I mean, that was really what it was about. It was a show of defiance. So Zelensky won't sign off on the minerals deal. I mean, this is now quite clear. He's making absolutely clear that he is.

He won't sign on it. He's not going to pay back any money. We know that all the money is in the Caribbean and in the island man and all sorts of things. places like that. He's not going to, he's not going to give back any of that. It was a grant, after all. It wasn't really alone. You know, the Americans, you know, they gave us all this money. They were really generous. But, you know, we, we're not going to pay it back. In fact, what we need is we need much, much, much more. Obviously, I mean, the Americans want me to go, so, you know, maybe one day I will go. You're absolutely right, by the way. When you start

talking like that, if you start admitting that... you need, you might one day resign, then it's a clear sign that you're on your way out. I mean, there's no doubt about that whatsoever. But again, he was being utterly slippery about the, the Americans clearly want him to go. I mean, we had articles in the New York Post and in Axios over the weekend, which basically said as much, you know, that he should pack his bags and go to France and be rid of him. I mean, that was what the Americans basically said. But no, he's going to go, but he's only going to go after Ukraine joins NATO and the EU. Now, of course, the Americans have already said that Ukraine cannot join NATO. I mean, this is now out of the

question as far as the United States is concerned. He's still talking about guarantees. He wants guarantees. He wants large forces. The Americans are discovering the more they deal with Zelensky and the more he speaks, what a very slippery character he is, that he says one thing one day, says something else the next day. It was he who first proposed to the Americans, the whole mineral deal. He did this in the summer. He talked about his friend, Lindsey Graham. He there, talked about it again to Donald Trump when they met in September in Trump Tower. He then included it in his victory plan. And then he comes back now when the American Downskine, well, okay, fine.

Let's do an actual deal. He won't sign it. And he won't, by the way, notice he's not putting forward counter proposals. He's not providing a alternative. you know, agreement that the Americans might work with or disagree with. And we've had an I thought utterly disastrous interview for Zelensky given by Marco Rubio, which Rubio says, you know, he says one thing one day, he says something completely different. This man lies. He completely misrepresented what actually happened about this deal. So the Americans are getting

more and more angry with Zelensky. And they're discovering what the Russians have discovered and what we've been saying for years, that this man is impossible. You cannot rely on him. You can't trust him. All that he is about is getting as much money as he can from whoever he can. He's been trying to get money from the United States. Biden gave him one black check after another. He's very grieved and angry that the Americans are not giving him any more blank checks. He's going to find other suckers. We'll give him more black checks. These are, of course, the Europeans.

He's going to come up to them. I mean, that's what he's all about, ultimately. And, well, yes, of course, eventually he will go. He's now basically said that. But, of course, he still wants more money before he does. I mean, that's really what the first conference was all about. And the Americans, I think, are becoming absolutely furious. And as you rightly say, they will focus on the fact.

In fact, they are focusing on the fact that he said that he would go rather than on every other piece of nonsense that he also said. By the way, the others were just as bad. I mean, Yermak again insisted that there would be no territorial concessions, going again completely against what Pete Hague says. and the Americans are sane. So there'll be no territorial concessions. Ukraine still wants all of its territory back, including Crimea.

They're not going to shift on that by one millimeter. And seriously, oh, well, the situation on the front lines is very difficult and very tense, and things are getting more intense all the time. But give us more weapons, give us more aid. And, you know, we can still turn things around. We can still stabilize the situation. All we need is the grift, the money, to go on flowing. And that's the right thing to do.

And that's what the Americans and the Europeans must continue doing. So it was, as you rightly say, a disastrous press conference from an American point of view. Now that he's finally got an administration in Washington that actually wants to know what he's done with all this money, He doesn't seem to understand the extent to which things have changed. And he's coming and making more demands. He wants it to continue if he can't get you from the Americans. Well, as I said, the Europeans stand ready as suckers to continue paying, writing out the cheques. Yeah, let's get to the Europeans.

But before that, yeah, you're a thousand percent, right. The offer from Zelensky was pretty much, give me money and I'll go away. Give me money and I'll go. That was it. That was his offer. Give me some more money and I'll just leave me alone. I'll go off quietly somewhere and live the rest of my life. I mean, that was pretty much what he was saying.

And the entire event, you're also a thousand percent right on this. The entire event, Zelensky, Yermak, Searsky was just a big, you know, F, you know, F you to Trump is basically what the whole event was. Take your deal, Trump. Take your deal. Basically, they said, take it and shove it. That was the whole event, which I was just watching the thing. I can't believe what I'm seeing.

I mean, who is advising them? Who is telling them to do this? It left me just, I was speechless throughout the whole thing. They don't have anybody in Europe, anyone in the UK telling them, guys, maybe this is not such a good idea to go against Trump. I mean, to go against the U.S. to have this event, to openly, to openly say this stuff about all the offers they're making you. Tell this to them quietly.

One-on-one on, you know, privately. You don't have to announce this to the world, but that's what they did. He was even asked about Gonzalo Lira. Yeah, he was. And he made some stupid statement excuse. I don't know who this guy is. Give me a break, man. Awesome.

I mean, give me a break. It was shocking, insulting, disgusting. But anyway, I don't know if you want to comment on that. And then let's talk about the Europeans because the Europeans are in Kiev, big group, not only the Europeans, Justin Trudeau is also there. Of course. Of course, Trudeau is going to be there. And we're talking about $20 billion in, mostly in weapons, but in money.

And according to Kayakalas, the European Union is going to produce weapons. artillery and rockets and missiles and all kinds of things to keep the war going. Anyway, your thoughts on everything. Let me first of all speak about what he said about Gonzalo Lira. It is, to me, absolutely inconceivable that an American, an American citizen could be arrested in Ukraine and held in detention in the way that Gonzalo was without this being discussed and spoken about at the highest levels in Ukraine. I mean, that is impossible. It's just inconceivable that that would be the case.

So, I mean, to say bluntly, he's not telling the truth. You could use stronger words. He's lying. I mean, he's absolutely lying about that. And it was awful. I mean, it was horrible. But let's move on and let's talk about the Europeans, because from Zelensky, you can't expect anything else, just to say.

Now, the Europeans are unable, apparently, to give. up on Project Ukraine. So they are going to make all of these promises to keep the war going in Ukraine. They're going to give Zelenskyy another 20 billion euros, that's what they're saying, money taken from European taxpayers at a time when Europe is in great and deepening economic difficulties. But nonetheless, you know, we've got to go on giving our friends Volodya, all that he asks more. We must give us. give him even more. I mean, we must keep supporting him. And we're going to go on promising all these weapons that we're going to give to Zelensky. We're going to give him one and a half million

artillery shells, endless numbers of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and whatever those things are. This is a fantasy. Now, we have seen that Europe cannot produce weapons in these sort of volumes. At the present time, I think it was even the German military recently said that Russia is outproducing the entire collective West in arms production. Now, the entire collective West in terms of arms production, I think it's about 70%, 70%, 80%, the United States. Europe cannot make up the difference. It is ludicrous to think that. Now, there is an idea being floated around that the Europeans will buy these weapons from the Americans, and that's how they will keep the aid to Ukraine flowing.

Now, they may try, and of course, the Americans will take the money, because why wouldn't they? As I said, why send a sucker away? But the Trump people are already highlighting the fact that American inventories of weapons are very reduced and that they need to be built up again. The American priority over the next two, three, four years will be to rebuild American arsenals. Realistically, that is going to leave very, very little equipment, ammunition, artillery shells, That kind of thing for Ukraine. So, again, the Europeans are coming up with fantasies, with dreams. They're dreaming with each other.

It can't be done. All right. Macron and Stammer. So you have the Europeans in Kiev and they're going to do their thing and give 20 billion of European money. They're going to borrow it as well. So we're talking about more borrowing, printing, inflation. I mean, it's a disaster.

But they're going to do it because there's no reverse gear. Oh, Euro bonds and all that. Eurobonds. Yeah. No reverse gear with these people. No. Even though the entire planet, everybody knows that Ukraine has lost. And they lost a long time ago. They didn't lose because of Trump. They lost a long time ago. Everyone knows this. But anyway, the Europeans are going to do what they're going to do. And they've got their thing going on in Kiev. And at the same time, they're sending Macron and Stamer to D.C. to be with Trump. Macron is going on Monday. And Stammer will be there from what I understand on Thursday, it's going to be this approach where Macron gives Trump the big picture and Stommer comes in and closes the deal. And stuff like that anyway, what are your thoughts there? Well, again, this is fantasies. I mean, they're talking about setting 30,000 men to Ukraine.

This is part of some sort of reassurance force. Even they admit that the Russians have to agree. The Russians have categorically said they won't agree. So this kills the whole project, stone dead already. The Americans want to just engage from Ukraine. Everybody can see this. The Europeans are trying to get them to recommit to Ukraine. They want this force to be sent to Ukraine.

What they really want, again, is to renew America's commitment to Ukraine because this is ultimately what this is all about. And, of course, the ultimate agenda, the real plan, as we've discussed many times, It was Macron's plan a year ago when he first floated the idea of sending French troops to Ukraine. The ultimate plan is to create a situation where there's some kind of fight or attack by the Russians or what they could pass off as an attack by the Russians. And then they'll come running to the Americans. And they'll say to the Americans, help us, save us, send your fighter jets from Poland, declare a no-fri zone or something of that kind of.

thing. I don't think the Americans will fall for this. I'm sure they won't. The Americans have shown, actually, under this new team, that they are very clear-eyed about the situation. Trump has had a sort of reasonable relationship with Macron. I don't believe he likes Stama at all. He said some nice things about Stama. But to me that- Stamber doesn't like him either. And Stama doesn't like him. It does not Trump. Stammer doesn't like him. Exactly.

I mean, exactly. So Stama, well, Stama did everything he could to stop Trump getting reelected. And if you look at the things that say David Lamy, British foreign minister said about Trump in the past, the very recent past, by the way, it's difficult to imagine that Trump is going to pay much attention to these people. Now, I'm going to say this. I mean, they're going to the wrong capital.

They shouldn't be going to Washington. Well, maybe they should be going to Washington. But they should also be going to Moscow. That is where they could do things. If they went to Moscow, if they engaged with the Russians, the word in Britain is that they're going to say to the Americans, you must stop talking to the Russians bilaterally. You must only talk to the Russians if we're involved.

Why should the United States, which has many things, to talk to the Russians about have the Europeans in the room where they're only there to cause trouble. Again, I cannot imagine that the Americans will agree to that. Trump says that the Russians and the Americans are meeting again tomorrow. Well, we'll see. But it would make no sense for the Americans to agree to what Macron is proposing. The Americans had every right to speak to the Russians. If the Europeans are so worried about the fact that they're being excluded from the discussions,

well, they're able to talk to the Americans. If they choose, they could talk to the Russians too. Macron and Stama could go to Moscow and they could have discussions there. It might not be very easy or comfortable for them, but they can start a dialogue with the Russians as well. That would make far more sense in this situation than what they're actually doing. Go speak to the winners. Go speak to the winners. In this conflict.

No. Russia has won. Russia won. Speak to them. And indeed. And if you want to help Ukraine, if you want to preserve Ukraine in some form, if you even want to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, and you would accept that the Russians have to agree to that.

Then how are you going to get the Russians to agree to that, even though the Russians will never agree to that? But how even theoretically are you going to get it? get the Russians to agree to that. If you won't talk to them. Yeah, they want the US, they want the US to fight on their behalf. That's basically. That's all it is. That's all it is. That's all it is. Ultimately, that is the whole project. It's to try to keep the Americans in by getting them to recommit to project Ukraine, a project which the Americans are disgusted with. Then after Zelensky's latest press conference, they're going to be even more disgusted with

it than they were before, because they say, see that this man is able to say Zelensky is able to say one thing one day, the diametric opposite the next day. I mean, again, if I could say something, you saw over the course of this press conference and the equally disastrous press conference that Zelensky engaged in last week, what a deeply manipulative individual he is. Yeah, he's coming apart. He's coming apart. But yeah, you're right. I find it amazing. ego, hubris, I don't know, arrogance that Macron and Stamer can actually, they actually believe that they're going to go to the United States and order the United States, order President Trump to stop speaking with the Russians. That's an incredible, incredible idea, strategy that they're putting forth. I can't believe that this is what they're thinking of doing.

we're going to go to the United States and order the U.S. to stop speaking with the Russians. What do these people think they are? Macron and Stammer, really? What did they? Really? I mean, the idea of the United States and Russia not speaking to each other at any point through the Cold War, and I lived through the Cold War, would have been met with horror in Europe. Everybody at that time felt that the Americans and the Russians needed to be seen.

speaking to each other. And now the Europeans want to prevent the Americans and the Russians speaking to each other. It is appalling, actually. Of course the Americans need to speak to the Russians. Of course the Americans who are a superpower with global interests need to speak to another superpower, which might not be global in the same way that the United States is, but which has and ported influence in places like the Middle East, North Korea, has a relationship with China, is key in stabilizing global energy markets and doing those sort of things. So it is absurd what they're trying to do. The Wall Street Journal talking about this plan, this reassurance forces plan, they say that this is all the UK. This is Stammer. And Macron is going along with

it, even though Macron was talking about this. You're right. Macon was talking about troops in Ukraine a year, a year and a half ago. But basically, this initiative is all stommer. The reports that I'm seeing about the UK elite, the establishment, is that they are desperate to get into a conflict with Russia. They just understand that they can't do it and they need someone else to do it on their behalf. Why? Why are the itching for a fight? Why do they want to fight? Is there some sort of reason? Does it have to do with the economy in the UK? Does it have to do with something that we don't know about is, I mean, what is the reason that they are so determined to get into a conflict with Russia?

I should just tell you one thing before, and our view is one thing. I am hearing, because over the last few weeks, there's been a sort of the dam has burst and people are now contacting me from across the system. I am hearing absolutely terrifying things about the kind of things. that are being said in London, what people are talking about in Dalek Street, the defence ministry, the foreign ministry, all those places. You're absolutely correct? They are itching for a fight with the Russians. Why are they itching in the fight? I mean, it is absolutely crazy, and you're absolutely right. They know perfectly well that they can't not only, I mean, they can't

not win the fight with the Russians by themselves. I mean, the forces that, the forces, they could deploy against the Russians are so minuscule now that the Russians were probably, I mean, you know, it's like the famous story that from the 1860s when Bismarck was asked by the Kaiser if the British land are forcing Pomerania, what will you do? And Bismarck says, I'll send the police to arrest them. All right, it's not quite as bad as that. But I mean, the British military is in a very, very bad way. Why are the British doing it?

Because, and this is my best guess here, it's the last throw in preserving the fantasy, that Britain is still a great power. The idea that you show to the world that you're able to square off against the Russians, you revisit the entire rhetoric. of Munich, 1938, and all of that. Britain is still an important, powerful country. It's still got a major role in world affairs. The British establishment has never been able to give up the mirage.

That Britain is not the great force in world affairs, that it once was. So they're clinging onto this. And the way they're doing it is they clinging on to the Americans. And in order to keep the Americans on side, they want to get the Americans on side with them in a battle with the Russians. It's madness. It's madness. All right. Any other thoughts on this? Well, I mean, the other side. It's crazy. The whole thing is absolutely crazy. But the other sign about where the Americans are going is the fact that the Americans have got it, the resolution that was supposed to be.

presented to the United Nations, which is taken out all references to Russian aggression and all of that. Now, again, if Starmur and Macron, people like this had two brain cells to rub together, well, I think it's Macron's case, he has an overabundance of brain cells and they're all fighting with each other. But anyway, the point is they would understand that this is a further clear sign that the United States wants to get out. It wants to end the war. And by the way, both of us follow the American video quite well. We follow it extensively. The fascinating thing, for me, has been how

tepid the opposition to this has been. I mean, you would have expected one's ferocious indignation, huge rallies, supporting Ukraine, all that. The Democratic. are barely organized in this matter. The passion, if you like, on Ukraine now comes from within the MAGA movement, who absolutely wants to get out. So the British, the French, the Europeans ought to understand this. And they also ought to look at Zelensky's press conference and this bizarre event that the Ukrainian stage, so just stage.

And we should see the warning signals that this is a man who promises one thing one day, goes back on his promises the next, won't account for any money, still demands more money, says that he's going to resign and that he says he's only going to resign if Ukraine joins NATO. This is not a person that you should attach the fate of your nations to. And yet that's what they want to do. Yeah, they're quiet because I think they're scared to death of the audit. I think they're saying, you know, let's maybe we should let this thing go away, let it go because we shouldn't dig any deeper into project Ukraine. That would be my guess. Well, that is the other thing, going back to the Europeans, there's going to, I mean,

especially now that Cash Patel has been confirmed as director of the FBI. And what with Elon Musk's activities, there's going to be a massive, all this signs are is that there's going to be a massive investigation about Ukraine funding, going back not just the last three years, but probably far back into, well, whenever. And this could be hugely embarrassing for the Europeans. And that's another reason I would have thought for them to want to distance themselves as quickly as they can from this failing project. Well, that's not failing, failed project.

Yes, I agree. All right, we will end the video there. The durand.com. We are on Rumble Odyssey, British Telegram, Rockfinan, X, and go to Durant Shop, pick up some merch like what we are wearing in this video update. The link is in the description box down below. Take care.