[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio]
Thank you, Mr. President, and all of you for
convening here today on this important matter.
When President Trump took office, he made it among his highest priorities the
restoration of peace anywhere and everywhere in the world where the opportunity
presented itself. And it’s met with great success in a number of places.
We had a conflict between India and Pakistan, which was a very dangerous
conflict, and one that he chose to engage in and was able to bring it to -- be
-- be very involved in bringing it to a cessation of hostilities.1
When Thailand and Cambodia were engaged in hostilities, the President
got involved over a weekend -- a weekend over
in the United States and were able to play a critical role in that regard as
well. We are very grateful to some of the countries in this room that were
helpful in that regard with the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Condo] and
Rwanda, and work remains to be done.2
But again, a conflict that presents grave dangers and -- and extraordinary
humanitarian challenges.
With Azerbaijan and Armenia as well, he has become involved and -- and we were
able to
sign an agreement at the White House very
recently that hope[fully] prevents a future conflict which would prove costly
and deadly.
But the one that’s proved to be an extraordinarily [extraordinary] challenge has
been the war in Ukraine, between Russia and Ukraine. The President has worked on
it tirelessly, has invested a tremendous amount of his own time, energy, and the
highest levels of our government. We have had meetings in Türkiye, meetings in
Saudi Arabia, meetings in Alaska, countless phone calls, doing everything
possible to bring this conflict to a resolution and to an end -- a war that
cannot end militarily. It will end at a negotiating table. That’s where this war
will end. But the longer it lasts, the more people will die, the more will be
destroyed.
Some of the numbers we are seeing in the loss of life among military personnel,
for example on the Russian Federation side, are staggering. Staggering. In one
month alone, more losses -- more loss of life than in the entirety of the U.S.
engagement in Afghanistan or Iraq. This war has to end, and we have done
everything we possibly can, and will continue to do everything we possibly can,
to bring it to an end.
Very generous offers have been made. For example, a ceasefire at the current
lines of contact while all the other details on this -- on the future of the
conflict could be worked out in terms of future territorial lines. The President
has shown extraordinary patience in terms of not assessing additional sanctions
in the hopes of having a breakthrough in this regard. And all has come to what
appears to be not just a stagnant one, but an era and...we’ve entered a period
of whats appears [sic] to be potential even escalation, with some -- you know,
the historically highest number of strikes we’ve seen over the last few nights
and before, and now we are also watching incursions into neighboring airspace by
both drones and airplanes.
The President is a very patient man. He’s very committed to peace. But his
patient [patience] is not infinite. And as he has said repeatedly, he has before
him the opportunity and the options of...imposing additional economic costs on
the Russian Federation, if necessary, in order to bring this to an end. He also
has before him the option, as he has already chosen to do in some circumstances,
to sell defensive weaponry, and potentially offensive weaponry, so that Ukraine
can defend itself from this assault by purchasing that weaponry.
So, I’m here to say to the Security Council the United States remains as
committed as it has ever been to a peaceful resolution to this dangerous
conflict. But there will come a moment in which we will have to conclude that
perhaps there is no interest in a peaceful resolution, and then the President
has before him
real options, which
he intends to pursue, as he has made clear
today in some of the
messages he has put out.
So, I strongly urge the Security Council, the Member-States here, and those who
are not part of this as well, to do everything...in their power -- and including
the Russian Federation to do everything within their power, and the Ukrainian
side for that matter as well -- but all sides, to bring this war to an end
before it becomes something that will last another three or four years, lead to
more destruction, both economic, and at the same time, loss of life and loss of
property and loss of futures. This war needs to end. But if it does not, if
there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States and
President Donald J. Trump will take the steps necessary to impose costs for
continued aggression.
Thank you.
1
The nature and/or extent of President Trump's involvement in the
India-Pakistan conflict has been
disputed by India's Prime Minister
2
Malaysia played a
pivotal role in brokering a peace
between Thailand and Cambodia
Original Text Source: State.gov
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