Permanent Joint Board on Defence Pause

"The scope of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence's [PJBD] work also encompasses policy, operations, financial, logistics and other aspects of Canada-U.S. defence relations."

"Bilateral defence recommendations are forwarded to respective Heads of Government or appropriate officials for consideration."

Permanent Joint Board on Defence 

The Pentagon has announced it has paused its participation in a joint Canada-U.S. defence board that's been around since the 1940s, accusing Canada of not making enough progress on its commitments. Canada says it's always ready for constructive discussion on how to strengthen mutual security. CBC

 

"[The PJBD] was created at a time when the future of Britain's place in the world was uncertain, and from the real recognition and realization by both [President Franklin D.] Roosevelt and [Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie] King that the Canadians and Americans needed to work together and formalize their relationship."

"Throughout the war [Second World War] this was a really important body for co-ordinating all sorts of aspects of wartime production, but especially defence issues, and why this maters so much for Canada is that it provided a formal body through which American requests needed to be made and then to be taken from the Canadian representatives on that board back to the government in Ottawa."

Prof.Timothy Sayle, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto 

 

"Canada and the U.S. have a long history of robust cooperation and collaboration on continental defence."

"Canada will work with trusted partners who are ready to work with us, always remaining ready to come to the table for constructive discussions about the best ways to strengthen mutual defence and security."

Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty 

 

 

It came as a surprise, a shocking surprise, a wake-up call when the United States declared its intention to 'pause' the U.S.-Canada Permanent Joint Board on Defence "to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defence". As the senior advisory body on continental defence the PJBD is a formalized historical mutual assurance pact signed by both countries that each must be fully involved in continental defence in lock-step with one another.

 

Set up to meet twice annually, meeting locations alternating between both countries, co-chaired by a Canadian and an American civilian, with both military and civilian representatives of the U.S. Defense and State Departments, Canada's Department of National Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade among others, this pact has represented the importance of military cooperation in a shared trust by neighbours in defence of their shared geography. 

 

Established in 1940, the PJBD came out of the Ogdensburg Agreement during the Second World War. Elbridge Colby, as the undersecretary of American defence for policy stated that: "A strong Canada that prioritizes hard power over rhetoric benefits us all. Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments. We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality. Real powers must sustain our rhetoric with shared defense and security responsibilities."

 

There is little question but that this decision is linked to the Davos speech by Prime Minister Mark Carney months ago when he spoke of the place of 'middle powers' in the world, claiming that "If we're not at the table, we're on the menu". The import of which was an obvious critique of the Trump administration's incendiary decision-making and musings which have roiled world markets and left traditional U.S. allies confused over the seeming irrationality of many of Mr. Trump's declarations. Tariffs and the war in Ukraine have left a decidedly unfavourable impression in the minds of global leaders.  

"[There were two aspects to the board's annual or semi-annual discussions: firstly did the two sides view the world the same way, and if they didn't what was to be done]. That was mostly congenial and there was not that much asked of us."

"[Secondly, there was a] to-do [list of North American issues, centred around the North American Aerospace Defence Command [NORAD]."

"We were always doing a tap-dance around two percent [NATO's two percent of GDP defence spending benchmark]. But on a military-to-military basis, we still got a lot done."

"They realized they couldn't defend the Arctic without involving Canada." 

"The military rupture is just following the political rupture."

"NORAD will be next on the chopping block. And there is no question that will undermine Canada's security. It's dangerous politics."

Former Liberal MP John McKay, Canadian chair of the PJBD, 2016-2024 

Immediately following the end of World War II, the PJBD served as a strategic-level board tasked with ongoing considerations of land, sea, and air space security. Personnel and defence materiel relating to the northern half of the Western Hemisphere was its focal point, including the Distant Early Warning Line, the North American Air Defence command (Aerospace) in 1958, the underwater acoustic surveillance system and the North American Air Defence Modernization program (NORAD) in 1985. 

 

Co-chaired by MP John McKay and the U.S.'s Rebecca Zimmerman, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, the November 2024 242nd PJBD meeting in Ottawa discussed topics such as NORAD modernization implementation, Arctic security, climate change, defence, co-operation in the Indo-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean along with critical minerals. There followed an 18-month gap with no meetings, coinciding with President Donald Trump's second presidential term.  

 

U.S. Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby waits for the start of a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 12. Colby announced Monday that the Pentagon is 'pausing' participation in the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, an advisory body on North American continental defence that was established in 1940. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/The Associated Press)

 

"The person who made the statement here is not Donald Trump, not somebody just shooting off the handle, not someone who is uninformed."

"this is a person who is not only highly educated but also has focused on the details of defence spending."

"What Eldridge Colby [is] saying is: 'This is a reality check, Canada. You have a prime minister who travels all over the world, makes these grand promises, but promises are not policy."

"Promises are not impressing Russia, they're not impressing China."

"Canada's not bringing enough to the table, not just in order to satisfy the United States, we are not bringing enough to the table in terms of our defence capacity."

Aurel Braun, professor of international relations and political science, University of Toronto 

 

Bluster: Meet Hyperbole = Impasse

"They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America."

"They were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, and in particular nuclear weapons, yet they continue."

"They're starting it all over."

U.S. President Donald Trump

 

"[Trump and his administration is conducting a] disinformation and misinformation campaign [against Iran]."

"Whatever they're alleging in regards to Iran's nuclear program, Iran's ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January's unrest is simply the repetition of 'big lies'."

Iranian Foreign Minister spokesman Esmail Baghaei 

Thousands were reportedly killed in the demonstrations. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

 

Should negotiations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran fail, the threat by the Trump administration that an attack is imminent could become reality. In the face of that impending -- yet to be discarded -- reality, the U.S. has assembled its largest aircraft and warships deployment in decades in the Middle East, part of the plan to convince Tehran to forego its nuclear ambitions. Expecting to convince the mullahs that the time is right; its violent reaction to the people of Iran assembling in huge protests against the strictures of the theocratic regime held to have weakened it, in the wake of the June attack by Israel and the U.S. against the nation's nuclear installations.

 

The protests were the largest in Iran's history and were met with a brutal government crackdown.

Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images

 

Planet Labs PBC shot satellite photographs, analyzed by The Association Press that appear to indicate that U.S. naval vessels typically docked in Bahrain, home of the U.S. navy's 5th Fleet, have been deployed in their entirety out to sea; scattered ostensibly to protect them and the thousands of U.S. navy personnel against a possible attack launched by Iran as a retaliatory strike should the U.S. make good on its warning that a strike is imminent.

 

Additional sanctions were imposed by the Trump administration on individuals and companies said to be enabling Iran's ballistic missile program, drone production and illicit oil sales. The satellite photos show Iran has been rebuilding its missile-production sites and carrying out reconstruction at the three nuclear sites attacked in June's U.S. strikes.  Iran, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, had been enriching uranium to 60 percent purity up to the June attack; attaining a degree of purity that is but a short technical step from 90 percent weapons-grade enrichment.

 

Over 7,000 dead Iranian protesters in the government crackdown occasioned President Trump to warn Tehran of American intent to put a stop to the massacre. That number was supplied by the Human Rights Activist News Agency in the U.S. which believes the actual figure of those killed by the regime to be much higher. There are some internal sources in the country claiming that up to 30,000 Iranians might have been killed, and many more injured and imprisoned in the protest crackdowns. 

 

US military builds up the largest force of warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades   Associated Press

"If you choose the table of diplomacy  a diplomacy in which the dignity of the Iranian nation and mutual interests are respected -- we will also be at that table."

"But if  you decide to repeat past experiences through deception, lies, flawed analysis and false information, and launch an attack in the midst of negotiations, you will undoubtedly taste the firm blow of the Iranian nation and the country's defensive forces."

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Parliamentary Speaker, Tehran 

 

 

The Clarion Call of Risking State Secrecy

"I said repeatedly, nobody is texting war plans."

"I look at war plans every day. What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things."

"That’s what I’ve said from the beginning."

"They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work with me. Because we're changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of warfighters. And anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn't matter."

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

 

"It's just fake news. They just  bring up stories."

"I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that's what he's doing."

"So you don't always have friends when you do that."

U.S. President Donald Trump

 

“It is unheard of to have a secretary of defense committing these kind of serious security breaches."

"Developing attack plans for defensive reasons is without question the most classified information you can have."

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks on the South Lawn of the White House before US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump participate in the White House Easter Egg Roll, in Washington, April 21, 2025. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Once again U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth included his wife and brother in another Signal messaging chat, sharing details of a March military airstrike against Houthi militants from Yemen; details sent in another chain that included top Trump administration leaders, the New York Times has revealed. One individual included in the messages spoke on condition of anonymity, confirming that a second high-risk chat had taken place.

Hegseth's wife Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth who worked at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser have both travelled and attended high-level meetings in the past alongside the defense secretary. This second Signal chat -- a commercially available app unauthorized for use in the communication of sensitive or classified national defence information -- included 13 individuals; the chat dubbed "Defense / Team Huddle".

News of the second Signal chat was conveyed to the White House through news reports on Sunday. Speaking with reporters during the White House Easter Egg Roll, Hegseth bypassed the substance of the allegations, much less potential national security implications, and took instead to criticizing the media that keep breaking these stories injurious to trust in the Defense Secretary's judgement in casually airing classified information through security-unsecured apps.

Democrats are calling for Hegseth to be fired in the background of a Pentagon in turmoil, amidst the departures of senior aides alongside an internal investigation related to information leaks. The Trump administration actively scoffs and deflects attention from implications of risks to national security, framing the more recent Signal revelations as an outgrowth of an institutional power struggle between Hegseth and the career workforce. 

 

Even in the face of recently departed officials representing a portion of Hegseth's initial inner circle. "This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement", added White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt whose remarks were handily amplified by a Pentagon social media account.

 

To which Republican Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee wrote: "Secretary Hegseth is busy implementing President Trump's America First agenda, while these leakers are trying to undermine them both. Shameful."

 

At the request of the bipartisan leadership of the Senate armed services committee, the use of Signal by Hegseth is under investigation by the Defense Department's acting inspector general. 

"Pete Hegseth must be fired."

"The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk."

"But Trump is still too weak to fire him."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer

 

Canada: Managing Asylum Seekers from the U.S.

"I know some people are struggling. I know it's tough, but in Quebec, our capacity to receive more and more people is overwhelmed."

"[Canada must ensure that] nobody is crossing the line between border crossings via the forest. Of course, I think it's really important to keep our humanity, to take care of people who live here, but we can't take more."

Quebec Immigration Minister Jean Francois Roberge 

"[Arrivals from Haiti are] somewhat different [because they are French-speaking]."

"That does not relieve us of the obligation to have a system that follows the rules and has the resources needed to properly manage asylum seekers."

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet 

"I'm in favour of legal immigration. When people arrive here in Canada, if they are asylum seekers, they have to show that they are real asylum seekers."

"If someone is a true refugee who [is] truly in danger abroad and they come in under the proper rules, then they should be allowed to stay."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

There has been a significant change in the number of asylum claims since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, specifically at the regular border crossing in Lacolle, Que., according to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data obtained by Radio-Canada and CBC News. The data shows there had already been 557 asylum claims at Lacolle in the first six days of April — just three fewer than in all of January.  Photo: Getty Images

So many issues have erupted since the Trump administration returned to the White House, the world will have a difficult time adjusting to the impacts -- ranging from across-the-board abandonment of free trade, of trade pacts with the United States, of stiff new tariffs imposed on goods and services entering the United States, re-alignment of traditional trusted allies, uncertainty for NATO, and for Canada and likely Mexico as well, yet another influx of people claiming refugee status who have been targeted for their illegal status in the U.S. by receiving notice of deportation.

 

As a result, Canadian border authorities are seeing another rise in people seeking asylum at a Quebec border crossing near Montreal, leaving their years-long temporarily-granted status now revoked, to find potential haven in Canada. Haitians were given temporary status as a humanitarian gesture following a disastrous earthquake and in recognition of the civil war raging in Haiti and the dangers inherent in armed and dangerous gangs taking over civil society. As an option for their future they understandably don't recognize a return to Haiti as a solution to their homelessness.

 

In the first week of April alone, the Canada Border Services Agency report 557 migrants' arrival at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing between New York and Quebec; roughly as many seen at that location for the entire month of January, approaching 40 percent of the number in March, when 1,356 claims were registered. Over 500,000 Haitians living in the United States with Temporary Protected Status will see that haven evaporate, ending in August. 

 

Migrants from Venezuela viewing a map of the US at a Welcome Center in El Paso, Texas in 2022  Getty Images

 

Since the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in 2010, Haitians were permitted to live and work in the U.S. Now, that protected designation sits on the cusp of ending, and some of those involved have decided to go to Canada, much as a previous wave of Haitians chose to do, whose permits were being revoked under the first term of President Donald Trump. Under the Safe Third-Country Agreement between the U.S. and Canada, asylum seekers can be sent by Canada back to the United States in reflection of its having represented a first safe-haven prior to arriving in Canada which under the agreement is then not obligated to admit them.

 

A family from Haiti approach a tent in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, stationed by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as they haul their luggage down Roxham Road in Champlain, N.Y., last August. Charles Krupa/AP

A fresh influx of asylum seekers has no humanitarian popularity in Quebec, which has long since complained that its social services resources have been strained to the limit by years of illegal cross-border applicants for refugee status. The province, according to its immigration minister, is at full capacity for asylum seekers. His response is echoed by the leader of the Bloc Quebecois who maintains the federal government must accelerate the processing of asylum seekers so they can be distributed across the country to alleviate Quebec's burden.

 

It was announced last month by U.S. Homeland Security that it was in the process of revoking temporary status for 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. They had flown to the United States at their own expense, with a financial sponsor; their temporary legal status is set to end on the 24th of April. An end to Temporary Protected Status was also announced by the Trump administration for 600,000 Venezuelans and roughly 500,000 Haitians.

 

The Canada Border Agency, in anticipation of an influx of haven seekers, began expanding the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle centre's intake capacity to enable expeditious processing of asylum claims "in the event of an influx". That influx has, as expected, materialized.

 

There has been a significant change in the number of asylum claims since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, specifically at the regular border crossing in Lacolle, Que., according to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data obtained by Radio-Canada and CBC News. The data shows there had already been 557 asylum claims at Lacolle in the first six days of April — just three fewer than in all of January.  CBC

 

There's so many people that have been deported since Donald Trump has been in office, you know they're just scared. [People have started receiving letters from U.S. authorities saying their status has been revoked].

So, as soon as they get the letter, they're looking for ways to get out of the states.

We've seen already what's happening, I don't think they're going to wait... because currently ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is going to workplaces, to churches, going on the street. 

They intercept you and, if you are one of those, you're gone.

Frantz André, spokesman, Montreal-based group that helps undocumented migrants with asylum cases

 

 

Elon Musk and Tesla Vehicles in Disfavour

 

"Previously, they were very proud of their car and now we can see that the actions of Elon Musk really divide people, so it's more difficult to be proud of having a Tesla today."

"I think it's going to slow down EV adoption in Canada and I think we're also seeing  fewer purchase incentives in play, which we know has a significant impact."

"All of these things are creating some big headwinds for electrification."

Stephane Pascalon, Tesla Inc. fan club 

A line of electric vehicles of the model Y during the start of the production at Tesla's "Gigafactory" in Gruenheide, Germany. Elon Musk, inset. Patrick Pleul / Andrew Harnik/POOL/AFP / Getty Images

 

The latest tide of controversy that has engulfed the world's wealthiest man, owner of Space X, Tesla and the social media site X, has him in bad odour with many of his once-admirers, in particular people who bought into his electric cars both for the prestige involved and to consolidate their dedication to the belief in climate change brought about by human activities. The current government in Canada has mandated that gas-burning vehicles are out and electric vehicles are in; a reflection of its commitment to fighting Climate Change.

 

Tesla owners have among their group which takes pride in owning Musk's signature road vehicle, those who are now reconsidering their Tesla ownership. Others who may now wish to sell their Tesla model, and will not consider replacing it with a new Tesla. The multi-billionaire's more recent full political immersion in support of President Donald J. Trump's second administration appears to many people that fame and fortune, publicity and cavalier attitudes to serious global upheavals are inappropriate entrees to politics.

 

Elon Musk's new position as a confidante of President Trump, one who has offered to assist in the streamlining of government and whose offer has been rewarded by a post in which he has been tasked to cut and eliminate government waste has not resonated well with many people. Mr. Musk's Nazi-style salute at Mr. Trump's inauguration hit a nerve in many peoples' estimation, linking it with his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

A man holds a sign during a protest outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle on Thursday, February 13, 2025. Manuel Valdes/AP Photo

 

Tesla owners report that some among them were treated to aggressive behaviour on the road, reflecting a generalized anger in the public against Tesla owners and the brand's CEO. In a recent survey, some four percent of respondents revealed they didn't plan to buy a Tesla for their next EV, with a smaller number planning to sell the Tesla vehicles they hold at the present time.

 

Vandalism at a Tesla dealership with an obscene remark about Musk spray-painted on an exterior wall has resulted in a police investigation. A post on Reddit showed the graffiti with thousands of votes of approval. A worldwide protest is being organized to take place in front of Tesla service centres. Politico reported earlier in February that a Tesla car showroom in the Netherlands had been graffitied with swastikas and anti-fascist slogans. A Tesla factory in Germany was defaced by protesters.

 

"I know of at least one person personally who was preparing to purchase a Tesla ... within the next month or two and who has since decided to go a  different way", revealed a board member of Electric Vehicle Society, a non-profit advocating for electric mobility in Canada, preparing for a dip in sales reflecting anti-Musk sentiment.

 

Interestingly, rebate data from Transport Canada's zero-emission vehicle program, reports some 33,000 
Teslas received rebates for new purchases in the past year; down on a per-month basis about 15 percent in comparison to the approximately 50,000 Teslas receiving the rebates in the 2023-24 fiscal year. 

A Tesla with a sticker referring to the car's purchase is shown in Concord, Mass., Dec. 15, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Peter Morgan

"Everything Is On The Table"

"[The main issue is to] not allow everything to go according to Putin's plan. We cannot accept it, as an independent country, any agreements [made] without us."

"He [Trump] never mentioned in a conversation that Putin and Russia was a priority. We, today, trust these words. For us it is very important to preserve the support of the United States of America." 

"[Ukraine needs security guarantees above all] Because we are talking about security guarantees as the main point in any document on the cessation of war or the end of the war, security guarantees for Ukraine, for the whole of Europe, and Ukraine is already part of Europe and will be part of an equal European Union."  

"We need the strong support of a strong country, the United States, a strong President [Donald] Trump, we need his support and we need him to be on our side."

"It’s not two countries fighting each other, but Russia bringing war to our land and we are defending it, I think, with honour."

"A peace agreement cannot be signed in Munich, because this is Munich and the president [Donald Trump] is not here. And we remember the things that have already been signed here."

"If we talk pragmatically, not only about the defence of Europe, although I think that the defence of Europe is the priority and people are the priority, but we can also talk about it pragmatically from a financial point of view."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"Just as Putin has no intention of stopping hostilities even during potential talks, we must maintain Western unity and increase support ... to Ukraine, and political and economic pressure on Russia."

"Our actions must show that we are not changing course." 

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Russian officials have made no secret how pleased they are with U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to depart from the previous presidency's three years of American policy over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. His announcement that he planned to meet shortly directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the purpose of hammering out a peace deal for Ukraine has effectively left Ukraine and European countries that have backed Ukraine following the full-scale invasion by Moscow in a quandary, i has startled both Ukraine and its European allies.

 

President Zelenskyy responded to that exclusion with the non-negotiable statement that he would not accept any negotiations relating to Ukraine's future and prospects of a peace agreement without direct involvement in any talks. At the same time, a seat at the negotiating table was also demanded by European governments that have stood steadfast with Ukraine during its ordeal with the intention of helping the beleaguered country defy the Kremlin's and its President's territorial ambition to annex Ukrainian territory.

 

According to President Trump's mindset, identifying Vladimir Putin as the sole player who can implement an end to the fighting, meant that he alone should be addressed, sidelining Mr. Zelenskyy in any peace talks, along with Ukraine's European-government-partners. That prospect, says the Ukrainian leader, is "very dangerous".

 

A major diplomatic upheaval has resulted from Trump's announcement on his negotiations decision. Following Wednesday's call between Trump and Putin during which they explored the issue for an hour and a half. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov remarked that the "position of the current (U.S.) administration is much more appealing". Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia's National Security Council, remarked "The presidents of Russia and the U.S. have talked at last. This is very important in and of itself."

 

"The U.S. finally hurt Zelenskyy for real." Trump has found "common ground" with Putin, trumpeted Russian state news agency RIA Novosti in an opinion column. "This means that the formula ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’ — a sacred cow for Zelenskyy, the European Union and the previous U.S. administration — no longer exists. Moreover, the opinion of Kyiv and Brussels (the European Union) is of no interest to Trump at all." The Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published a column whose headline stated "Trump signed Zelenskyy's death sentence". 

 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine speaks to the press during a media briefing on the territory of Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

And from President Zelenskyy himself, came the admission that it was "not very pleasant" that the American president chose to speak first to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Some European governments expressed alarm  over Washington's new course of action, insisting they must be part of any negotiations, reflecting their fear that their countries could also be vulnerable to the Kremlin's ambitions of territorial expansion. 

"Ukraine, Europe and the United States should work on this together. TOGETHER", Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media. President Trump spoke of his lengthy telephone call with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, describing it as "lengthy and highly productive", indicating further negotiations would begin "immediately".

"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s nations."

"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

 

"[The Americans were giving Russia] everything that they want even before the negotiations."

"[Any agreement made without the Europeans] will simply not work."

European Union foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas

 

"There is no betrayal there], but a “recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace, a negotiated peace."

"Everything is on the table in his [Trump’s] conversations with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

Associated Press