The following is the transcription of an interview with Rep. Britan Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, which was issued in “Fac The Nation Margaret Brennan” on April 20, 2025.
Weijia Jiang: Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war yesterday, the biggest exchange since Russia launched her invasion more than three years ago. But despite the hopes that a letter of letter can open the lasting peace, both kyiv and Moscow are accusing themselves of breaking the fire. The Republican congressman of Pennsylvania, Brian Fitzpatrick, is just returning from a trip to the first line of Ukraine, and Jainea this morning from Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Congressman, thanks for being here.
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick: Good morning, Weijia. Happy Easter.
Weijia Jiang: Happy Easter for you too. So just a few hours ago, you landed from that visit to Ukraine, and had the opportunity to sit with President Zenskyy. Did you talk about the state of the peace agreement that the United States is trying to negotiate?
Fitzpatrick representative: sure we did it. We spend a lot of time with them, one by one. President Zenskyy and I have spoken many times. Now I consider it a friend and a great leader. And yes, we talk extensively about a lot of topics. We really leave anything out of the discussion. And obviously, that day, I was signing a memorandum of understanding in a mineral agreement, which have returned and strong. You know, he and I talk about security guarantees. Obviously, that is a large group of yours. He is concerned about the right. The story is with the Budapest memorandum. When Ukraine was the third nuclear weapons of larger possessors, they voluntarily cool them, based on a memorandum also a memorandum in 1994 that said they would obtain the guaranteed safety arsenal. It turns out that this promise was not maintained for nothing less than Russia, right? Go. Then it has justifiable groups, but we talk through that because this is the economic association to be the precursor of the security guaranthos.
Weijia Jiang: And only a rapid follow -up on that congressman that the president indicated in the Oval office on Thursday that this agreement would be signed next week. Do you know if that is true?
Representative Fitzpatrick: Well, that remains to be seen, and it depends on what is in the treatment. So What President Zensky Made Clear To Me, I have been to many times, is, you know, Certain Agreements can be squeed by His Finance Minister and Secretary Berry, but iF it’s Word Differently, if there are spell Is that goshti tougage, ishat to gohti tourage, cati -gohti -gohti -gohti -gohti, cati -gohti -gohti -gohti, isring, cati -gohti, cati -gohti, cati -gohti, cati -gohti, cati -gohti, cati -gohti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti, ishti Ishti, Ishti, Ishti, Ishti, Ishing Potentially Our Congress, if it is fashionable in terms of a treaty. Therefore, much of this will deepen the details and what is real, in terms of what is required for approval.
Weijia Jiang: Okay. So we will wait to see that. You just talked about all the frustration that Zenskyy continues to express, and did with respect to this high Easter fire. If these two countries cannot spend the fire on vacation, how realistic is a 30 -day break, not to mention the end of a war in the short term?
Rep. Fitzpatrick: that depends completely on Vladimir Putin. Man has never maintained his word, in any context, as far as I know. So we have to know what we are dealing with with our government, I hope to know who they are dealing with, with Vladimir Putin. He is not a man of his word. He is not interested in peace. I hope I get there. It is not so different, Weijia, from the school stalker. If you look at Russia, right? Obviously, it is a great geographical, but a population of approximately 150 million people, approximately half the size of the United States, 1/5 of the size of Europe, a total GDP or $ 2 billion. That is the GDP of the state of Texas. Therefore, they are great, but they are weak, and are checking that weakness for the fact that they cannot prosecute a war against a neighbor of grains. So we have to stop, you know, Bee fear or bow before Russia. We need to face Russia. We need to defend Ukraine, support Ukraine, and if it is done in the right way, this will end positively. This is peace through force. There is peace through strength and war through weakness. There is no third magical option.
Weijia Jiang: Well, President Trump and the Rubio Secretary of State have said that the United States has to find out if an agreement is feasible in days, or simply move on. And on Friday, I asked President Trump about this new sense of urgency. This is what he said.
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Weijia Jiang: What do you need to see from both sides to maintain negotiations? What do you want to see from Russia and Ukraine?
Donald Trump: I have to see that all life has a great negotiation of legs, and I know when people are playing us, and I know when they are not. And I have to see an enthusiasm to want to finish it.
[END SOUND ON TAPE]
Weijia Jiang: How much of this demand, congressman for enthusiasm, do you think it is a direct message for Russia and how long have these two parts to do something?
Fitzpatrick Representative: Well, I hope you are directed to Russia. I think he is directed to Russia. I can tell you, President Zenskyy, the Ukrainian people. I know them well, Weijia. I have lived there as FBI agent. I was assigned a Russian counterintelligence that works. They want peace. They are a peaceful nation. There are democratically elected officials, including President Zenskyy. They want peace. They did not ask for this invasion. They did not cause this invasion. They were invaded by Vladimir Putin, who had a bone by telegraphing this blow for years. We all knew what he intended to do, and now he is doing it. He sees the fall of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical disaster of our lives, and is trying to reconstitute it. The first step is Ukraine. We cannot allow him to do that, and what we cannot allow is that the precedent be established here that dictators will be rewarded for violating territorial borders and territorial pride of their neighbors. We cannot reward that. So, you know, I also want to say this. I think the Rubio Secretary is doing a great job. He is an intelligent man. He understands Putin, understands the dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and history there, and I have full faith in his ability to exchange a fair and fair agreement. But it is important to remember, and this applies to all the agreements in which we facilitate as a nation, which, ultimately, depends on the nations to accept and meet those conditions. President Zensky, the Ukrainian people desperately want peace. They have always wanted peace. They were a peaceful nation before Russia invaded them badly, and they want to recover it, but it has to be a fair and charged peace.
Weijia Jiang: And very fast, congressman, because we have to let go soon. But if these conversations fail, the president was ambiguous about whether the administration would continue to support Ukraine, and the speaker Johnson has said previously that there was no appetite for additional help. So, will there be a new bill on the floor of the camera, quickly?
Representative Fitzpatrick: Yes, I don’t want to get ahead of the administration or the speaker, but I will leave it on this. I will do everything in my power to make sure that Ukraine wins this fight and that Russia loses, and that we have a peaceful settlement. If you observe every time the support of Ukraine has bones, the winter support is drawn on the floor of the house.
Weijia Jiang: Thank you, congressman Fitzpatrick, really appreciates his time.
