In order for a conflict to end, everyone involved in that conflict has to be okay with it. It has to be acceptable to them. But we have to understand that it's been three and a half years since there's been any sort of regularized contact between the United States and Russia.
And in some cases, between any of the participants in this conflict and Russia. So the goal of today's meeting was to follow up on the phone call the President had a week ago and begin to establish those lines of communication. The work remains.
Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey, but an important one. So that was Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mike Waltz was there as well. I think John Ratcliffe was there.
That, according to reports, and Steve Whitcoff. They were meeting with, MBS was the referee, and then they had Lavrov and his counterparts, and not his counterpart, and his colleagues over with Russia. And their goal, reportedly, was to reestablish relationship with the U.S.
But what our goal was is to bring an end to the fighting in a respectable way that all sides can tolerate. Now, for those people with Ukrainian concern about Ukraine, this is just step one. I don't think it's feasible or plausible to get everybody in right away after three straight years of war that hasn't stopped. Also, you got troops welling up in Belarus could be an invasion there. And last night there was a huge drone attack in Russia. So there's, you know, the fighting hasn't stopped.
But maybe this is the first step to doing that. Victoria Coach joins us now, former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, Vice President of the Catherine Shelby Cullum Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation, author of The Battle for the Jewish State, How Israel and America Can Win. So, Victoria, I want to talk about Gaza and the Hamas leader that was just killed in Lebanon, go figure. Your thoughts about day one, from what we know of the meeting, which I think is now over.
Yes, Brian, good to be with you. The meetings have wrapped up in Riyadh. I think Lavrov was having a bilateral with the Crown Prince last I saw. So I think we've had a successful, as you said, step one. This is just literally baby steps towards creating some communication between the Russian and American delegations. An opportunity for Secretary Rubio to meet his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, who's been foreign minister of Russia for over 20 years now.
So that is an important relationship to establish. And this is something President Trump and President Putin agreed to during President Trump's first term. And so their directive then was for the two National Security Council staffs to talk to each other. So we met with then National Security Advisor Patrushev in Geneva and Moscow and Jerusalem to try to figure out what their red lines were, what their priorities were. It was helpful.
It wasn't terribly productive, but it was an important line of communication. And I think that's what President Trump is trying to establish again. Do you believe this is the first time I ever heard Russia say they really want relations with us over the last maybe 15 years? We've always been the problem for them, right? And we've always been the one with saying, hey, guys, why don't you come on back? Hey, we'll take our missile defense out of Europe.
Hey, here, hit that reset button. Joe Biden says, hey, let's meet one on one. This is the first time I remember them saying that's their goal, to reestablish relations with us. Well, that's definitely not a bad sign. I think there was going back to the George W. Bush administration, particularly after 9-11, a hope that Russia could be brought into the fold.
I mean, think about it, Brian. There's even talk about Russia joining NATO back in the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. You know, I think there was a understandable inclination to hope that Russia had fundamentally changed. And, you know, unfortunately, under Putin, it really it really hasn't.
But but that had been the hope. And there was a lot of kind of chasing of Russia to try to get Russia to behave in a normal fashion. And what these last three years of war have told us is they are not there. And their partners of choice now are China and Iran and North Korea, not the West. They are not interested in integration into Europe.
So. So, yeah, I think it's better to have them coming to us rather than us chasing after them. It gives President Trump much more leverage. So I have no problem with opening up, talking to Russia, and I think the people are overreacting, saying we've left Ukraine out. The ones that are feel left out is NATO.
Should they feel that way? Well, you know, I admit I'm not hugely sympathetic to the apparently hordes of European diplomats who have their feelings hurt by not being at the negotiating table. The fact of the matter is they've had three years to try to negotiate some some kind of resolution to this horrible war.
They have taken absolutely zero productive steps towards that. But European diplomats don't like being left out of negotiation. So they're expressing their displeasure and convening their own emergency summit so that they have somewhere to go.
I just mean, that's just not helpful. I think this is a very important step for for the big states to take to talk to each other. There don't need to be 15 parties, including the EU, as well as individual European nations, which is what they want around the table. This can be a much more direct conversation. And then, of course, as President Trump said, Ukraine will be integrally involved in any discussions about Ukraine's future. But I think this is more about the U.S.-Russia relationship. Fox News Audio presents the Fox Nation Investigates podcast. Evil Next Door.
Exploring the life and crimes of five serial predators from across the United States. Follow and listen starting February 25th at FoxTrueCrime.com. I guess so. We'll see where it goes from here. And they said the earliest they could see a ceasefire is the fall. But I don't know what's going to be left on both sides in the fall. The Ukrainian President Zelensky said yesterday to the Associated Press that he is not going to give up his rare earth, all of his rare earth to us. He rejects Trump's demand to give it all up because some of it, by the way, is in the Russia's are holding it in that in that area. I have no problem with that. I mean, we ask for a lot and you'll see where we can get. We're negotiating with them as well. What would a good deal with Ukraine look like?
Well, I think this could be a good deal for both sides. You know, this is something the United States could do productively. I would say on a global scale where, you know, we become the partner of choice for the production of natural resources that we need. You know, we've got a ton of this stuff here in the United States.
And I think the secretary of state or secretary of energy, rather, and secretary of interior both working very hard on how we might develop our own resources. But then there are some things abroad we need. And if we become the purchaser of choice, and in this case it would be an exchange for military support from the United States, that gives us, you know, a good partner that we're making more we're making more secure.
But then we are also getting something. It's not just disinterested charity from the U.S. taxpayer. So I think that could be a very, very good model for other other similar arrangements and good also for Ukraine. We're supposed to get some as we switch over to Gaza, which your book's about, and Israel. It looks like Israel has the idea of beginning to mobilize a bit. And now they got the 2000 pound pound bombs caught on camera on purpose, arriving in Israel that were held back by Joe Biden. We see that the Israelis are not leaving Lebanon at the end of this phase. They said there's too much of a Hezbollah presence there. And then yesterday took out a Hamas commander in Lebanon. So we get another some hostages out.
We're still missing about 70. Your reaction to where this is going? Yeah, this is kind of a tough day. Yesterday marked 500 days for the hostages in captivity in Gaza. And after I'm done talking to you, we're actually hosting an event with a former hostage and some family members here at Heritage to, you know, learn about their experience and learn about their loved ones. And that it's it's it's pretty tough what's happened in the condition of the hostages that have come out.
So there is an acute sense of urgency to get as many out as possible. But at the same time, you know, President Trump has been very clear that a decision to resume the war is an internal Israeli security decision. And he will support Prime Minister Netanyahu in that decision. And the arrival of those 2000 pound bombs is a physical manifestation of that commitment.
So really important. And then just lastly, the elimination of Mohammed Shaheen, the Hamas commander in Lebanon. That's no accident that he's up in Lebanon colluding with Hezbollah. We have to remember that they will they will partner together when they can to attack Israel.
So good thing that he has been eliminated. But a reminder of the dangers that Israel still faces on several fronts. How is Hamas getting resupplied from where? Well, I mean, the Iranians have all sorts of ways of resupplying Hamas.
And they you know, they still do have their network of tunnels. And that is the reality that I think, you know, necessitates ongoing Israeli action. And bear in mind that it's not just tunnels in Gaza, there are tunnels under the Lebanon border as well that Hezbollah has been using to move arms into Israel and down to Gaza.
And it can happen by by by sea as well. So, you know, it's a network that Israel has been trying to choke off. It's why it's so important that President Trump reimposed the maximum pressure campaign on Iran, which is ultimately the banker of all of these activities to starve them of resources. That can't happen soon enough to that. That is ultimately what will slow slow this down and hopefully destroy those supply chains for Hamas. Will there be a phase two or you think this is going to be it? That depends on Hamas and they have not been a good faith negotiating partner by any stretch of the imagination.
So I'm pretty skeptical. I think we'll try to get as many hostages out as we can. But after that, I suspect Israel is going to feel they have to take some more military action. Pick up Victoria Coats's book, The Battle for the Jewish State, How Israel and America Can Win. Thanks, Victoria. I'm Dana Perino. This week on Perino on Politics, I'm joined by former GOP strategist and host of The Rich Zeoli Show, Rich Zeoli. Available now on FoxNewsPodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcast. Must listen to podcasts from Fox News Audio. Listen to the show at free on Fox News Podcast Plus on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
