saturday morning. join the discussion. >> secretary of state mike pompeo and ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky held a joint news conference in kiev earlier today. both said president trump's impeachment trial has not damaged u.s.-ukraine relations. this is just over 15 minutes. volodymyr zelensky and the u.s. secretary of state, mike pompeo. statement by the president of ukraine. >> thank you very much. pres. zelensky: [speaking foreign language] translator: distinguished mr. secretary of state, ladies and gentlemen, i am extremely glad to welcome today to ukraine the secretary of the united states of america, mr. pompeo. this is a hallmark visit that

clearly demonstrates the consistent and across-the-board support of our country by the united states of america. the united states has been and will remain our key ally. we dearly appreciate efforts president trump and his administration on this threat. we are grateful for your personal, unwavering stance regarding the illegal annexation of crimea. today, i express hope that the united states of america will be more actively engaged in the east of ukraine and occupation of crimea thanks to the appointment of a special official of the department of state on this matter, and we are grateful for the role of the united states of america for

cooperation with nato, in particular, the relationships iev and washington are invariably strong, because the ground work for them, long-lasting strategic influence. it is important that ukraine support inrtisan congress, in the united states, that is confirmed by the amount of aid for 2020, amounting to $700 million. i should separately note the assistance and security which the 364 million u.s. dollars and will significantly boost our defense capabilities. we appreciate your support in supplying funds and equipment for ukraine. ukraine is ready to develop new forms of partnership with the united states in security

sector. and it is confirmed by a first in history contract for the systems.rchasing of we also talked about the strengthening of the navy of ukraine thanks to the island belt and reinforcement of air defense of ukraine where we are ready to consider options for buying the necessary arms and weapons. ukraine actively cooperates with american partners for the successful reform of the defense industry. i am sure it will give us further impetus for the beneficial cooperation with the top ranked u.s. defense companies. over the course of our negotiations, i thank the united states that have helped us to stand up against existing challenges, in particular, in energy, security, and north stream 2. -- nord

also, to notice that the exemplary cooperation was our concerted work during the investigation of the shot down ukrainian airline in iran. i thank the american partners for their support and important information. regarding other strategic plans, i am sure 2020 will become the year where we will significantly increase the investment in trade cooperation between ukraine and the united states of america, to jointly reinforce the development of the railway sector of ukraine. they are in negotiations about buying a new batch in the united states. the united states of america will be able to remove the

as preventive duty on steel imports, 25%. for is a sensitive issue our intelligence experts and we hope that this duty will be rescinded. we want big american business to develop infrastructure for ukraine and participation in road and bridge construction, as well as projects on natural gas and oil development. we expect the participation of american companies to do well offshore. besides, ukraine is thriving to build an efficient cooperation with international finance and development cooperation. we are interested in implementing joint cases in different sectors of our country. i would like to express time and again great gratitude to the secretary of state of the united

states, mike pompeo, for his support and assistance of ukraine, and for these fruitful negotiations. yesterday, on the 30th of january, an american politician franklin d. roosevelt, and he said "the only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." in the state of ukraine, there is no doubt whatsoever regarding the strategic partnership with the united states of america. that is why we are confident in this successful realization of all our common planning of ukraine and the united states of america. thanks. >> statement by the u.s. secretary of state. sec. pompeo: good afternoon. i want to thank president zelensky for welcoming me here, hosting me here. i planned to get here earlier

ran relatedbut i me unable to. thank you for your understanding. i want to begin by expressing my condolences for the loss-of-life in the incident in tehran. we hope we continue to provide assistance in assuring that the iranians are held accountable for what took place there. and my condolences to the ukrainian people for the loss of their life. of course, this is not my first time to ukraine. i traveled here as a member of congress back in spring of 2014, shortly after the maidan revolution. i returned again in may a year later as a member of congress, and then i came here in previous role as well as the director of the central intelligence agency to work on security matters. it is wonderful to be back and to watch the progress that the brave and valiant people of ukraine are making. president zelensky and i had an excellent meeting. we talked about a range of issues. you should know that the people of the united states understand

that ukraine is an important country. it is not just the geographic bulwark it is the between freedom and totalitarianism in eastern europe. its pipes keep europe warm in the winter. they will grow with u.s. exports as well, we are happy about that. ukrainian people want freedom. nearly 14,000 ukrainians have been killed and many more will be involved in the ongoing conflict in the donbass. it was my honor to visit and pay respects to those who have fallen. today, i am here with a clear message. the united states sees that the ukrainian struggle for freedom, democracy, and prosperity is a valiant one. our commitment to support it will not waver. as i told president zelensky earlier today, the commitment starts with our strong supports

for his efforts to strengthen democratic institutions in this country. the final victory for the revolution of dignity is within reach. the united states has worked hard to help ukraine develop a strong rule of law, a healthy investment climate, a reformed defense sector in energy independence, and will continue to do so. the president and i also had the opportunity to discuss ukraine's relationship with russia. the united states under president trump has been the world's fiercest defender of ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. we have maintained support of ukraine's efforts to join nato and move closer to the european union. we have revived the u.s.-ukraine strategic partnership commission. in july of 2018, we released the crimea declaration, which clearly stated that crimea is part of ukraine, and the united states will never recognize russia's attempt to annex it. last march, along with our partners in canada and the eu,

we imposed sanctions after the attack on the hormuz strait, and we discussed the nord stream 2 pipeline, which we have given a free hand to destabilize ukraine. since january 2017, we have provided more than $1 billion in security assistance. this commitment continues. we will maintain support for the conflict in eastern ukraine and we will maintain financial support for ukraine's security. we will never accept anything the full ukrainian control over its sovereign territory. the president and i discussed trade and investment opportunity that continue to expand. the more transparent and predictable business climate here in ukraine, the more american investment will be attracted.

become great business partners, because they embrace the rule of law. the same things that president zelensky and ukrainians are fighting for. i know they are confident to grow as ukraine complies with its imf commitments. finally, i was pleased by the recent decisions by the greek and alexandrian orthodox churches to recognize the orthodox church of ukraine as a federal church. russia should never stand in the way of ukrainian people's fundamental right to exercise their religious freedom. the ukrainians can count on american support in that regard. president zelensky, thank you. pres. zelensky: thank you very much. >> we have two questions, one from the ukrainian side and one from the american side. so ukraine channel, please. >> ukraine channel 24, i have

one question to both speakers. i have a question to president zelensky first. do you agree that the situation with the impeachment trial of donald trump spoiled the ukrainian-american relations? zelensky: [speaking foreign language] translator: well, thank you for your question. i was thinking, "when will this question appear?" when we had the meeting with united states, we also had a discussion about president trump. it is essentially the other way around. we have an excellent relationship. we have not only the word that the united states gives us full support and defend ukraine, which is really true, and support our territorial

integrity. it is not only about words. the countries should be mutually -- we talked about manager difference, contractor difference that we want to include between our countries. this is a new step in our relationship, new sentiments, new attitude. we have had multiple meetings, and i don't think that these friendly, warm relations have been influenced by impeachment trial. but many points, i haven't reiterated this is our strategic -- i have reiterated this is our strategic our. -- power. we are doing everything possible to make it a mutually beneficial project. for us, this is a tragedy in our

country, job creation, an increase of social safety for our population. >> and a question to mr. pompeo, now that the improvements of u.s.-ukrainian relations will be an appointment of special representative, president zelensky to the united states, what is possible of these two? sec. pompeo: i appreciate that question. since january of 2017, one need look no further than the facts, the support that this administration has provided. we talk about the assistance and support. it is certainly helpful for the ukrainian people. it makes a difference for the united states as well. it is to our benefit as well. but what really matters is the relationship developing between the two countries, politically

and up a medically, -- and diplomatically, commercially and economically. we will get the diplomacy right. we will get that piece of it in the right place, as time moves on. president zelensky and president trump had a fantastic meeting in new york this past september. i had a chance to see president zelensky today, and i am very confident that we will engage at the senior levels in all the ways to do the right thing. it is less about talking, it is less about what someone says but how we deliver together to deliver really good outcomes for both the ukrainian people and the american people as well. >> i will have matthew from the associated press. >> good afternoon, gentlemen, thank you. mr. secretary, you note the amount of assistance, military assistance, security assistance, and other assistance that the has given since january 2017, but it is a fact that last year for several

months, there was a portion of assistance that was being held up. it eventually moved, but it was being held up for a time. my question is this -- was a scheduled white house meeting with president zelensky conditioned on a specific corruption investigation into vice president biden's son and the burisma companies, his involvement with burisma? was it then or is it now a of ation of the scheduling white house meeting? and for president zelensky, are you still interested in a white house meeting with president trump? and whether that is a condition, an investigation into the bidens is a condition of that or not, is your country going to do that? thank you. sec. pompeo: matt, i am unsurprised by your question. i suspect you will be unsurprised by my answer as well.

no, there is no condition of the nature you described for president zelensky to come to washington and have that visit. it is simply not the case. we will find the right time, we will find the appropriate opportunity. we want to make sure that it happens at a time when there is substantial progress, things we can deliver between the two of us, and there is a lot of work. our teams discussed today all of the opportunities. we see the economic opportunity for american businesses coming here. we talked about a handful of them just this morning, companies by name, real projects. president zelensky will be welcome to come to washington when we have an opportunity, and the american people will get it done, i am confident that that. -- of that. pres. zelensky: [speaking foreign language] translator: thank you for your question. yes, please.

well, you know, i am interested to go on an official visit to the white house, washington, d.c. well, frankly speaking, that would be the right thing for both countries, for the relations between our countries, for the united states and ukraine, as that is, but at the same time, this is a new profession for me, to be the president of ukraine. i am receiving a lot of invitations to visit countries. from the outset, i came to understand, and i talked at length with a person who has more political and diplomatic relations with the minister of our foreign relations. and i asked, what are we going to do there? what could we get there? what can we agree upon there? what can we get back for our country?

so that talking is not just words of travelers, as has happened many times in our country and it's happening in many countries now. that pivotal point is what you can agree upon. with all due respect to the united states, when we have the subject matter of the talk, important things we can agree upon, what we can find, what we can get done. i am ready to go tomorrow. >> thank you for your questions. sec. pompeo: thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and live down here on c-span

-- >> after 47 years, the united kingdom has left the european union. one hour before the official deadline, british prime minister boris johnson delivered a brexit day address to the nation. has a marks came from 10 downing street in london, the government headquarters and residents. residence. tonight, we are leaving the european union. for many people, this is an astonishing moment of hope, a moment they thought would never come. group, perhapsd the biggest, which has started to worry that the whole political rink would never come to an end. i understand all those feelings. our job as the government, my job is to bring this government together now -- un