Pennsylvania representative on Russia-Ukraine deal talks

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) spoke with Weijia Jiang on Face the Nation Sunday to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.

When Jiang asked Rep. Fitzpatrick if he talked about the status of the peace agreement the U.S. is trying to broker during his visit to Ukraine, to which Fitzpatrick said, "We sure did. We spent a lot of time with them, one-on-one. President Zelenskyy and I have spoken many times. I consider him a friend now and a great leader. And yes, we talked at length about a whole host of topics. We didn't leave really anything out of the discussion."

Jiang followed up by asking the congressman his thoughts on President Donald Trump indicating the minerals deal would be signed this week, and Fitzpatrick responded by saying:

"That remains to be seen, and it depends on what's in the deal...what President Zelensky made clear to me, as he has many times, is, you know, certain agreements can be signed by his finance minister and Secretary Bessent, but if it's worded differently, if there are specific numbers, for example, that's something that needs to go through his parliament and potentially our Congress, if it's fashion in terms of a treaty. So a lot of it's going to depend on the details and what is actually in it, in terms of what's required for approval."

During the interview, Jiang and Fitzpatrick talked about the Easter ceasefire.

Ukraine and Russia blamed each other on Sunday for breaking the one-day Easter ceasefire which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced, with both sides accusing the other of launching attacks overnight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of creating a false appearance of honoring the Easter ceasefire, saying his country's forces had recorded 59 instances of Russian shelling and five assaults by units along the front line, as well as dozens of drone strikes.

"As of Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places, it does not abandon individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine," Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

In a later update, Zelenskyy said despite Ukraine declaring a symmetrical approach to Russian actions, there had been an increase in Russian shelling and drone attacks since 10 a.m. local time. He said, however, it was "a good thing, at least, that there were no air raid sirens."

This prompted Jiang to ask Fitzpatrick how realistic would a 30-day pause and the end of the war be if the two countries "can't even get through a holiday ceasefire," to which Fitzpatrick said:

"That is entirely up to Vladimir Putin. The man has never kept his word, ever in any context, as far as I'm aware. So we have to know what we're dealing with our government, I hope knows who they're dealing with, with Vladimir Putin. He's not a man of his word. He's not interested in peace. I hope he gets there. He is not all that different, Weijia, from the schoolyard bully. If you look at Russia, right? Obviously, it's huge geographically, but a population of about 150 million people, about half the size of the United States, 1/5 the size of Europe, a total GDP of $2 trillion. That's the GDP of the state of Texas. So they are large, but they're weak, and they're proving that weakness by the fact that they can't even successfully prosecute a war against a much weaker neighbor. So we got to stop, you know, being fearful or bowing down to Russia. We need to stand up to Russia. We need to defend Ukraine, support Ukraine, and if it's done the right way, this will end positively. It's all about peace through strength. There's peace through strength and there's war through weakness. There's no magical third option."

Before the interview concluded, Jiang asked the congressman if there will be a new bill on the House floor following President Trump's remarks about whether his administration would continue to support Ukraine should talks fail, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson saying there was "no appetite for additional aid," and Fitzpatrick said:

"I don't want to get ahead of the administration or the Speaker, but I will just leave it at 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 look at every time the Ukraine support has been put on the House floor, overwhelming support."

To watch more of Jiang's interview with Fitzpatrick, click here.