President Donald Trump showed his tender side as he fielded a question from a Ukrainian reporter whose husband remains in the war-torn country.
Trump, speaking from the NATO summit in the Netherlands Wednesday, called on the “excited” BBC reporter from Ukraine, who caught him off guard as she shared some of her story while asking if the U.S. intends to sell anti-aircraft missile systems to Kyiv.
“Are you yourself living now in Ukraine?” a curious Trump asked.
“My husband is there,” she replied, adding that she’s in Warsaw with her children.
After answering her question, Trump added: “And I wish you a lot of luck. I can see it is very upsetting to you. So say hello to your husband, OK?”
Read the full exchange below:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Go ahead. White shirt. She is all excited.REPORTER: BBC news Ukrainian. I’m from Ukraine. My question to you is whether or not the U.S. is ready to sell anti-air missile systems to Ukraine. We know that Russia has been pounding Ukraine really heavily right now.TRUMP: Are you living yourself now in Ukraine?REPORTER: My husband is there.TRUMP: Wow, I can see you’re very, you know, it’s amazing.REPORTER: And me with the kids, I’m in Warsaw, actually because he wanted me to-TRUMP: Is your husband a soldier? No? He’s there now?REPORTER:
Yeah.TRUMP: Wow, That’s rough stuff, right? That’s tough. And you’re living here.REPORTER: In Warsaw.TRUMP: And you’re a reporter?REPORTER: I am.TRUMP: Good. So let me just tell you. They want to have the anti-missiles, the Patriots. We will see if we can make some available, yeah. They are very hard to get. We need them, too. We were supplying them to Israel and they are very effective. 100% effective. Hard to believe how effective. And they do want that more than any other thing as you probably know. That’s a very good question. And I wish you a lot of luck. I can see it is very upsetting to you. So say hello to your husband, OK? Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you.
It was an empathetic moment in an otherwise heated press conference, as Trump repeatedly went after reporters from CNN, The New York Times, and the media as a whole over reports that the U.S. strike on Iran only set Tehran’s nuclear program back a few months.
Watch above via Fox News.