Trump on Russia, Palestinian statehood

After his remarks, President Trump sat down for a highly anticipated meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. President Trump saying NATO should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace. This follows an alleged breach of airspace into Estonia, and previously, Poland.

Do you think that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace? Yes, I do.

Mr. President, any update on your talks--

All right. Let's bring in CBS News White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi, now joining us from our DC Bureau. Olivia, very good to see you here. Can you talk more about what more we know about those talks between Zelenskyy and Trump today? Well, Nancy, it's good to be with you. It's just one of a number of bilateral meetings that the president is having on the side of the UN General Assembly, happening today in New York. President sitting down with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. And, of course, this comes just weeks after that huge meeting that happened here in Washington between Zelenskyy and the Coalition of the Willing, which is about seven countries that are focused on an end to the war in Ukraine and preserving Ukrainian sovereignty. Now, of course, President Trump sitting there with Zelenskyy-- you see it there on the screen-- them talking about how to get an end to this war, especially after President Trump had that meeting with President Putin back in August that really has not come to fruition as far as ending the war. The president also said today, during his speech to the entire assembly, that it's embarrassing that Europeans are still buying Russian oil and products-- energy products, I should say-- that is helping fund the war in Ukraine. Now, before he met with Zelenskyy, the president sat down with President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, and she said he's right and that they need to stop purchasing those products, find a way out or an alternative to help stop funding this war in Ukraine. So expecting perhaps some news out of that today as the two leaders meet, and especially as the president continues to send Secretary Rubio and his Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region to try to negotiate some type of an end to this war.

All right, Olivia Rinaldi joining us there from Washington, DC. Olivia, thank you. And CBS News Middle East correspondent Courtney Kealy joins us here on set to discuss the impacts of Trump's speech. Courtney, I know that the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state is a major issue here at this UN General Assembly. President Trump said today, recognizing a Palestiniant state would be too much of a reward for Hamas, as you well know. Five countries, including France, have recently done so. What does a formal recognition really mean at this point? Well, this is an evolution. This isn't just happening now with this war and this president and these leaders. This has started in 1988, Palestinian Declaration of Independence. 2012, there was a lot of recognition by about 147 member states of the UN as Palestine as a non-member state. And then you had big European countries, along with Australia and Canada, doing this now almost, in a way, to reject the war in Gaza and the ongoing annexation of the West Bank or informal annexation. So now, at the UN, 81% of member states approximately recognize Palestine as an independent non-member state.

So does the UN have any leverage here? Good question, and not really. They can write resolutions. They can have UN Security Councils. But we have seen in the past that this might be inert and not really affect change. But it does set a precedent. It does set a world leadership. And While President Trump's administration and Marco Rubio said this was irrelevant, one could argue it's irrelevant for the US and US policy in Israel, but it's not irrelevant for the world leaders and the rest of the world.

Especially as you see so many countries jumping onto that list now, too. Courtney, I also want to ask you about Israel pushing forward now with attacks in Gaza City. What do we know about the situation inside the enclave at this point? And what is the latest on a possible ceasefire? Right, and President Trump said ceasefire now. He said, release all the hostages, not one by one, but now. And the Hostages and Missing Families Forum did react to what he said at the UN, saying that it was regrettable that the Israeli leadership wasn't also calling for a ceasefire and wasn't also calling for a release of hostages, this taking place on the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah. And we'll have to see what we're hearing from Netanyahu and the Palestinian leadership. But the war grinds on. And many Israeli leaders in intelligence and military have not been OK with this military onslaught happening in Gaza. And we've seen several, more than a dozen international groups, including two Israeli human rights groups, call this a genocide.

Courtney Kealy, thank you very much for joining us here on set.