which strengthened the influence of the kremlin in ukraine, but also led to the rapid occupation of the peninsula, for the 14th year yanukovych planned the liquidation of defense plants, the liquidation of our very famous desna educational base, it was planned to liquidate the land for development, yes again, our defense factories, why did they work, and because each factory had whole fields covered with carcasses of non-working equipment. there was artillery, tanks, armored personnel carriers, they just started repairing them and put them, so to speak, we didn’t have, we didn’t have production of such, we had modernization and repair, but there were carcasses from which we could do something, we quickly began to do it, that is, if we had time to eliminate them at the beginning, by the way, at the beginning of ours, at the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation, so that we didn't even have armor to protect kyiv, at the end of february 2014.

a group with a total number of 55 thousand people was deployed in dangerous areas of kharkiv, crimea, chernihiv, kyiv and donbas, but according to the ministry of defense of ukraine, there were actually combat-capable servicemen only 5 thousand. volunteers rose to defend ukraine. the first units left directly from the maidan, the biggest problem at the beginning. well, it was that our army did not shoot, it was not possible, they could not cross that red line, they simply could not, they threw weapons, threw armor, this armor again fell to the separatists, and it was a constant loss and step by step, at the beginning of the war, the soldiers shouted, we can't, there are women standing in front of the snipers, we can't, how can we, we can't shoot. ukrainians do not

there were enough weapons, instead they were with the so -called militias. putin convinced his country and the whole world that they are not there, and russian trucks in caravans went to donbas, as if with humanitarian aid to civilians, and the world closed its eyes to the truth. in the 14th year, the reaction of the world was pathetic, they, most of the countries of the world. inadequately assessed the risks, they did not see the strategic picture, it seems to me that it is most clear what the americans are going for, but they also lacked, again, i do not know whether it is political will or wisdom, or the calculation to react adequately, this is, as they say, this is worse than a crime, this is a mistake, here, in my opinion... this could be

credited to the entire generation of western influential politicians of the time, as their political crime, this trying to close one's eyes to reality, calm down, calm oneself down, and never call a spade a spade. no, it's not a war, they said, if it's a war, it's a civil war, and so on and so forth. not only obama is here, mrs. merkel is here, of course, and obama's predecessor, bush, ah, jr., and sarkozy, and berlusconi, and so on, a whole bunch of these people who treated putin's identity with great respect and piety. kyiv

launched international activities to form a coalition in support of ukraine. the prime minister with a reputation as a pro-western politician had good contacts in western capitals. forming a coalition of countries that would help ukraine was one of the most important tasks for the diplomatic service. this is one thing, and the second is opposition to russia, and although russia officially... at that time did not want to talk with arseniy yatsenyuk's government, no wanted to talk to ukraine in general , they did not want to recognize us, they believed that this was a coup, and they would not talk to this new government, then there was no question of such sending, for example, of weapons, we did not talk about it yet, just they did not understand what, how, how, what kind of help, but actually, to form, public opinion, form... support among

the political elite of the eu and nato countries to form the position of the european union. nato, this, this also required some effort. with us president barack obama, arseniy yatsenyuk agreed to provide ukraine with a billion dollars of financial assistance and the transfer of defense non-lethal weapons. subsequently , the west introduced economic sanctions against russia. all the same, they began to support us financially. do you remember the newly-minted prime minister yatsenyuk, his... visit to the states, communication with obama, obama's eyes are on his forehead, because he is talking for the first time with some ukrainian politician who speaks good english, so... these things are very important, they work very well, that's how he sees

that in front of him was some kind of party-crat, as they are used to the ukrainian leadership, but some kind of egghead... an intellectual of some kind more like a university professor from america, so on and so on and so on, that is, quite serious infusions, i think, came already then in order to somehow keep this rather large ship afloat, well , but at the same time zero military support, due to the loss of territory and hostilities on... ukraine received a strong blow to the economy, mines and large enterprises, ports and gas towers were lost, corporate ties were severed. in addition, the kremlin once again resorted to gas blackmail. with with its help, moscow solved any

controversial issue since ukraine gained independence, threatened to close the valve so that the ukrainian economy, dependent on the russian pipe, would stop completely. this happened almost every winter , the prime ministers changed, but all of them were forced to visit the kremlin and bring a political price for gas, and in april 2014 , the russian gazprom in response to its ultimatum was rejected for the first time, and even more so yatsenyuk's government filed a lawsuit against russia at the stockholm arbitration. in those years, again after all, quite often... i had to speak outside the borders of our country as such an advocate of ukraine for its course and, in particular, for its government, although this is an unusual role for me, but i

first of all mentioned this independence from russian energy carriers, and when i said, we don't buy gas from them anymore... uh, gas, well, but many people took it skeptically, because they said: well, formally, you buy it from someone else, but it's still russian, but i said, but we do not give this money to russia, because we had to find others sources of providing ukraine with energy carriers , including gas, and it was a kind of challenge, a challenge, but it is also... well, the position of ukraine, the ukrainian government, which was ready to go to certain inconveniences, if you can say so, or even have , even losses, but not to take advantage of this dependence, which

russia itself imposed on countries, neighbors, including european countries, by supplying cheap gas. the kremlin was unprepared for such a scenario. in the federal parliament , russian propagandists began an information campaign campaign, they say, ukraine will freeze, followed by europe. already in september 2014 , gas from slovakia began to flow into ukraine in the reverse direction. in 2017, the stockholm court ruled in favor of ukraine on all counts. disputed issues under the gas contract, in particular , canceled the binding condition of take or pay. this is a humiliating fiasco not only for gazprom, but also for the russian government. in general. to me, one of the key, i think, important things is

the oil and gas reform. that is, it was, you remember, klaaka, she constantly devoured money. accordingly, what was done then, the govt. did, it's incredible, they were able to turn naftogaz into a profitable company from a loss-making one that was constantly devouring, moreover, negotiations with russia are necessary. had for oil and gas and for oil and gas during the war, after their aggression and temporary occupation, and the government of ukraine for the first time in a decade was with a strong subjectivity and sent them, they refused to buy oil products and gas from russia directly, we there they came up with different schemes, this is a very important story, and this power, subjectivity, the feeling of what they... the clear understanding that the russians have become enemies is one of the great achievements. another

painful blow to the kremlin was the signing of the association agreement with the eu. it was from yanukovych's refusal to ratify this document that the euromaidan began, which grew into a revolution of dignity. so, when the main demand of the ukrainians was fulfilled, it became a powerful signal to the world. ukraine is ready to fight for its choice. the agreement was signed in brussels by prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk, it opened the way to visa-free european markets and the prospect of membership in the european union. it was a moment of economic transformation. realistically, i would say, among liberalized countries. and this is indeed what happened, but again, we have to remember that it happened in accordance with the obligations that we assumed under the association agreement. european union, and by the way , when we voted visa-free, we also had to vote on a lot of things, and i don't know

if yanukovych had put his signature to this agreement, whether he would have been ready to adopt such laws, which essentially dismantled authoritarianism at that moment, economic authoritarianism, first of all, well, i don't know, i have a big doubt. already in the summer of 2014, ukraine began to liberate the occupied cities, yellow and blue... the tide rose again over mariupol, sloviansk, kramatorsk, severodonetsk and lysychansk. meanwhile, the kremlin intensified its aggression in donbas. in august 2014 , the first regular russian troops appeared at the front. the battles near ilovaisk and debaltseve, tragic for the ukrainian army, became a turning point in the operation of the united forces. you will remember what happened in 2014 freed from the fact that 70% was captured at the beginning, with one such breakthrough, an assault, it was possible

to reach even the encirclement of donetsk, but unfortunately, it all ended in ilovaisk, because russia realized that it was losing the initiative and introduced its official troops. to stop the invasion, ukraine, together with russia, france and germany, is forced to sign the minsk agreements, a political agreement on a temporary truce. however, the kremlin has ignored the main condition of the agreements all these years. about a ceasefire, but the document allowed it to stop advance of the enemy in donbas and give ukraine time to regain strength and rebuild the army. when the verkhovna rada canceled ukraine's non-aligned status on december 23, 2014, the parliament immediately increased the country's defense budget to 5% of gdp. be that as it may, money is the basis of everything, isn't it? that is, the defense plants started working. yes , some salaries went to the army again, because it is also necessary, we must not forget that the army

was in such a bad situation that there was nothing to eat there, and here is this army that demands to shoot and defend the country, yes, that is, here at least they should provide them with products, i am not talking about means, means of combat, already at the end of 2014, according to the conclusions of experts... ukrainian army, which at the beginning of the year was practically invincible, entered the top 30 best armies in the world. in 2014, ukraine launched its own missile program. its goal was the creation of arms control, which ukraine has not had since abandoning its nuclear arsenal in 1994. the vilkha and neptune missiles were successfully tested in 2018. cruiser moscow,

the flagship of the russian black sea fleet, was hit by two neptune anti-ship missiles in april 2022. the fact that ukraine can destroy the russian fleet with its own weapons has become, according to western military analysts, a serious success in the war. in 2014 in...