the premium sponsor of the national team represents. united by football, stronger together. when i start to remember, well, there is more of a feeling of anger and some desire for revenge in me , it does not subside. pavlo, a 60-year-old resident of mariupol, painfully remembers the terrible russian invasion of his hometown, before the beginning of the great war, pavlo and his wife svitlana had a happy life, he taught at school. physical education and was a martial

arts trainer, his wife had her own business. on february 24, 2022, a new life countdown began. paul says, those whom he considered his own friends, turned out to be traitors and looters. they traded this loot so actively, and with such joy, i wonder where they got it from. this joy. you haven't seen what we have, we are going along... god knows. shells were constantly pelting the city. the russians dropped bombs from airplanes,

kept their guns and howitzers silent. pavlo remembers the day when he and his wife miraculously survived, and a pillar fell on my house and broke the roof, all the windows were rolled up, the doors were blown in, so that i was wearing a sports cap, i was at that time on streets, well, i didn't see it, i'm looking at what my hat is doing on... analysis of the processes that change the country and each of us, the country should get the right to start negotiations on joining the eu, vitaly portnikov and guests of the project, we boring, because there is nothing to fight about, let's make it up, they help to understand the present. and to predict the future for

the world, a second trump presidency will be dire. a project for those who care and think. political club. every sunday at 20:10 at espresso. an unusual look at the news. good hello, ladies and gentlemen, my name is mykola veresen. sharp presentation of facts and competent opinions. and in america they also say, let's have better roads , we will have even better ones. a special look at the events in ukraine, there will be some on the border of kyiv. sap and beyond, what kind of world does norman dream of, can we imagine it? all this in an informational marathon with mykola veresny, saturday 17:10, sunday 18:15 at espresso. greetings, this is svoboda live, my name is vlasta lazur. the most popular person and the highest trust in ukraine, who will soon become the ambassador to great britain, i am talking about valery zaluzhny. argue that this is a gesture of gratitude

on the part of volodymyr zelenskyi or the exile of a potential political competitor? we will look for an answer to this question today. let's start. it is too early to predict how strong and effective ambassador zaluzhny will be in london. he has no diplomatic experience, although he completed a master's program in international relations at the ostrov academy in absentia, but the level of his contacts. with representatives of the political elite great britain is not known for sure, although, as the guardian writes, the ex-chief of the ukrainian army has a close personal relationship with his british colleague, admiral sir tony radakin. by the way, just the day before, radakin, together with the minister of defense of great britain, grant shaps, was in kyiv, meeting with the political and military leadership of the country, but there were no joint photos. and although ukraine considers great britain to be one. of its

closest allies, the post of ukrainian ambassador in london has been vacant for a long time months zelensky fired former ambassador vadym prystayk in july 23, after he publicly... stated that sarcasm between allies is unacceptable, which was perceived by the bank as a rebuke to zelensky personally because of his unfortunate statements. in principle, the decision to send the hard-working ambassador to great britain to some extent corresponds to zelensky's promise to keep the former head of his team. but at the same time, with this decision, zelensky removes zaluzhny from ukraine, where the ex-head is considered the only real rival of the president, provided that elections will be held, zg writes. i will remind you that according to the latest survey of the kyiv international institute of sociology, zaluzhny leads the top three leaders whom ukrainians trust the most. 94% of respondents expressed confidence in the ex-chief. this survey was conducted in mid-february. at the time, the head of gur kyrylo budanov was in second place,

with 66%, and in third place was zelenskyi, with 64%. volodymyr fesenko, a political scientist, joins our broadcast. volodymyr, good evening. good evening. were you surprised by volodymyr zelenskyi's decision to appoint a deputy? ambassador in london? well, he has not been appointed yet, while the candidacy has been approved, but when great britain gives its consent, most likely it will be, then he will be appointed, there will be a presidential decree. no, i am not surprised, because there were rumors about this, some leaks back in january, even before zaluzhny's resignation. this option, that zaluzhny was allegedly, at that moment, allegedly offered this position, he will accept. now this information has been confirmed, so i 'm not surprised, and i don't share the opinion there, it 's all in the media, there were conversations about it, well , you heard what to move there a competitor, he

will remain a potential competitor wherever he is, and we will come to that now, you started to quote and mention what the media wrote about, but i will also remind you that the media wrote about what the hard-working person was offered to be. and also, it seems, the secretary of the national security council, but he refused. at what point do you think he changed his mind and what might have influenced that decision? well, i don't know, i think that only valery fedorovich himself can answer this question, well, there's no point in guessing, why fantasize? i think that it was a difficult period, at some point, i don't know when exactly, valery fedorovych realized that, well, zelensky in his desire to change the head of the armed forces. he is, well, let's say this , adamant, he will do it, yes, that's why he decided, well, to make it happen, well , as non-conflict as possible, so that it corresponds, let's say, to the preservation of the stability of the state, the stability of the front, the army, and that's why it happened on both sides,

by the way, i'll note that here both sides showed dignity and respect for each other, yes, and everything happened with dignity, and... here at first after all, i already wrote about this at the time and said repeatedly that valery fedorovych showed a citizen's attitude, he left without scandals, conflicts, he understood that it was better for the state, although i understand, i think that he did not want it rather that's all, i think he had certain resentments and dissatisfaction in connection with this decision, but that's how it happened, he is a military man, he follows orders, but now he will not be a military man, now he will be a civilian. a person, if of course the appointment will take place, you know, well, i can't be a specialist in military people, i was not the subject of my study, but i knew military people and periodically met there and repeatedly heard that a military person remains a military person even when

he retires, you know, this military bone, military makeup, military character, if it's a real military man , you don't know, the military has... such a saying about parquet colonels and parquet generals, these are people who were not there in real combat service, did not go through front or field service, yes, but a career did in offices, valery zaluzhnyi made a career, by the way, the current commanders of syrsky, they made a career from the bottom, from the position of junior, senior lieutenant, and further through all ranks, he is a purely military man, and that is why i think that he will retain this character outside the armed forces, well, theoretically , who knows what will happen next, you know, i will not be surprised if he becomes a politician in the future, and then, by the way, the experience of working as an ambassador in a country like

great britain will it's very useful to him, it's very, it's very good for now, but i can return to service in the armed forces, why not, i have such an option in theory. i don't rule it out either, the situation can develop in different ways, okay, now about the motives of the bank, look, today, well, that's what the world is commenting on, journalists and columnists, the military commentator of zhuralumist, today. on twitter, maybe half-jokingly, but he wrote that this corresponds to the appointment of an ancient glorious tradition, when nervous civilians sent ambitious generals to distant embassies, please tell me, is this the case? look what before the expulsion, i will say now about what i spoke about the veiling yesterday, today , well, yes, there were such cases in history, i can agree here, but look, well... and this is london - it is definitely not a veiling, if its sent

as an ambassador to ethiopia, i know, there to ecuador, yes, well, i could say too, yes, well, yes, it's a veil, far, far away, then news of restrictions, outside domestic and international political life, and what is london? london is one of the world capitals, london is one of the capitals of international politics, where, editorial. very influential publications in which, by the way, he was published, the economist, yes, the guardian was mentioned, yes, there too, yes, there are influential analytical sites, i think that he will be invited to interviews there and on various speeches, at a conference, to various analytical sessions, this is an opportunity, let's say, to become more open, i think that he will have, there is another thing he will want. well, here is the question, will there not be any other restrictions, but in principle, i think that just

for him this is a huge chance to feel, to pass through himself the modern great politics, which i will say is more serious than our internal township politics, and it will be much more useful than him talking to our oppositionists in kyiv there, so in that sense i do not consider it a veil. for us, on the contrary, it is an opportunity to gain new and very useful experience for him, especially if he later goes into politics. well, actually, i asked you what the bank's motives were for, so to speak, involving valery zaluzhny in big politics, no, no, no, the motive is different, i'm talking about interest, let's say, about the fact that it can be useful for valery fedorovych himself, well, if, if, look, why actually some political... forces, let's not name them now, and not only them, and they, as they argued , talked about the veil

, they say that the bank found a method to get rid of the popular general in order to part ways with him amicably and to somehow calm down the people who support him so that they do not express their indignation too strongly, valery fedorovych disappears from the ukrainian political space for at least four years , in principle informative, and that's it all because the bank saw him as a competitor, isn't that... the argument is no, i refute this argument, yes, listen, and he will cease to be a potential competitor, now he is not a competitor, pay attention, right now now he is not a competitor, because here he does not take an active public part in the political or information space, look, a month, no comments, interviews and so on, by the way, i think that this is correct, and it keeps the intrigue , and he is out of the political struggle. he is not associated with politics, but his huge ratings are not political ratings, that is precisely

what allows him to maintain this rating potential for the future, and yes, if he were to get involved in politics, in various competitions, political conflicts, i think that the situation is gradual, not immediately, but started to change, that is why he is not participating in the political process now, and we do not have elections now, so he is not a competitor yet, but potentially... potential, one way or another, he is already being considered as a competitor, a potential competitor of zelenskyi, and in this status he will continue to remain, wherever he is , especially in london, he will be considered until election time comes there and it will be decided whether he will go to the election or not, so that london does not interfere at all to his conditional virtual status as a competitor of zelenskyi, by the way, i want to add here that we also turned to... zaluzhnyi's assistant and asked, we had a request for a comment or an interview, and we were told that he is

an interview for now and does not give comments. and tell me , please, and here is such a question, perhaps, away you know, no, not conspiratorial, but nevertheless, we remember that a few months ago the bbc wrote that the fbi was starting an investigation into how quickly the takeover of the south happened, and he wanted to be a suspect, but he was already called . the law enforcement officers talked to him, i am leading to whether you admit that some pressure could have been exerted on zaluzhnyi, or you categorically reject it, and it really was his sincere, joyful decision to go as an ambassador to london. well, what is not joyful, listen, well, about london, i think that i would venture to assume that he studied international relations at one time, albeit in absentia, so i guess he was interested, but he did not go to sociology or pr, ah, not just to political science, to international relations left, so he was interested, and you know, when

they talk about the curtains, i'm joking, we have most of them now. our politicians were happy to go to such a shelter, with joy, let me remind you, by the way, you know where we have huge apartments of almost all our oligarchs, not all of them are there now, but in london, yes, it is the world capital, one of the world capitals, and there is chaos in terms of politics, there is the samykonist, the guardian, the institute for the study of war, and many other institutions in london. the school of economics, there is such a center of intellectual and political life, so i think that valery fedorovych, in the conditions when he is now outside the zsu, yes, and what’s next, just go to teaching work, or you know, yes, to conduct negotiations there with politicians in conditions when it is not known when these elections will be held, yes, there is, well, let's say this,

a new stage, an interesting life, to which he has there must have been interest. that's why he left without joy for sure, well, i would venture to guess , without joy he left the post of commander of the armed forces, well , and in general evil in the armed forces, it was definitely without joy, in relation to london, i think he is interested, i assume that he it's interesting, he'll see and decide for himself how organic it is for him, and this, by the way, will be his experience of interaction with big politics... after which he will decide whether he should go into politics or not , i think , he certainly has an interest in politics, but it will be right after london to be determined you know, i also spoke with diplomats, and they say that one of the signs that the president's office is really counting on a hard-working person is that he will become an ambassador, very effective, full-fledged, and, so

to speak, will speed up the delivery of ukraine's support from great britain, whether it will increase this support. so, one of the signs will be whether they will allow him to form his entourage, the ambassador must have both advisers and secretaries there, and if this does not happen, if he is not given, then he was simply sent there as a wedding general, do you agree that the marker should be this, well, look, when i appoint a military or political position there, i absolutely agree with this, but with such an assessment that there should be its own team, well, it is called patronage. team, because there is an administrative team, people who by status, by position should occupy specific positions, by profession, there, by training, by skills, yes, and there is a patronage team, assistants, as a rule, yes, they follow the boss own, in politics it is exactly like that, in the military service the situation is similar, v

diplomacy is a little different, i think that where there are several assistants, they will most likely be helpful. most likely, i assume so, perhaps this would be a condition for his appointment, but what is important for effective work, i do not agree that there should be a change, that he should appoint his own, i do not agree, there should definitely be a political adviser, first deputy ambassador, a person with enormous political experience, diplomatic experience, who would introduce him to the course of affairs, would help him, this would be an effective combination, definitely banking, but i missed it. banks i can tell you, as i understand them , on the one hand, in the interests of the state, they want to use the authority of the industrious, the huge international authority of the industrious, in particular because we now have an agreement with great britain on cooperation in the security sphere, and this means that this will be the main priority, defense and security cooperation, well, for

at least 10 years, and he can certainly do a lot there, because there is training for great britain, the supply of weapons. cooperation on euro-atlantic integration and many other things, here he will definitely be useful, but he should have reliable diplomatic assistants, i don't think that he already has them in ukraine, but there already , well, how did i hear the comments before you, i was at a public meeting, there they took a comment from the head of the voice of america in london, and he says that there is currently a ukrainian representative who works. performing the duties of the ambassador, he is very experienced, works effectively enough, so this combination will be useful, as for me, by the way. about the fact that sometimes military exiles are sent there. and i i will give one example when the opposite happens , well there are actually many examples, when, for example,

civilians are sent to lead the intelligence services, the usa, this is the current situation, william burns, a career professional diplomat, but heads the cia today, and vice versa, in the history of the usa, the usa there was a story when a five-star general, the hero of the operation... raku, paulel was the secretary of state , the us secretary of state, without being a career career diplomat, that's the situation, in different ways, yes, thank you, thank you very much for your comment, volodymyr fesenko, political scientist, was on radio svoboda. we continue, so volodymyr zelenskyi has approved the candidacy of a hard worker for the post of ambassador to great britain, so far he has agreed, but not appointed the mfa of ukraine. has already sent the british side a corresponding request for greman, i.e. to confirm what is being said and written in london about this potential appointment and whether they are ready to agree to it immediately, orysia lutsevich,

the head of the ukrainian program chathamhouse joins our broadcast. good evening. good evening. how did they react in london to the fact that zaluzhnyi would become the ukrainian ambassador? received it positively? well, let's say this, at the official level, we have no comments yet, because, as you said, agreman has not yet been given his appointment, and as a rule, it is unusual that the discussion of this, let's say, this appointment in ukraine continues while here it is, well, for the general, general expert environment and the press, it was, let’s say, a surprise, because these rumors about his appointment circulated in ukraine, not in great britain, well, zaluzhny’s reputation is very good, here he is known as successful quite a general, who was published in... in the columns of very prestigious publications, such as the economist, so he is definitely a recognizable person, listen, well, ukraine is famous

for political appointments of ambassadors, and in fact , some criticize volodymyr zelensky for this, that he literally replaced the system of diplomatic appointments with the system of political appointments, does not dilute, literally replaced, is this at all welcome in great britain? well, you see, every... country has its own tradition of diplomatic service, if, let's say, take the united states of america , the united states ambassador to great britain, it's very often a political appointment as well, usually, it's, well, influential, rich people who are big donors to one or another party that's in power. for example, france is a country that has a very, let's say, strong bureaucratic structure, kidorsay, the french ministry of foreign affairs promotes only cadres. diplomats, well, great britain belongs to a country where mainly personnel appointments are made to people who, well, let's say, achieve a certain career growth

within the foreign office itself , but in this case i think the appointment will be well received, because he is a man of a very high standard, a decorated military man, with the highest decoration, and it will be an honor for britain. to accept general zaluzhny as an ambassador from ukraine, because it shows, well, let's say, a fairly high level of trust in this country and the strategic importance of bilateral relations, and in general, what was influenced by the fact that for a long time, in there was no london at all of the ukrainian ambassador, is it true that i often read in the western press that in london, well , they were negative about it... they were angry, offended, maybe even at kyiv, well, because in kyiv, you know how they said it, well, they say , why are you worried, we have a very good, warm relationship with britain, it is our key ally,

even if there is no ambassador there, everything is working, or was it really like that? well, let's say , of course, at the highest level, we recently saw very high-profile visits by both the prime minister and lord cameron to ukraine, the foreign minister, and this is an agreement that signed very let's say for the first time the security agreement, so on the one hand it is true, but on the other hand our embassies abroad must ensure uninterrupted work not only at this level, but also regarding, say, the celebration of important dates, as for example the second or 10th anniversary after the annexation of crimea and the 10th anniversary of the russian aggression, here the main events were organized by the united states embassy in great britain, let's say a concert... in support, so at a certain level this work is sagging, and it can be seen that there is no, well, let's say a leader in the embassy who would organize

work with different categories. topics that need to be raised, for example, this is also the topic of russian assets, which are so necessary for ukraine, and the issue of, let's say, their confiscation, transfer to ukraine remains unresolved. please tell me, but knowing, so to speak, the political or the landscape of the british political elite, how much time will it take for someone like a hard worker, on the one hand, he is not a personnel ... on the other hand, you say, he has good reputation in great britain, as far as he is concerned it's going to take time to, you know, get deep into those layers of the british political elite, get along, and really be a useful diplomat. well, you know, i don't know general zaluzhny personally, but if he will orientate himself as quickly as he did on the battlefield, on the diplomatic battlefield, then i think that he will be able to master and... understand this

new profession, in fact, certainly , it will depend on the people to whom he will listen, what priorities he will choose, let's say for his term of office, but let's not forget, that these directions are also set by kyiv, because the ambassador in any country actually carries out the directives he receives from the capital, so here to some extent the field of maneuver is quite limited, and i wonder... how the general will actually feel in this role , because it limits public statements to a certain extent , and also the areas of activity, well, we saw how ambassador prystayko allowed himself one careless public statement and got rid of his position, by the way, this was discussed for a long time in london, some conclusions were drawn from it or what assessment was given to it? i think it's more discussed in kyiv than in london, of course, and you have a very interesting

interview with him. about this about this case, yes , i am here, of course, it was not discussed in that way, because it is considered an internal matter of ukraine, especially ambassadors of such a high level, like ambassadors, well, ambassador presstayko, he also held a very high diplomatic position before he came to great britain, was the minister of foreign affairs, so there is a certain consistency and logic to the fact that ukraine. continues to send high-ranking people, respected people here to london, in order to in order to be able to build this joint, bilateral strategic cooperation and fill it with the city, because these agreements that are signed, they must launch a number of projects, whether it is joint military production, or humanitarian, cultural cooperation, or cooperation between universities, or assistance to thousands of ukrainian refugees , who are also here

and... whose status is not determined, their problems here range from residence to legal status, so there is a large field of work here, you said that one of the challenges before the new ambassador will be the issue of russian assets, so ukraine wants these assets to be transferred, transferred to it, in fact, and what is the perspective in great britain? well, the perspective is better, perhaps, than in other large countries? seven, if you compare with germany or france, here at the level of high management, well at least at the level of the ministry of foreign affairs, lord cameron again spoke in parliament recently and said that it is possible to use these assets as collateral for a loan so that ukraine can attract funds for their military needs, but there are, let's say, people who are in the ministry of finance, people who are in banks.

an influential lobby in the city of london itself, which believes that such a decision can destabilize their financial system and will cause damage and reduce budget revenues. well, from what you described, it is difficult for me to even imagine the challenges before the new ambassador. thank you very much, orysya lutsevich, the head of the ukrainian program chathamhouse joined us from london. thank you. well, what do you think? you can write about zelenskyi's decision to appoint zaluzhnyi as ambassador to great britain in the comments, and we, in turn, asked people in kyiv about it, listen to their answers. i think that the military should be engaged in completely different matters, no, he might be a good ambassador, but with his experience and with his, as they say, knowledge in a country that is at war. i personally think that he was sent there away from ukraine so that he would not interfere with zelensky.