which, including those that go, are exported to ukraine, president joe biden spoke about the importance of this bridge during today's briefing, please listen to his direct speech. last year, the port of baltimore handled a record number of cargoes, making it one of the most important ports in america for both the import and export of cars and light trucks. approximately 850 thousand. of vehicles pass through this port every year, and we will restore it as soon as possible . 15 thousand jobs depend on this port and we will do everything possible to protect those jobs and help those workers. the bridge is also critical not just to baltimore, but to the entire northeast. over 30,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day, which is vital to the north east's economy and quality of life. thank you very much,

andrii borys, a correspondent of the ukrainian voice of america service, contacted us from the scene of the incident in baltimore near the bridge that collapsed on the night of march 26. on march 25 , foreign ministers arrived in washington on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of joining nato latvia, lithuania and estonia. in an address to the press before the meeting. with us secretary of state anthony blinken, the ministers confirmed the importance of nato for the security of these countries and the whole of europe. also in washington, they emphasized the importance of providing weapons to ukraine and the need for american leadership in supporting ukraine. we watched the so-called elections a week ago. now he will go all out. i think we will see full mobilization. there will also be a change.

rhetoricians, they say, now this is not a special operation, but a full-scale war, so we must give the ukrainians have what they are asking for: weapons, ammunition, and we do not need to take part in hostilities now, we must be sure about the prospects for ukraine to become a full member of nato, because the existence of so-called gray zones, neutrality near the russian borders is green light for putin. russia started this war with approximately 800,000 military personnel. now they have about 1.2 million regular army and about half a million of them are in ukraine. and recently, their minister of defense in a couple of days announced before the terrorist attack in moscow that they were going to further expand their regular army. we may be talking about 1.7 million military personnel. before world war ii, great britain spent 4% of its gdp on defense. during the war, they spent 40% on defense. so...

this gives you an idea why it is cheaper and more efficient to win in ukraine than to spend 10 times more in a couple of years. there is no substitute for american leadership, especially when it comes to security in the transatlantic region. without your leadership, i don't think we will be happy end. russia continues to strike energy facilities in ukraine. since last friday, 200,000 people have been without electricity in kharkiv oblast and zaporizhzhia, and today. left tens of thousands without electricity in odessa. spectators say that the power generation was damaged by the strikes, which is extremely difficult to restore, and they assume that russian energy workers are helping the kremlin to strike ukraine. however, why are these attacks happening now and what can the west and ukraine do to restore energy supplies? oksana bodratenko talked with western analysts. damages from russia's march attacks on ukraine's energy infrastructure are still being assessed, but already. obviously, we are talking about billions,

the ministry of energy says. suppliers report that it will take months to repair energy facilities, and it will take years to restore dniprogez. the russians knew where to hit to cause the most damage, according to british analyst aura sabadus. this means that they work with energy experts on their side, who know exactly the ukrainian system, and probably help the military strike key targets. of ukraine. i wouldn't be surprised if engineers and power engineers with detailed knowledge of the system from soviet times support russian military strikes on ukrainian facilities. although many predicted large-scale energy strikes in the winter, the biggest attack came in the spring. benjamin schmidt, a researcher at the university of pennsylvania and harvard, says russia is trying to take advantage of the delay in us aid. this forces ukraine. use

more and more anti-aircraft defenses against the attack now that the us is not replenishing the artillery and necessary anti-aircraft weapons. we must immediately approve the supplementary bill. to significantly replenish ukraine's reserves and change putin's calculations regarding the bombings. ukrainian energy workers have proven that they are resilient. the european energy grid, to which ukraine was already connected during the war at the end of last year, also helps. ukraine is doing absolutely supernatural, superhuman work to keep the light burning. ukrainian engineers sacrifice their lives so that there is light. but the reality is that ukraine needs defense. it is necessary to protect the infrastructure. it is the same in the limitation of ability russia to wage war. analysts say that ukraine itself makes a big contribution by attacking russian oil refineries. according to schmidt, these physical restrictions can be seen as more effective than the sanctions of the west. these

are legitimate military goals from the point of view of the ukrainians, and they believe that in this way they are introducing physical sanctions against the russian energy industry, when the western sanctions... did not have the necessary effect, and such sanctions were announced: for example, the price limit on oil was introduced in december 22- th year, but at the level of 60 dollars per barrel, too high, nothing happened , it's a set it and forget it policy, as a result little enforcement action was taken, only 20 ships of the massive russian shadow fleet were sanctioned, and we guess at that point, if you don't want ukraine to attack to russian oil refineries, the international community should really implement sanctions and export restrictions against russia. sabadus is already convinced that immediate western sanctions against the russian regime are necessary for helping russian terror. rosatom helps the army, and it is extraordinary that

there are still no sanctions against them, because they allowed the army to store ammunition on the territory of zaporizhzhya as. there are also documented reports that they facilitate terrorist ukraine strikes military targets, and russia fires on civilians, schmitt points out. putin wants to do the worst for ordinary citizens. i think the russians hope that the ukrainian citizens will be so tired that they will put pressure on the government to agree on some kind of ceasefire and hand over the territory to the russian federation. i have bad news for you, vladimir putin. i don't think that will happen. ukrainians are very clearly showing that they will never surrender their territorial integrity and sovereignty. using the energy industry as a weapon is putin's usual tactic, and russian energy companies are helping the regime, observers say. sabadus separately emphasizes

the role of rosatom, who helps the occupiers terrorize ukrainian workers in the military. oksana bedratenko, oleksii osyka, voice of america. ukraine is already winning by creating. strategic military alliances and building their own western future at the same time, the war in europe will not stop, even if the war in ukraine subsides. these and other thoughts were shared with the voice of america by the author of the new book the collision of the origins of the war in ukraine and new global instability. professor, head of the history department at the catholic university of america, former adviser at the state department, michael kimidge. in an interview with natalia leonova, he talked about the impact of the full-scale russian invasion of ukraine on the world, changes in western aid to ukraine and his vision of ukraine's victory. he february 24th, what was that coincidence, that perfect storm that gave putin the green light to invade ukraine on february 24, 2022. there was a peculiar period

of uncertainty in europe. angela merkel recently left the position of chancellor. scholz. the new chancellor, i think in putin's estimation, this was a moment of change in european politics. regarding ukraine, it is difficult for me to say exactly how putin perceived the situation, there must have been a lack of respect for president zelensky. for the united states, putin interpreted biden as a weak leader, perhaps not personally him, but that he did not have the full support of the entire american population. he saw american society as polarized. he perceived the event of january 6 as a sign of internal instability. for the united states, the withdrawal from afghanistan in august 2021 once again spoke of the peculiar weakness of the united states on the international stage. these are some of the external factors that encouraged putin to decide to invade. a full-scale

invasion began just over two years ago, a major war 10 years ago. many historians this is a bleak moment for ukraine and its partners, but perhaps more in the sense of narrative than in reality. the counterattack did not do what i had hoped for. russia has built up its military capabilities through domestic production and with the help of north korea and iran, and has achieved several successes on the battlefield. so this is not the kind of war story that can be told about the first one. year, when the defense of kyiv took place, the counteroffensive in the kharkiv region, these were all outstanding ukrainian

successes, now it is not the same mood, but i would very wanted to challenge this narrative with the help of analytics: after two years of war, russia, having one of the largest armies in the world , occupied approximately 17-18% of the territory of ukraine, which is surprisingly little by any standards. what russia cannot do is conquer any medium or large city in ukraine. ukrainian city. simply unavailable to russia, the russians lack the material base and personnel for this, and if russia cannot take the big cities, it cannot change the political calculations, and therefore cannot win the war. many in ukraine believes that ukraine will win this war only and exclusively when russia in its current state ceases to exist, otherwise ukraine will live under constant threat. do you think that ukraine's partners understand this?

in theory, i agree with that, but i'll start with russia, russia is a nuclear power, so it's not a country that can be defeated like nazi germany or imperial japan in world war ii. in a certain sense, only russia can defeat itself. and how could she defeat herself in this war, that if there will be a change of leadership, but i must say that i do not feel real optimism about this, even if there was a change of leadership, i do not think that the principled russian position towards ukraine, europe or the united states will change, and therefore i believe that such principled hostility position russia will take in the foreseeable future, but i think there are a number of strategic solutions that can ensure the survival of ukraine while preserving its territorial integrity and... sovereignty, and here the real question is only the size of the wall that will have to be to build between russia and the west. if this

wall is built high enough, if it is effective enough, then russia will not be able to invade. but even now the west gives ukraine exactly enough to withstand, but not win. but the reasons for this, i think, are not strategic. i think the white house would be happy to give ukraine 120 billion in aid right now. but they can't handle 60ma because of internal political problems on the capitalist hill, so i don't think that in germany, france, great britain and the united states has the strategic will to go to a certain limit, but further. i think all the executive branches of these governments want to go further, but you have a shaky coalition in germany, a somewhat weak chancellor. i think britain has done quite a lot. despite the changes in the government. yes, britain, i believe, is probably the most followed of all european countries. devoted to the defense of ukraine. france, you know, they make grandiose statements, but they are often quite slow in practice.

the us is just confused, but i'm not i think it's because of russia. this confusion extends to domestic american politics. in other words, if the democrats take control of the house of representatives and biden is re-elected, i would expect a significant increase in aid to ukraine in 2025, and this would be for strategic reasons. you write about... the consequences of russia's war against ukraine for the world, one of them is the war in europe, and it sounds very disturbing: the war in europe will not stop even if the war in ukraine subsides. this is very pessimistic. so what's the strategy: accept that we all will live in a state of permanent war? yes, i think it is necessary to accept it, it is very sad and bitter to admit such a reality, but then again... history returns to moscow. if moscow wants a buffer zone, a zone of territorial control, which is very

consistent with russian history, soviet history, russian and imperial history, if russia is not going to back down from that ambition, if russia still has the capacity to do something in the name of that ambition, we will have to deal with the consequences of this, which are of a military nature. so, whether does that mean the war will be as it is now or for the last two years? no , but this is not the end of the war, because moscow has the desire to wage this war, it has to be accepted, so we have to learn from the past, in 2014 and 2015 there was no acceptance... of this fact, and ukraine paid the highest price for it, so this mistake cannot be repeated, it confirms the rather bleak and sad reality that this is not a conflict of years, it is a conflict of decades. michael, when you say buffer zone, where are the boundaries of that buffer zone? no one knows. putin

said that russia has no borders. you know, it's hard to define geographically. there is no mountain range or river to define the boundary of the buffer zone. i don't think that russia itself knows how far it can push this project. you know, in russia's foreign policy there is a tradition of equating territory with security. the more territory under control, the safer you are, but for russia, in reality, it often does not work out that way. how do you see ukraine's victory, what determines ukraine's victory? there are two elements of ukraine's victory, and both of them are already present. so, this is not a hypothetical situation or a distant future, these are the foundations on which you can build. and the first element is defense capability, offensive power to return the occupied territories as well, but the ability to defend the country, this will be a long-term

project on which ukraine will be able to work with its partners, which it will have several. opponents, air defense, artillery and tanks. the second element is already being implemented, and it is the integration of ukraine into wider european and transatlantic structures. i think if it is measured only by eu and nato membership, or membership or nothing, i think this is a misunderstanding of the situation. there are degrees, there are nuances, you already have an association agreement signed between ukraine and the european union. in 2015 , nato membership, i think, will be difficult under the current circumstances, but there are many ways in which ukraine can cooperate with nato, conducting exercises, providing technology, equipment, etc. and of course, the road to europe is being built as we speak. so, no matter how terrible this war was and will continue to be for some time, it is an exaggeration of optimism that allows us

to build something for ukraine and will continue to do so to do in the future, but it will not be easy, fast and 100%. victory, which in my opinion would be the wrong criterion. eight selected ukrainian fashion brands took part in los angeles fashion week for the first time. the special show generated a lot of interest among local fashion experts. khrystyna shevchenko attended the show. los angeles fashion week - clothes only from ukrainian designers. this is the final stage of the ukrainian fashion forward project. ukrainian fashion forward. the program was created by the first enterprise and innovation center of ukraine. start up ukraine to help ukrainian fashion brands enter the world market. but this experience

that exists today, during the los angeles fashion week, is, as they say, an experience here and now. for eight designers to get, to understand the market, to show themselves, and thanks to this experience to build their business strategies, but this is about business, and my global goal and mission is the promotion of may abroad. at fashion week in los angeles , eight ukrainian designers were presented, one of them is andratan, a well-known name in ukrainian fashion world. i urge all people to open their eyes and look. what's happening now in my country, so it's very important that we show our culture, that it's not only embroidered clothes, but that it's very, very modern clothes, very from sustainability fabrics, that these clothes are also

sexy, because everyone believe that only american designers can make sexy. the three-month ukrainian fashion forward program consisted of building a strategy for entering the us market and master classes with american experts in the world of fashion. before to get to fashion week, the participants also had the opportunity to show collections at the los angeles fair, in one of the most prestigious new mart showrooms. eight designers were selected from almost 100 candidates. all of them were chosen not only for their talent, but also for their courage, as they continue to work in war conditions. first of all, i want to show that despite the war, ukrainian women are strong, independent, sexy, beautiful, and they are showing it to the whole world. especially in our swimsuits, i got a message that i was one of the those who will go to los angeles, i started to cry, my hands were just shaking, i was

at a concert and i could not think about anything else, only about my show, and this was really my dream. american models, who showed ukrainian clothes for the first time, say that they felt a special responsibility. i really like the costume, i'm very... enthusiastic about the show, i'm very happy that i have the opportunity to support ukrainian brands, and i'm happy to be here. this collection is from must have, and i fell in love with it, i tried it on she looked so cool. we do great things and look at us, we all look great. the next step of the project will be to find opportunities to enter the american market. khrystyna shevchenko from los angeles. for the voice of america. download the voice of america mobile application. the application allows you to bypass blocking automatically thanks to the built-in vpn service. read news, watch

informative programs and videos, and also listen to podcasts of the ukrainian voice of america service. on this we will say goodbye. subscribe to the new pages of the voice of america in ukrainian, in whatsapp and viber. also see ours. for kyiv. thank you for staying with us, good night and good morning. before meeting.

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there's my boy. glory to ukraine, this is the verdict program, my name is serhii rudenko, i congratulate everyone and wish you all

the best. health. for the next two hours, we will talk about ukraine, the world, the war, and our victory. today in the program. kill them all, after the terrorist attack in moscow, the kremlin is thirsty for blood. who is the fsb's fable about ukraine's involvement in islamist actions aimed at? the first step to dictatorship. servants of the people propose life imprisonment for misappropriation of state functions. who are they trying to intimidate? cultural collaborators, people's artists of ukraine in the service of the kremlin. how russia uses ukrainian singers in the war with ukraine. over the next hour, we will talk about this and other things with our guests yuriy lutsenko, yevhen magda and igor kondratyuk. in the second part of our program , we will have people's deputies of ukraine, mykyta poturaev, rostislav pavlenko and yaroslav zheliznyak as guests. however, before starting our big conversation. let's watch

a video of how the volyn teroboronivtsi of the hundredth separate using the fpv drone of the territorial brigade of the armed forces of ukraine destroyed a russian t-80 tank. let's see.

friends, we are working live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms, for those who are currently watching us live there. please take part in our vote. today we ask you about the following: do you see threats to democracy in ukraine today? yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, if you sit and watch our telecast, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote if you see it. what is threat to democracy in ukraine 0800-211-381, no, 0800-211-382. please vote, at the end of the program we will sum up the results of this vote. i would like to introduce today's first guest, yuriy lutsenko, a ukrainian politician, former prosecutor general of ukraine and former minister of internal affairs, and now a captain of the armed forces of ukraine, yuriy vitaliyovych, i congratulate you and i am glad that you are with us today.

good evening, greetings to everyone, since. yuri vitaliyovych, today we are asking our viewers and tv viewers about the threat of democracy, is there now a threat to democracy in ukraine, let's take a blitz-survey format, i will ask you, is there now a threat to democracy in ukraine? yes, there are two of them, one is external, because putin is fighting precisely against democratic ukraine, which poses a threat to the kremlin empire, and the second threat is internal, when the authoritarian tendencies of president zelensky even... where it is not necessary, during martial law, tries to establish sole rule. thank you, yuri vitaliyovych, let's start our conversation with personnel rotations. today, zelenskyi removed oleksiy danilov from the position of secretary of the national security and defense council, he appointed oleksandr lytvynenko, who until now headed the foreign intelligence service, in his place, and oleh ivashchenko, who was the first deputy, was appointed as the head of the foreign intelligence service.