[000:00:00;00] i believe that we should start training ukrainian pilots on advanced weapons systems, including fighter jets. regardless of whether the biden administration or nato countries decide now to provide these weapons systems or not, training ukrainians on these weapons systems gives them the opportunity to make such a decision if they they don't want to do it now, but they will want to do it, let's say in two months, then there will be no need for additional training time, so at least let's first train the ukrainians and give the united states and our nato allies the flexibility to make this decision later if they want to. republican lawmakers are also talking about the need to transfer modern fighter jets to ukraine. among them is the co-chairman of the senate committee on

foreign relations, jam ryzh. i supported the provision of fighter jets from the very beginning. this is my position. supplied our enemies with fighter jets and trained enemy pilots now it's our time to repay the debt so i've always been strongly in favor of providing fighter jets i don't accept excuses state oh we can't to do this because it will somehow annoy putin or something like that. on the contrary, i want him to wake up in the morning annoyed . i want him to think about what will happen to him if he raises the stakes and increases aggression. i want him to worry about it. instead of us continuing to wring our hands that ukraine should get everything it needs, including fighter jets , us senator sheldon whites agrees, according to him. it is also necessary to establish a mechanism for the transfer of seized russian assets to ukraine. the white house senator is a co-author of the law according to which to the ukrainian authorities and have already handed over the first seized russian

assets, my colleague kateryna lisova asked him more about this, let's start with the latest news, a topic that everyone is discussing now. do you support the provision of fighter jets to ukraine? i think that partners who support ukraine should provide everything that ukrainians need what i hear from our european allies fighter jets are part of the package of those needs i definitely approve let's go back a year a few days to february 24th 2022 here you knew about the russian invasion at that time what were your expectations what were your predictions while at the munich security conference we already knew that russia had decided to invade ukraine and that it would happen in the coming days we were informed about it by our military so we had this awareness based on your expectations and predictions that you heard did the ukrainian defense and the military response of the ukrainians surprise you? yes, i think the success of the ukrainian

military in a direct military confrontation was a surprise for many that it did not turn into a guerrilla war, i was one from those who believed in the ukrainian victory from the very beginning. but i think that the american defense establishment was very surprised by how successful ukraine turned out to be. it was not just a powerful protest of citizens against the invaders . in ukraine after the full-scale invasion of russia. why did you decide to go, first of all, to assure the president and ukrainian officials that despite the rumors coming from a small groups of fringe republicans actually ukraine has strong bipartisan support from the united states we want to continue arming and supporting ukraine and putting economic pressure on russia driver what do you remember most from that trip the first time the air raid started nobody batted an eye everyone was absolutely

calm, we simply moved to another room as if nothing special had happened and continued the meeting for the second time, president zelensky showed confidence and was in a very cheerful mood, it was nice to see the military aid to ukraine evolved into a defense system and tanks, many ukrainians wonder why the us and its allies will not provide everything necessary at once to avoid such a large number of casualties. what is your answer to this question , looking back it really seems that if we had provided different weapons systems earlier it would have been b for the benefit of everyone, for the benefit of ukraine and the entire free world, and i will not be surprised if the pentagon regrets the decisions made. but the first thought that caused concern at the time is that ukraine will not be able to resist if we give the ukrainians more weapons, they will simply go to the russians. and when ukraine began to win, another concern arose. if we give them too powerful weapons with a large radius of action

, they can attack russia. and this, in turn , can provoke the russians to expand the war to the size of the third world war i believe that these were the two main warnings at that time, and the ukrainians responded to both of them extremely effectively, forming their military strategy and restraining their actions on the russian territory, do you think it is fair to advise on the so-called provocation of russia in the end? now we see that russia does not need provocations to commit aggression, this is a very good question , there is currently an active debate about whether we should pay attention to the so-called red lines of russia at all, that this is only part of russian threats, part the russian military strategy to create false red lines in order to gain an advantage on the battlefield on the recognition of russia as a state sponsor of terrorism was raised as a legislative initiative at the level of the resolution and at the level of the bill, but so far neither congress nor the white house seem to want to make such a recognition

. why do you think the administration is cautious about such a recognition in order to find alternative options? we want to start by recognizing the wagner group as a terrorist organization. thus , we could limit their opportunities and apply sanctions to countries and companies that do business with the wagner group is our intermediate step if we can achieve this recognition then we can continue the pressure to the following was the recognition of russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, an important legislative initiative , one of them is yours and it has already become a law, it is about seizing the assets of russian oligarchs, tell me more about how it will work, so far we are doing well in freezing assets, that is, keeping them in place but the moment is really in seizure of assets

. these funds are already in the process of being seized. these funds are undergoing procedures in the ministry of justice and the state department to transfer them to ukraine. what bills in support of ukraine are you and your colleagues working on now, does it concern the seizure of russian assets or other initiatives? we want to continue accelerating the process of seizing the assets of oligarchs. very good know how to hide their connection with assets, but there is a way to speed up this process so that they are obliged to come forward in person and declare their claims and not hide behind layers of corporate schemes, this is actually part of the already existing american legislation. but we want to apply it to assets that amount to less than half a million dollars , that is, to use the same procedure that we use against the assets of russian oligarchs that amount to more than half a million dollars, then we will be able to process such property much faster, seize it

, confiscate it and transfer funds to ukraine in summing up this year, is there anything in your opinion that the united states, nato and allies should have done differently regarding the russian war in ukraine i think that many things should have been different, they made a mistake by underestimating the resilience and determination of the ukrainian people and the ukrainian military, as well as their ability to find solutions even in extreme conditions to give ukrainians today we know the suffering you have to go through, we understand how unfair and wrong the trials that have fallen are to your fate we honor and value human life which you have to pay in the battle between freedom and totalitarianism and we will not leave you effect function it you expect from this year's congresses on the russian war i am expressing my opinion and with one caveat i am not an expert but it seems to me that if the new great russian offensive fails if it turns out that they lack equipment

and materials and that the morale of their soldiers if you can call them that will continue to fall that is there is a very high probability that with better weapons, the ukrainian military can launch a powerful counteroffensive that will lead to an irreversible russian defeat, the ukrainians will defeat the russians in certain areas and return a significant part of the ukrainian territory and then the situation will be such that putin will finally demand a real realistic peace. this was an interview between kateryna lisunova and democrat senator sheldon whitehouse, and you can also watch it on our youtube and other online platforms. this winter, russia bombarded the ukrainian energy grid with hundreds of missiles and drones, millions of people remained without light and heat, but putin failed to freeze ukraine, his plans were broken thanks to the resilience of the ukrainian

people, the heroism of the energeticians and international the former us ambassador to ukraine and now the assistant secretary of state geoffrey, in an interview with oksana batratenko, convinced of the help, paet told why, in his opinion, russia will no longer be taken seriously as an energy supplier in the world, energy is at the center of russia's war against ukraine, russia is attacking the energy infrastructure of ukraine, trying to deprive ukrainians of resources at the same time the kremlin depends on oil revenues to finance the war now a year later what can be said about the russian energy war people i think the most important thing is what we know now this the extraordinary resilience of the ukrainian people, the workers of the ukrainian energy industry, who did so much to prevent putin's attempts to turn winter into a weapon, did not succeed. when i was in kyiv on a december afternoon, the biggest wave of rocket attacks at that time, we were not extremely

impressed by how quickly the ukrenergo workers restored their capabilities. it was an honor for me. to be part of a delegation from various institutions of the us government, the state department, the agency for international development, the ministry of energy, who work together. in order for ukrainians to be able to meet their urgent needs, a lot of work is needed a lot of work to rebuild the energy system, but we were also impressed by what we heard from deputy prime minister kubrakov about the desire to build a more sustainable, more european energy system, which the people of ukraine so deserve. usa spring has come, is there still a sense of urgency to support ukrainian energy or absolutely we the united states and our partners in the group of seven

are fully committed to why every two weeks i spend video calls with partners, employees of the state department, the international development agency of the ministry of energy work with partners in the world and in kyiv every day to determine the necessary requirements and order in one word the necessary equipment that takes time to the united states last year they provided $53 million for additional assistance with equipment for energy networks we are procuring $125 million more equipment for emergency energy support and we have just submitted a request to the us congress for an additional $250 million for new transformers for equipment to increase the reliability of ukraine's energy grid to build a system that depends less on oil and gas and focuses more on renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar energy that ukraine needs when the war is over when ukraine wins, i have every reason to expect that ukraine will restore

its position as a major energy exporter as you well know ukraine has extraordinary resources and we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help the government of ukraine, as the prime minister told me when i was there in december to build for the better the same ukraine, you were the us ambassador to ukraine, you know the country well, what role can ukraine play in european energy security and in europe's transition to green energomash ukraine has one of the largest nuclear capacities in europe and before airstrikes yes, in october ukraine everything still exported electricity to the rest of europe ukraine has fantastic resources of wind and solar energy there is a lot of this i myself have seen many of these objects now in

the occupied territories on the coast of azov of the sea, ukraine is committed to the transition to hydrogen, the use of biomass, as well as the increased use of its own oil and gas resources, much of this can be used more efficiently thanks to modern carbon capture technologies, the reduction of methane emissions into the air, the united states and our european partners seek to carry out these investments together with ukraine, as i said in the long term, ukraine should become the main source of dynamics for the european energy system. ukraine also has significant gas storage facilities, i think it is obvious that war europe will never again allow itself to become dependent on gas supplies coming from russia through pipelines, therefore these gas storages are very valuable and i think ukraine will in many ways regain its central role for european energy and the united states. and i am talking to our companies, they want to be a part of it because it corresponds to the broader desire that president biden stated to be with the people of ukraine as long as

it takes, or have you already heard from american companies that they are interested in investing in ukrainian energy industry, i spoke with many companies of the american energy sector that want to work in ukraine. obviously, they are watching even the events of the war. they are watching the missile attacks from russia, but they also see the opportunities, they see the capabilities and resources that ukraine has, they also see the commitment and financial the commitment of the american people and the us government to participate in the process of rebuilding and restoring ukraine after the war, i want to return to what you said about the new aid package for 250 million, what are the deadlines for providing it in congress, now the process of the legal party, the republicans and democrats of america in ukraine is every time

i see it when i travel to ukraine and talk to people outside washington, i talked to the senate staff and did not hear any significant comments, so i expect that 250 million will be approved by congress as in the past, when this happens we will work with our colleagues at the us department of energy's international development agency with our partners in kyiv to quickly determine what needs to be purchased to to do two things at once: to recover from the extraordinary damage that vladimir putin has caused to ukrainian energy networks since october, and also to help put ukraine on the path of a modern european energy system, the goal set by the ukrainian government of world energy, the international community is doing a lot to limit trade in energy resources with russia, but the sanctions regime is still not universal drop india did not join

the sanctions you recently visited india what is the position there on energy trade with the most important thing for russia is that after february 2022, no one in the world will see russia as a reliable supplier of energy resources. look at the conclusions of the international energy agency, which believes that by 2003 russia's income from oil and gas will drop by 50%, which will be an extraordinary blow and a very sad event for russia and russian society, however. this is a consequence of putin's actions and the fact that he turned oil and gas resources into weapons already from january to december , russia's income began to increase by 38%. this is a gigantic deficit , which is now publicly reported by russia the real numbers are probably even bigger with this war, russia

has caused significant damage to itself and to the oil and gas industry , which was the engine of its economy. from the export of oil and gas, the resources that it uses for the war against ukraine, and also to keep russian oil products on the world market, because we want to avoid a powerful destabilization of the already unstable market limiting the price of oil and oil products works, and this can be seen, for example, from the discount that india received from the normal price of oil. we are working very, very hard so that this war in all senses of the word is only a strategic defeat for vladimir putin and that russia can never again to use oil and gas as a weapon against the rest of the international community, this was oksana batrateinenko's interview with

the us assistant secretary of state already a year after the beginning of the full-scale invasion and about two thousand ukrainians were returned from russian captivity both military and civilians, and if the exchange of prisoners of war takes place within the framework of the geneva convention, then there is no such mechanism for civilians, among those detained by the russians there are not only men, but also women and even children , tell about their experience of being in russian captivity and call for the creation of a special mechanism for the release of civilians to the united states two former prisoners, lyudmila huseinova and anna olsen, came with their stories. they shared with tatiana a fortune teller almost the whole time i was there with a bag on my head, even in the cell in the cell, the windows are smeared with white paint, you can't see anything, i don't know what

's going on outside, any shuryk , any knock on the door. from six in the morning until ten in the evening, you had to stand or walk somehow i got tired and a few minutes earlier i climbed to the second floor to my bunk but we didn't just move out of there and were there you constantly hear the screams of men and women who are being tortured lyudmila husenova who stayed together with her husband to the occupied territories in the donetsk region, she spent more than a month in the infamous prison, isolation in donetsk, she was detained in 2019 for denunciation of the residents of the city of fey for her pro-ukrainian position, and then for more than three years and was kept in a cell of the donetsk sizo together with criminals. i

slept next to a stranger's woman who was suffering from tuberculosis there alone, there are some other diseases, you sleep on one , a crack in the floor is covered with a cloth, there is a toilet, and there we are washing there, we are there, you and i are carrying the dishes with us in october. as part of a women's exchange, she came to the usa together with a combat medic, not olsen, with the purpose of advocacy . a is a senior combat medic of the chemical-biological protection company of the 36th separate brigade of the marines in april . last year, her brigade, which was surrounded by the ilyich plant in mariupol and had almost a thousand wounded after unsuccessful attempts to break through, surrendered as a prisoner, and was imprisoned in a deer camp. and in the kursk and belgorod regions, the worst was in taganros, because it was in taganros that there was more

physical and moral pressure, and not only pressure and also torture in the usa and does not talk about the systematic nature of violations of the geneva conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war by russia, torture , refusal to provide medical care, environmental abuse, lack of food, some fresh porridge diluted with ordinary cold water from the tap, this is the complete absence of meat at all of any, both women say that it is no easier than men to beat them with a handgun. olsen also says that in russian prisons, women are not only not provided with hygiene products, but are often given the opportunity to wash themselves. it is not normal for a driver of a prisoner of war to bathe for more than a month, even for those three minutes under cold water for them, who is normal lyudmila husynova says that in

more than three years she has not had a single meeting with her relatives another woman with whom she was in the same cell olga maleschenko on that at the moment, they haven't seen their child for three years, olga was accused of espionage , it's going to be sunday, she just liked something in support of ukraine on the internet, and there are a lot of such cases and such moms there are a lot of women who are beaten as well as men, but it is possible with a woman make seeds and it happens there, your women have to go through all this psychologically because there are children left there and since the hearts of these women ache as they fight at night for their children , that is scarier than the screams from torture. this is how lyudmila says, the russians want to intimidate

and destroy the resistance of ukrainians, especially the brutality of the personnel prisons, and naosom explains their misunderstanding of ukrainians and the influence of russian propaganda. they do not understand how it is possible to love one's country so much that, uh, now military personnel stand not for life, but for death. for them, this is nonsense, but i tell you i will say this, they have very strong propaganda. they really just have stories on tv where they talk about how we can eat babies, how we are mocked there . women call for the creation of a special mechanism for the release of civilians from russian captivity according to the geneva convention of the geneva convention. for military service but there are no mechanisms to exchange civilians who are also in captivity make these mechanisms help us

free the civilian women and men who there are quite a lot of people there. there are people who have been held there for three to four to five years , and already at the beginning of the full-scale invasion , there are many civilians who have not passed the filtering of the so-called camps. they are also held there. they should be released, according to the ukrainian authorities. at the end of last year in the russian 3,400 ukrainian citizens were held captive, 40% of them civilians tetyana vorozhko oleksiy osyka - voice of america download the voice of america mobile application , the application allows you to automatically bypass blocking thanks to the built-in vpn service read the news, watch informative programs and videos, as well as listen to the podcasts of the ukrainian voice of america service and that's it, we'll say goodbye, also join our

daily briefings at 6 p.m. kyiv time on youtube and facebook, where you can ask us your questions live and we 'll try to answer them also follow us on social networks wash twitter on facebook on youtube instagram and also on telegram and the voice of america telegram channel in ukrainian thank you for staying with us and i wish you a peaceful night and a peaceful morning until see you soon in october, on the occupied right bank of the kherson region, collaborators kidnapped an eight-year-old girl and took her to

the territory of crimea. the search for the child lasted for months. during this time, we received several important calls and messages. finally, at the beginning of this year, we found out that the girl was in the uncontrolled ukraine of feodosia , the difficult process of returning the child home lasted for almost two months, and now i have wonderful news : margarita mityunina is already with her family and now everything is fine with the girl then i went to the authorities, and then my mother came and took you, yes, the story of eight-year-old margarita is very difficult, it turned out that the girl's parents are divorced and live separately, the mother is in vinnytsia and the father is in kherson region, and before the war, margarita lived with her father because

she went to school there . for a disabled person, he takes her to his home, and in the summer it is not long before she comes and studies here . so, margarita met the war together with her father in the village of red mayak, this is the boryslav district of the kherson region, and it was occupied almost at the beginning of the full-scale the invasion of russia there margarita got to know a neighbor girl and quite often went to her family to visit margarita the building had poetry with a girl of the same age whose mother worked for the occupation authorities, the children played and margarita often stayed with this woman for the night when the father came to pick up the child, the woman did not return he motivated the girl by the fact that she would be safer with this woman. this all

happened in september, october. this is probably why the woman in the right bank region did not give margarita to her father, because an accomplice of the russians planned to kidnap the child, realizing that de-occupation and responsibility for working for the enemy were inevitable, she decided to flee to crimea , taking margarita with her , the girl's further fate remained unknown, imagine that for almost three months, the mother did not know where her child was what happened to her ? on december 31, a small clue appeared, similar to margarita, a girl was spotted in feodosia , they turned out to be reliable , margarita's whereabouts were given to him by her mother's contacts volunteers, since police escort was impossible in the occupied territory, the volunteers helped the woman to reach the occupied peninsula so that the mother could finally take her daughter, the route

there and back lasted 14 days, it is very important kyiv , please, then with poland we have already gone through belarus through russia, so there are five more of us there were five letters, i passed all of all the skills, i took care of the child myself, well, too, put him down , then i went, after all, to not one camp, but to all the camps, they took them, one way or another, not only countries, but we already took them back through latvia, lithuania through the search, in the end, this scary story ended. happy endo eight-year-old margarita returned to her home in vinnytsia and now lives with her mother, sister and recently born brother, whom