blinkin added that if the vote on aid to ukraine fails, then moscow, tehran and beijing will win. meanwhile, the senate said it will not have time to vote on security spending this year, which includes additional funding for ukraine and strengthening us border security. after rounds of negotiations on immigration legislation, on which additional aid to ukraine now depends. leaders of democrats and republicans in the senate said they would continue negotiations. already next year, the legislators told about making progress in the negotiations on the border, but added that they need more time, about when we should expect to consider aid to ukraine and what challenges the legislators will face next year , let's talk with our congressional correspondent kateryna lisunova, who joins our studio from capitol hill. congratulations katya. congratulations natalya. katya, what exactly is the senators' statement about, why did they decide. postpone

consideration of assistance for the next year and are new deadlines for its consideration known? here it is worth reminding natalya to our viewers that as recently as last thursday, the leader of the democrats in the senate, actually the leader of the majority in the senate, chuck schumer, stated that already this week the aid to ukraine should be brought before the senate for consideration, and he then stated that it should be done under any conditions. no matter what, quote, already an hour and a half ago, chuck schumer said that today...that is, this wednesday will be the last day of the senate and congressional sessions in 2023. thus, both republicans and democrats agreed that they needed more time to consideration, in particular, of issues related to immigration legislation and directly to the issues of the border of the united states of america, which, i will note, has not been amended in the last 40 years, and what are the issues. which

issue in general is sufficiently controversial in the united states of america and sufficiently partisan and politicized, as the legislators claim, since it is quite difficult to solve it in a few weeks, according to the legislators themselves, as well as american analysts and observers. therefore, after a series of negotiations between the republicans and democrats of the senate , as well as the white house, all representatives of this negotiating group agreed that these negotiations should be continued, that... time is not enough now and that it is necessary to postpone the consideration of this issue of migration legislation, on which assistance to ukraine now depends and help other partners, in particular israel and taiwan, that these issues should be postponed to next year. i suggest listening to a more detailed explanation from both the leader of the republicans and the democrats in the senate right now. concerning of our negotiations on the border, i think it is safe to say. that we have made

significant progress, but it is clearly not enough. the border issue should be part of the administration's overall request for additional funding, which is critical. i think this is the most dangerous time since the fall of the berlin wall, we have the first large-scale war in europe since the second world war. so without a doubt this package is extremely important, it will not be easy but we are working hard to get the result because the country needs it and... it needs it as soon as possible. these are not simple negotiations. we know we need more time, but i'm much more optimistic today than i was last thursday. i am optimistic based on the negotiations that took place last weekend. we have only one way out, we must succeed. the stakes are too high for america, for europe, for the middle east, for the world, period. our goal is to resolve this as soon as we come back from recess, and we're going to find on the... as soon as possible, senator

schumer said, what does that mean in practice when the actual legislators return to work after the holiday break and what their agenda will be next year. katya, can consideration of aid to ukraine be delayed again? in fact, there are such risks, because in general, according to the schedule, the senate returns to work on january 8. i will remind our viewers that yesterday we broadcast the big ones. with congressman mike quigley, a democrat in the house of representatives, who is also the co-chairman of the ukrainian congressional caucus, and so he stated that the most likely consideration for aid to ukraine should be expected in mid-january, but to also remind our viewers that the short-term resolution on the temporary funding of the government, which was agreed in two stages, is coming to an end, at least the first stage already on january 19, and the second on february 2, so already in the middle will be one of the ... important

priorities for the congress - this is to avoid a shutdown, i.e. stop, stop, stop the work of the government, because in general one of the most important priorities at the beginning of next... year for the congress will be to approve the budget for the entire next year for the government of the united states of america, from and this is the issue will become acute already in mid-january, so already next year in mid-january , ukraine may, the issue of ukraine may once again be second or third in the list of priorities in congress and in washington in general. in addition, it is also worth remembering that even if the senate approves a bill on additional aid to ukraine and so on... this will overcome all disputes regarding the border and migration legislation, after it is voted on in the senate, the same bill will have to be put to a vote the panel of representatives, and this means that it will be further considered in the chamber, where the majority

are now republicans, some of whom are categorically against aid to ukraine, so this bill must first overcome all negotiations, overcome the border issue, etc. this legislation will be presented in the senate, then voted on in the house of representatives, and all this must be done before the government again becomes, finds itself on the verge of shutdown. thus , the main risk for ukraine will be again next year in january a question of time, or rather the lack of time, which will not be enough, perhaps, probably, for the consideration of all these issues for the congress, and also perhaps not enough for ukraine, and actually the ukrainian military, which needs military assistance right now. thank you katya for your work, we will definitely monitor the work of the congress in the future. our congress correspondent kateryna lisunova, who monitors the progress of the congress's approval of additional aid to ukraine, was in direct contact with us. and we move on. supreme court

of the state of colorado disqualified former us president donald trump. from participating in the presidential primaries in this state, the primaries that take place in the 50 states, the district of columbia and five us territories that determine who will represent the party in the presidential election in 2024, a court order prohibits the inclusion of president trump's name on the ballot presidential primaries of 2024, or count the votes cast for him. this decision was made because of the role of the ex-president. in the events of january 6 21 years in the usa, when nato broke into the congress building, threatening to disrupt the certification of voting results in the presidential elections. my colleague oksana bedratenko dealt with this case. we have an opportunity to add her to our studio. greetings oksano. congratulations

natalie. oksana, what do you know about the details of this court decision and what its consequences will be for former president donald trump, who, i recalled, is the leader among republicans in ... this presidential campaign. yes, natalia, exactly, as you said, the supreme court of the state of colorado disqualified former us president donald trump from participating in the primaries. these elections will determine who will represent the party in the 2024 presidential election. the court prohibited the nomination of trump and the counting of votes that may be cast for him. observers have already dubbed this decision the... they said it could change the face of next year's us presidential campaign and even end donald trump's political career. donald trump's presidential campaign immediately reacted to these reports, they

called the courts involved and promised to immediately appeal the decision in the main court of the country, that is in the supreme court. the republican party leadership has, as expected, backed its most-ranked politician and already announced a fundraiser for donald trump's legal battle so that he can pay the costs and, as republicans hope, win the dispute, trump himself has not yet commented on the case. however, he met with voters in iowa the day before, and he named. no sentinel of any kind attempts to remove his name from the ballots, and also accused the democrats of trying in any way to keep him out of the election. screw joe biden and the far left lunatics

are desperate to stop us in any way they can, they are willing to violate the us constitution on unprecedented levels to win this election. mentioned that the case can be considered in the last instance by the supreme court of the united states, whose verdict is final. most of the current supreme court justices are conservative. let's mention only a few recent decisions refer. on banning student debt or actually abolishing abortion, which are a reflection of republican positions, what are the chances that the supreme court will rule against the former president, and he will not be able to participate in the presidential race? yes natalya, indeed, this decision is unprecedented, this trial, at the heart of it is the 14th amendment to the constitution, the amendment prohibits you... who took part in riots or uprisings against the constitution, to then

run in elections for positions that must to defend this constitution. and the court by a majority vote, four judges against three, said that there is clear and convincing evidence that donald trump did participate in the riot, referring to the events of january 6, 2021 , when the angry crowd left. to the storming of the us parliament, the capitol, threatening to disrupt the certification of the presidential election, at that time the incumbent us president joe biden won, but there is also a lot of opposition to this decision, three judges spoke against, did not support this decision and justified their position so that so far there is no clear verdict on participation. in these riots, that is why observers say that it is possible that the court will not side with those who

seek disqualification? a very convincing argument, indeed, is that someone who has incited riots against the united states should not be allowed to run for president of the united states. the second part is the position of the defense that there is no verdict against him. other observers point out that the disqualification of former us president donald trump from this election may even open up opportunities for republicans, yes, for example, to give republican voters an opportunity to prepare for the primaries scheduled for march and choose some other candidate, for example, the former white house ethics lawyer still thinks so. i am convinced that

this is the correct interpretation of the third section of the 14th amendment to the constitution, and that the colorado supreme court was correct. there are several options for how the us supreme court might approach the case. the first thing i think the supreme court should do is simply affirm the decision. colorado supreme court and tell others states that trump is disqualified. then the republican party will be able to choose another candidate. there are other highly qualified republican presidential candidates, gov. nikki haley of south carolina and others, and republican voters should be able to elect a qualified candidate. alternatively, the supreme court could allow each state to decide the issue individually. this approach can cause thank you

oksana for your analysis, oksana bedratenko was in direct contact with us, we talked on the colorado supreme court's decision to bar donald trump from running for president in 2024. thank you natalie. more than 200 journalists from ukrainian and international publications were accredited for president zelensky's press conference on december 19, 2023. however, not all those who wanted got to this event, and of those who did, not all had the opportunity to ask the president their question. is there freedom of speech in ukraine, at the end of the second year of the full-scale war, colleagues present at the press conference asked anna kostyuchenko. 150 accredited publications from

ukraine and the world and more than 30 questions to the president, this was the final press conference of volodymyr zelenskyi on december 19, 2023. at the press conference of president zelenskyi, all representatives of publications could freely ask questions, there was no prior approval of the question because there was no specific list of these questions submitted in advance. however, as the president's press secretary noted. of the media admitted to the event, both from the point of view of their reputation and from the point of view of national security. as explained the press secretary of the president, the presence of some publications is inconsistent. we are limited, by the way, by the warnings of our special services regarding some journalists, i personally do not agree with this, but i have to reckon with it. a ukrainian journalist and editor-in-chief of the internet portal censor was also accredited to the west. yuriy botusov. on november 26, volodymyr zelenskyi and butusov had an emotional argument

on air during a press marathon. this is a press conference, questions are asked here, answers are received here. and i think i succeeded this, managed to achieve this. in the case of censornet, there was a fear that it would be a political performance rather than a constructive conversation. pretending that only a certain specific journalist can ask a certain specific question is wrong, there were leading journalists from ukraine, from all over the world, there were publications that received police awards, so to believe that some question remained unanswered, which i.. . really important, well that's wrong. not all present journalists were able to ask their questions in two hours, which caused complaints they expressed to the press service of the president after the event. the second reason for the dissatisfaction of some of the media present was the so-called single news marathon. people don't watch him, they don't trust him, and the state allocates more and more money to him. the project was launched on february 25, 2022,

and six main broadcasters are participating in it. community 1+1 group. starlight media, mediaagrupa ukraine, inter and rada. according to the state budget for 2024 , 1,700 million hryvnias have been allocated for the marathon together with the production of tv series in 2024. in 2023 on the united news and kanal rada spent about uah 600 million from the state budget. however, the fifth and direct channel, which connects with ex-president poroshenko, and the opposition channel espresso-tv are not included in the marathon. representatives of the fifth channel were present at the press conference, although their question was not heard. the voice of america film crew discussed the issue of limiting the work of certain media and the feasibility of the marathon with media representatives before the event. closing the media from the circle of pro-russian media from the circle of medvedchuk, in my opinion, this is the right step, it is a step that gives us security that protects our information

space, but there are still a few doubts about, for example, control of opposition media. well, and the marathon itself, there are a few questions about its existence, about the purpose of its existence, currently and mainly about its financing. the united news marathon limits certain freedoms of journalists, believes war correspondent iryna sampan, who represented public radio on... and also works for the youtube channel butusov plus. you can work freely and independently, but the main thing is that everything rests on a single marathon, which are journalists they themselves are already saying that it is not needed already in the second year of the war, because everything comes from a single

center, the whole agenda, plus it has not yet been completed. and rightly so, because many viewers say that panic sets in, such a bad mood sets in, and so on, and there were many studies by the media detector and all kinds of media organizations, that it is no longer needed, it has exhausted itself. orest drymalovskyi, a tv presenter from the starlight media group, which is actually part of the one news project, defended the marathon. the only news marathon played a very important role in the beginning. of the full-scale invasion of russia, in the first days, when there is chaos, people are running , leaving, there is a lack of information, the internet hangs , you can only draw from telegrams, and there is, of course, russian ipso, a lot of fakes, unverified information, and i am sure that in this first week of a full-scale invasion

the single news marathon played a very important role in the state, broadcasting was not interrupted. and failed to hack our broadcast system, it was very important, are you asking me questions about the feasibility of the marathon the only news in the second year of a full-scale war, a question that i understand worries many in society, it is difficult for me to answer, because i work precisely in the marathon, the day of the news, i know for sure that we are also performing important tasks in our time, this can be seen and in terms of information and... coverage of the events taking place at the front, of course we have a certain, certain specifics of what we can expose to the public, what we can show in order not to harm... our state, our defense forces. according to catalina, a journalist from south america gomez, war naturally imposes certain restrictions on the media from a national

security perspective. i think as a country at war, the media has to make a certain sacrifice in terms of when to report on certain events and when to stay silent on matters of national security, it's a difficult decision for many journalists, when to stay silent and when to speak, i think what is this... italian journalist giorgio provenciaalli from the lara jone publication says that he does not feel any restrictions in his work in ukraine. i am very satisfied with the way zelenskyi and his government are behaving, that's why that many italian publications previously reported that there is no freedom of speech in ukraine, and supports this statement. propaganda, because this is not true, i would like to ask president zelensky about his opinion on the spread of russian propaganda in italy, because many representatives of the italian media are no longer here, me and my

girlfriend have been here since the beginning of the war, and many of my colleagues have left, they are not here, but will spread what they read in telegram and on russian channels. in two hours, the journalists present managed to give the president of ukraine 32 question. wanting to ask, they raised a sign with the name of their publication, and serhii nikirov... the voice of america film crew did not get a chance to ask the president a question. anna kostyuchenko, pavel sukhodolskyi for voice of america from kyiv. on tuesday, one of the largest famous buildings in new york, the empire style building, was once again illuminated with the colors of the ukrainian flag. and the ukrainian philanthropist, performed by the children's choir moloda dumka, got tired of the iconic song. for americans and tourists at central station in new york. the action was organized to once again turn the attention of the usa and the world to the ukrainian children kidnapped by russia.

for details, see the report by iryna solomko and pavel terekhov. blown buildings of the world, every year 67 million passengers pass through the station, now is such a time, christmas, many people think more about

the celebration, at a time when thousands of ukrainian children will not be able to be at christmas and other holidays with their parents in a russian colony, we thought for a long time how to combine the theme of christmas with the problem of ukraine and... decided that no one can tell better than children about children's problems, and the cultural initiative of the christmas carol is the most comprehensive tool we hope for. kateryna pavlevich, volunteer of the public organization razom and co-organizer of the action. he says that among the young performers there are several children who experienced the russian invasion and were forced to leave ukraine. maryet ggamel is another co-organizer of the action, she represents the initiative. russian opposition politician gari kasparov, american colonel alexander

windman and billionaire businessman daniel lobetskiy now is the time when american families gather on christmas eve, and everyone thinks about families, about being together and celebrating, and we want to make sure that everyone knows that there are 20,000 children and 20,000 families who will not . celebrate the holidays together, if we don't stand together with ukraine, if we don't talk and raise awareness about this, then these children may never return home. the organizers sought to draw maximum attention to the issue of the deportation of ukrainian children, therefore, in addition to the speech of young minds at grentzen.

i can't even tell you how happy i am to be back home tonight and see the empire state building lit up in the colors of the ukrainian flag, let's not forget the struggle of the ukrainian people, let's not forget the nearly 20,000 ukrainian children who were kidnapped from their homes and taken across the border to russia, i'm incredibly grateful that we're going to have this one night in... in these colors, i'd love to see them burn until every child comes home, so i hope when you see these lights tonight, it will remind you not only of ukraine, but also of your grandparents and the struggle they went through to get you here. to increase attention, the organizers also created video graphics with almost 20 thousand christmas socks, a symbol of american christmas, in which santa

claus puts gifts to children. we wanted to visualize how many children are missing, because when you say a number, it's just a number, so by visualizing it with christmas socks, we show that they will be empty because these children are not with their families, they are not at home. the organizers projected video graphics on the building of the central station, as well as on the brooklyn bridge, another symbol of the multimillion-dollar city. 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. that's it, we'll say goodbye, you've

watched the program. voice of america, time time. also join our daily briefings from monday to friday at 18:00 kyiv time on youtube and facebook, where you can ask your questions live to our presenters yulia yarmolenko and ostap yarysh. thank you for trusting the ukrainian voice of america service. i am natalya leonova, good night and good morning. we are looking for 17-year-old denys smirnov from odesa. the boy disappeared on st. nicholas day , december 6. i know that he was in the hospital and

voluntarily left it around 12 o'clock in the afternoon. the boy never returned home, and no one knows where he is now. the police say that denis has never run away from home before and they really hope for your help. so, pay attention to the photo: denys smirnov looks a little older than his 17 years. he is slim, about 175cm tall, with short dark hair and dark eyes. if suddenly someone has seen the boy or knows where he might be now, do not... delay and immediately call us on the hotline of the magnolia child tracing service at the short number 11630. calls from any ukrainian mobile operator are free, or write to the chatbot services search for children in telegram. any information is important. i also want to remind you about the search for 16-year-old karina kanivets from the kherson region. her mother told us about the girl's disappearance.

imagine, a woman already... doesn't know anything about her daughter's fate for six months, i've turned to everywhere i can, i'm already screaming as much as i can, it 's like they tied my hands and told me to swim, here i am at the moment in such a situation, that's how it turned out that karina's parents had separated long before the start of the war and lived separately, the girl permanently lived with mother, but on the eve of the full-scale invasion, she was with her father, and when the russians entered, she found herself in the occupied territory. from time to time, the woman says, she corresponded with her daughter on social networks, but in april the connection with karina mysteriously ended. the girl has stopped logging into her accounts, and no one knows where she is now, she has already written everywhere, even here on this territory to look for a child, because i don’t know where they are shouting anymore, how to find a child, i can’t, i am adequate mother, for me is a child.