i remember in the early days of donbass, we were concerned about a land grab from donbass across to crimea and a lot of the sanctioning and other support we did to ukraine was designed to ensure that didn't happen and again in 2015 when we worried about -- what the kremlin has achieved now with this bridge is an effort to control the territory without having to police the territory, if you will. so the question becomes, where in march, april, may, june of 2018? i know where george was. i don't know where the rest of the administration and the rest of europe was, the harassment of ukrainian shipping was beginning. as the first efforts to gain control of that territory was beginning. as has already been said, perhaps we didn't want to see. so we waited until the crisis emerged and even after the crisis, where were we in trying to increase our presence in the black sea? we're only just getting there now. where were we in terms of supporting the ukrainian naval capacity? where were we in terms of a fast, ready sanctions reaction? i do commend the administration for the sanctions that were put

they first occupied and went to donbass and we were not created to have a response. it was the sequence. and the question to victoria is you have been referring several times that for you personally it was not unexpected the invasion. that russia did plan this in advance. what is russia's next plan? and if the world has any kind of response for further russian's plans in ukraine. >> thank you for the format question. as you can tell from my comments, i'm a little negatively disposed to the format process because i feel like it's in some ways designed to continue to make us feel better that we have a process that we're addressing something that the other side sees it as simply a tactic to continue to delay and then to push out what they want. so in some ways, we're in this devastating status quo. my concern ask thoughts on this would be much more inciteful than my own, bthat at least for the moldova process and the georgia process, the u.s. is involved at the table. the u.s. is not. and i have always found that a peculiarity. we are stronger together. we bring differe

the first of ukrainians who want to see peace in the donbass know how to stay. still majority of the ukrainians believe that this is. a problem number one and ukraine second. terror of genocide is recall it and. is a second problem terms of its breath or scope about the even come of our people and there are many more reasons there's no end to these problems the current authorities they do what they can. stay in power and over the last year did so many things things as bad as no other government did before i'll give you a number of. prices and. meet for example they. rose by three hundred fifty percent can you imagine that if we take gret four hundred percent vegetables up to four hundred percent rise in prices we'll take care of gas tariffs. rise. central heating. and that's how much the prices. have gone up the income. in europe as well as bunch and retirement benefits the lowest in europe the g.d.p. per capita again. last in europe we are the poorest country in europe. and that's what we became thanks to that government we have the government the authority is

its losses since the outbreak of the war at two hundred million euros key cargo handling from the donbass region has declined when the russians built the crimean bridge it prevented large cargo ships from reaching the sea of hours of russian instituted controls calls long delays and at the end of november the russians attacked ukrainian vessels for the shipping companies the journey is too expensive and too dangerous. the tug boats are not bringing cargo vessels with them today. which is we feel like these two boats they sail out but they bring nothing back there's nothing behind them we work just like them we have strength of potential possibility but we can't use any of it that's our problem because something outside of our control is preventing us. the twins are human and twelve now only work a four day week at the port for two thirds of their regular pay. for the oil it's more than an economic blockade on the whole region is being suffocated. all of the differences left on the ukrainian controlled territory depend on our port in the. state owned companies get support from kiev so far

something that spoken about much given that it's been relatively quiet for the past few years the donbass conflict where people still are dying soldiers mainly but occasionally civilians dying regularly is definitely an issue it's something that cost the country a lot it's also a place where the soldiers have to on a regular basis that is something with more than a million refugees from that area spread all across ukraine that is very present in people's minds but at the moment i think the main real focus of this election this is turning into a plebiscite a referendum about selenski about a new face someone without experience compared to the safe pair of hands that is pushing co potential. because only in care thank you so much. she's inspiring a new generation of climate activists a swedish teenager gratitude and burka began by protesting a low in front of the swedish national parliament since then how weakly friday for future strikes become a global phenomenon today she took the fight to the german capital here in berlin thousands of students skip school to join her demanding urgent cha

down to him but obviously you know being in this kind of situation hearing all the bad news from donbass all the time and seeing your incomes full on good for any incumbent but there is a suggestion that perhaps people are now venting their frustrations but when it comes to the ballot box i say they might think again briefly how much do crimea and the conflicts in the east of the country figure in this election. crimea is basically hasn't been much of an issue the war in the east has been a big issue especially because petro poroshenko is trying to distract from those economic topics by positioning himself as the commander in chief the person who can stand up for ukraine against russia so that conflict is very present and that's something that he's putting all his eggs into that basket and trying to really sell himself as the guy who saved ukraine in ukraine's army nick connelly in thank you what's orange gordy and just a bit of a nuisance novelty garfield phones have been washing up on the otherwise picturesque brittany coast for more than thirty years what's the cause the nation of cle

fourteen famous for preventing russian backed separatists from extending their territorial gains in the donbass region all the way to the sea but mario poll has paid a heavy price it's once busy port sits idle empty of the cargo ships that carried steel and coal produced here to international markets russia's efforts to disrupt sea traffic off the annexed crimea peninsula include illegal cargo inspections and a bridge built across the current strait that's too low for larger vessels heading for mariupol to pass beneath you more but if. they can forgive that our country is in the band until zenda stands that ukraine is a free and democratic country and unfortunately it will be hard to establish these . then late last year an unprovoked russian attack on three ukrainian navy boats twenty four captured ukrainian sailors are still being held in moscow and international shipping is far less frequently seen in these waters since last november's attacks on those ukrainian naval vessel suggested russia had new territorial designs by strangling traded ukraine's two main port from the sea of as of russia

fourteen famous for preventing russian backed separatists from extending their territorial gains in the donbass region all the way to the sea but mario poll has paid a heavy price its once busy port sits idle empty of the cargo ships that carried steel and coal produced here to international markets russia's efforts to disrupt sea traffic off the annexed crimea peninsula include illegal cargo inspections and a bridge built across the curch strait that's too low for larger vessels heading for mariupol to pass beneath you more but if. they can forgive us that our country is in the band until zenda stands that ukraine is a free and democratic country unfortunately it will be hard to establish these. then late last year an unprovoked russian attack on three ukrainian navy boats twenty four captured ukrainian sailors are still being held in moscow and international shipping is far less frequently seen in these waters since last november's attacks on those ukrainian naval vessel suggested russia had new territorial designs by strangling traded ukraine's two main force on the sea of as of russia has t

fourteen famous for preventing russian backed separatists from extending their territorial gains in the donbass region all the way to the sea but mario poll has paid a heavy price its once busy port sits idle empty of the cargo ships that carried steel and coal produced here to international markets russia's efforts to disrupt sea traffic off the annexed crimea peninsula include illegal cargo inspections and a bridge built across the curch strait that's too low for larger vessels heading for mariupol to pass beneath you more but if. they can forgive us that our country is in the band and tells and the stands that ukraine is a free and democratic country unfortunately it will be hard to establish these. then late last year an unprovoked russian attack on three ukrainian navy boats twenty four captured ukrainian sailors are still being held in moscow and international shipping is far less frequently seen in these waters since last november's attacks on those ukrainian naval vessel suggested russia had new territorial designs by strangling traded ukraine's two main force on the sea of as of russia

fourteen famous for preventing russian backed separatists from extending their territorial gains in the donbassregion all the way to the sea but mario poll has paid a heavy price it's once busy port sits idle empty of the cargo ships that carried steel and coal produced here to international markets russia's efforts to disrupt sea traffic off the annexed crimea peninsula include illegal cargo inspections and a bridge built across the current strait that's too low for larger vessels heading for mariupol to pass beneath you more but if. they can forgive us that our country is in the band until zenda stands that ukraine is a free and democratic country unfortunately it will be hard to establish these. then late last year an unprovoked russian attack on three ukrainian navy boats twenty four captured ukrainian sailors are still being held in moscow and international shipping is far less frequently seen in these waters since last november's attacks on those ukrainian naval vessel suggested russia had new territorial designs by strangling traded ukraine's two main port from the sea of as of russia ha

our military aid has been successful in assisting ukrainian efforts along the line of contact in donbass, future military aid must take into account ukraine's need for defensive weapons and assem metric capabilities to counter russian aggression both on land and at sea. only then can ukraine adequately defend its people and sovereignty. in addition to hostile military action, russian intelligence has been working to undermine the upcoming ukrainian presidential and parliamentary elections much like the interference in our own elections in 2016, putin is seeking to sow discord, spread confusion and undermine the democratic system that has taken root in ukraine. this is indicative of russia's global strategy which seeks to drive a wedge between the united states and our allies, undermine democratic governments, and return to an era of power politics in which brute strength rather than the rule of law governs global interactions. china has adopted a similar albeit more subtle and increasingly aggressive strategy in asia with an overarching goal of displacing american global leadership. it i