aid was in the national interests of the united states and critical to ukraine's security a country that had been invaded by russia from her office in the pentagon this cooper oversaw significant amount of security assistance flowing to ukraine and was involved in efforts to understand and reverse the suspension of nearly 400000000 in u.s. aid cooper along with others learned about the freeze during a series of interagency meetings in the last 2 weeks of july at the 1st meeting on july 18th and on the representative relayed that quote the white house chief of staff has conveyed that the president has concerns about ukraine and ukraine security assistance unquote and that a hold had been ordered by the president no explanation was provided all of the agencies responsible for ukraine policy supported security assistance and advocated for lifting of the hold the only dissenting voice was the office of management and budget which was following the orders of president trump and still no good explanation of the hold was provided while the 8 suspension had not been made public word was getting out catherine croft special

do you think that it was russia or ukraine that is responsible for the dnc hack? >> well i trust our intelligence officers. certainly let me just tell you -- >> so russia. >> who cares? >> but your boss cares. >> well hold on. my boss won. he became the president. even though people predicted that he couldn't do it. or that he wouldn't last. or that she could have a recount or that we're going to have mueller. then we'll have -- >> does he accept that it was russia and not ukraine. >> he accepts the election results. >> i'm not asking about the election results, i'm asking did -- no, no, that is not what i'm asking. kelly anne, i'm asking about the u.s. intelligence conclusion that it was russia and not ukraine. i just want to know from you, given the newly released memos that paul manafort was saying that it was actually -- >> paul manafort had long been fired. >> but the president repeats that conspiracy. do you believe that -- >> as you go on tv every single day, not talking about -- >> i'm talking about the president of the united states, does he believe that i

ukraine's security. the country that had been invaded by russia. om her office in the pentagon, miss cooper oversaw significant amount of security assistance flowing to ukraine and was involved in efforts to understand and reverse the suspension of nearly $400 million in u.s. aide. cooper along with others learned about the freeze during a series of interagency meetings in the last two weeks of july. at the first meeting, on july 18th, an omb representative relayed that the white house chief of staff has conveyed that the president has concerns about ukraine and ukraine security assistance, unquote. and that a hold had been ordered by the president. no explanation was provided. all of the agencies responsible for ukraine policy supported security assistance and advocates for lifting of the hold. the only dissenting voice was the office of management and budget which was following the orders of president trump and still no good explanation of the hold was provided. while the aid suspension had not been made public word was getting out. catherine crof

the obama doctrine in ukraine says in part, as regards due to role conflict between ukraine and russiathis is march 2016. president obama said ukraine is a court interest in a way that is not for the united states. he noted since ukraine does not belong to nato it is vulnerable to russian military domination and we have to be very clear about what her court is and what we will do to go to war. it is hard to dispute these points except that the president set up a strawman, that president being obama. the united states could've done more, resist the kremlin's with war with russia. here we have the new york times, this is dated june 2015. with the peace process and violent escalating in ukraine at a bipartisan coalition in congress is defined obama and european allies for pressing the administration to provide weapons to the embattled nation. to push for lawmakers to arm ukraine's legal armed forces, threatens to open a risk between the united states and allies. especially germany and france. germany, ring a bell? what's the president say, germany needs to step up and help pay two. at a t

and the ukraine the americans know that russia will never have the car if we want it in soviet times that is why the americans now have a foothold in ukraine and then not prepared to relinquish even if that means corridor hundreds of millions of dollars each year the americans know this shit importance of it and look at nato pizza not only are they establishing and naval presence at odessa but they're also establishing a naval presence at another very. calls ukrainian calls. also calls now that just demonstrates why ukraine is all so much importance to america ok but also what people view of and you can see that if you create and other joints nato then russia will be a league and circles on its western borders ukraine is the missing piece in the jigsaw for america and now it's ok well clearly you know at the same time in you me if you going back to these hearings here if you got the impression that it's the united states that has to prove its bona fide is that it is a good our why of ukraine it's all upside down ok because we all know or anyone that knows something abo

in 2014 it's a win for ukraine because russia was objecting very heavily against this this case because it's out it has no jurisdiction and we can actually solve this case still between ukraine and russia itself but now this will be a very strong international instrument that ukraine has against russia although the case will take a while to develop and probably will be finished only in a few years from now if russia loses the case it's also possible that it has to pay compensation to the victims in the east of ukraine or even in the crimea but also this is also raising questions about how this is going to affect the peace process that it's been under way now the new president's alinsky is in power since a few months he has basically of pushed this peace for process forward the will be another. the troops withdrawal 3 on saturday between the 2 forces one ukrainian forces on one side and the russian backed rebels on the other side there has been some protest in ukraine against this peace process that this is a capitalization to rus

, maybe that is what folks in ukraine want. to have russiacrimea. so that is one of the reasons we know that folks in ukraine were disturbed by this presidentbaez seemed to take russia's side in the ukraine fight. >> and keep in mind this means as devin nunes sat on the dais in congress and he did so with the full knowledge that the u.s. intelligence community had warned him that the message he was spreading was russian propaganda. this is another example of republicans placing essentially their personal political interests and the political interest of the president of the united states who they will zee fend at all costs even at the expense of u.s. national security. that itself is just astonishing. it is emblematic of the degree to which the republican party has become a wholly own subsidiary of donald trump. >> go ahead. >> i think the point is right. i would distinguish between what we see from the president and republicans in congress, from the president, his repeating this discredited idea is a continuation of actions that he has taken

we see the potential in ukraine russia sees a contrast sees the risk the history is not written yet but ukraine could move out of russia's orbit and now ukraine is a battleground for great power competition with a hot war for the control of territory in a hybrid war to control ukraine's leadership the us has provided significant security assistance since the onset of the war against russia and 2014 and the trumpet ministrations strengthened our policy by approving the provision to ukraine of anti-tank missiles known as javelins supporting ukraine is the right thing to do it's also the smart thing to do if russia prevails in ukraine falls to russian dominion we can expect to see other attempts by russia to expand its territory and its influence as critical as the war against russia is ukraine struggling democracy has an equally important challenge battling the soviet legacy of corruption which is pervaded ukraine's government corruption makes ukraine's leaders ever vulnerable to russia and the ukrainian people understand that that's why they launched the revolution of dignity in 2014 dem

aide was in the national interests of the united states, and critical to ukraine's security, a country that have been invaded by russiaom her office and the pentagon, ms. cooper oversaw a significant amount of security assistance flowing to ukraine and was involved in efforts to understand and reverse the suspension of nearly 400 million in u.s. aid. cooper, along with others, learned cooper learned of the meetings in the last weeks of july. on july 18, a representative relayed the white house chief of staff has conveyed that the president has concerns about ukraine and that a hold had been ordered by the president. no explanation was provided. all of the agencies responsible for ukraine policy supported security assistance and advocated for lifting of the hold. the only dissenting voice was the office of management and budget which was following the orders of president trump, and still no good explanation of the hold was provided. while the aid suspension had not been made public, word was getting out. catherine croft, special advisor for ukraine negotiations who worked closely with ambassador volker and who testifie

, russia ceases to be an empire. but with ukraine and in subordinated russia automatically becomes the empire. your thoughts on how this puts into context today please? >> sir, i think that's a very powerful inaccurate quote. >> i would agree. >> you talk about emails that you are drawing to you or tension. they were sent to your staff, is that correct? >> the emails of that discuss this evening emails sent to my staff that is correct. >> first of all, it's important to point this out. it's not something you are aware of but the larger issue that the defense department and state department had refused to comply with the newly subpoenaed to provide this committee with documents and precisely that the ukraine's knew about it. this isn't something you're aware of but there was untold information out there being blocked that would draw greater light and help us understand. is there anything else out there that you are aware of or the possibilities that are out there with d.o.d. or the state department which can help a shed light on what

ukraine. that benefits russia, right? the president was holding up aid to ukraine to try to pressure them to cook up these investigations to help them against the democrats in 2020. but in using ukraine that way and in putting on ice hundreds of millions of dollars of u.s. aid to them, he hurt them. he hurt their national security. he specifically as bill taylor just explained there yesterday, he hurt their negotiating position visa vi russia with whom they are in a war right now. which means russia benefits from trump doing that. from trump withholding that military aid, russia benefits from that because it shows that ukraine doesn't have the kind of american and international support that ukraine might have thought they had. and so they're weaker than everybody thought they were. they're more at russia's mercy. right, even with the military aid now being forced to be released because of this scandal, that's how this thing is shaking out now, in terms of who benefits. quote, in the past american diplomats worked closely w

ukraine security. a country that had been invaded by russia. from her office in the pentagon ms. ooper oversaw significant amount of security systems flowing to ukraine and was involved in efforts to understand and reverse the suspension of nearly 400 million in u.s. aide. cooper along with others during about the freeze a series of's interagency meetings the last two weeks of july. at the first meeting on july 18 and owen be representative relayed that "the white house chief of staff has conveyed that the president has concerns about ukraine and ukraine security assistance". and a whole had been ordered by the president. no explanation was provided. all of the agencies responsible for ukraine policy supported security assistance and advocated for lifting of the hold. the only dissenting voice was the office of management and budget, which was following the orders of president trump. and still no good explanation of the hold was provided. while the eight suspension had not been made public, word was getting out, catherine croft, special advisor for ukraine negotiations work closel

>> russia violated the sovereignty of ukraine's territory. russia illegally annexed territory belonging to ukraine. they also denied ukraine access to its naval fleet at the time, and to this day russia is crimeag capability on designed to expand russian military power projection far beyond the immediate region. where there concerns in washington, here in washington and european capitals that russia may not stop in ukraine? >> i was not in my current position in 2014, but it is my understanding that there was significant fear about where russian aggression would stop. >> so, what about today? itshe u.s. were to withdraw military support of ukraine, what would effectively happen? if weis my belief that were to withdraw our support, it would embolden russia. it would also validate russia's violation of international law. >> and which country stands to benefit the most, would stand to benefit the most from such a withdrawal? >> russia. >> ambassador taylor testified about the importance of the u.s. upholding the international system, and it has u

ukraine's security. a country that had been invaded by russia. from her office in the pentagon, ms. cooper oversaw a significant amount of security assistance flowing to ukraine and was involved in efforts to understand and reverse the suspension of nearly $400 million in u.s. aid. cooper, along with others, learned about the freeze during a series of interagency meetings in the last two weeks of july. at the first meeting, on july 18th, an omb representative relayed that quote, the white house chief of staff has conveyed that the president has concerns about ukraine and ukraine's security assistance unquote. and that a hold had been ordered by the president. no explanation was provided. all of the agencies responsible for ukraine policy supported security assistance and advocated for lifting of the hold. the only dissenting voice was the office of management and budget, which was following the orders of president trump. and still, no good explanation of the hold was provided. while the aid suspension had not been made public, word was getting out. katherine croft, special advisor fo

once intimately connected with russia, ukraine is today at war with their neighbor. in 2014, russia invaded ukraine, annexed crimea. today russian-backed troops remain in eastern ukraine and kiev relies on america and europe to provide money, weapon, and support to help in its fight against moscow. these are the key facts to grasp as you ponder president trump's phone call with ukraine's new president zelensky. to help us understand more of the geopolitics, i want to bring in phil gordon, the assistant secretary of state for european and eurasia affairs. from 2009 to 2013. in that role, he was responsible for ukraine. phil, pleasure to have you on. can you tell us, to begin with, what do you make of the charge that, to put it as some republican congressmen did, obama gave ukraine blankets but trump gave them weapons. in other words at the end of the day, trump has been far more generous in his support for the ukrainians and their struggle against the russians than obama was? >> well, it is certainly true that the trump administration started supplying a degree of weap

>> russia violated the sovereignty of ukraine's territory. russia lilly annexed territory that belonged to ukraine. they also denied ukraine access to its naval fleet at the time, and to this day, rb russia is building capability in crimea to expand russia power projection far beyond the immediate region. >> in 2014, were there concerns in washington, here in washington and european capitals russia might not stop in ukraine? >> i was not in my current position in 2014, but it is my understanding that there was significant fear about where russian aggression would stop. >> so, what about today? if the u.s. were to withdraw its military support of ukraine, what would effectively happen? >> it is my belief that if we were to withdraw our support, it would embolden russia, it would also validate russia's violation of international law. >> and which country stands to benefit the most? would stand to benefit the most from such a withdrawal. russia. >> ambassador taylor testified about the importance of the u.s. upholing the international system. and

today hearing from russia and ukraine comes a day after the testimony of the president to cast political. opposition groups in. elections after. the country's voting system they say the current system puts too much power in the hands of the ruling party. of smoke millions of people in cities. out of control. the leader of britain's opposition labor party jeremy called in the house unveiled the details of money fast and for next month's election as a tries to close on the pinion poll with the governing conservatives labor's plan for government includes a 5 percent increase in public sector pay higher taxes on companies on the nationalize ation are some infrastructure it's being billed as the most radical plan for decades. this party this movement this manifesto is there for its. labor is on your saw it and there could be scarcely clearer demonstration of that than the furious reaction of the richest and most powerful. no so w.'s our correspondent berkut mask and tell us more welcome back at what else is the labor party offering british voters as. well feel is really is the most left being

clear to me ukraine is not just a threat of russian aggression. i mean, russiacupies ukraine. 13,000 ukrainians, military and civilian were killed by russians. this is a real threat. when the president subscribes to and promotes a conspiracy theory -- >> and other members of congress. >> i'm sorry? >> and other members of congress. >> and other members of congress absolutely. the president and republicans do that, it undermines ukraine. it creates a divide, at least as perceived around the world, there is a divide between the u.s. and the ukraine, or ukraine can't afford to have that today. they are occupied by russia. and that is why congress authorized $400 million in foreign military sales including the javelin missile and communications equipment, night vision goggles. when the administration holds that up and subscribe to these conspiracy theories that harms ukraine, it harms our interests in the region and it can be devastating for that country and our interests. >> devastating for that country and also for our interests because, congressman, as we go into

does the president of the united states believe that it was russia who hacked the dnc and not ukraine? >> you know what the president believes, he said it could be russia, could be ukraine, could be a guy in new jersey. he's talking about interference overall, in other words, we don't want anyone to interfere in these elections. we don't want russia, ukraine, the media, to put their thumbs on the scale, adam schiff, these people working in secret. let the people decide who their president is. >> so yes or no one more time before we wrap this up. does the president believe that it was russia? >> the president has great faith in the intelligence community and let me just say this about those emails. they didn't matter. he won because he took his message to the american people -- >> i know the president wants to hear that. >> and by the way, you don't see me on those emails for a simple reason. i was busy running around, including on cnn daily talking about where we were going. >> we're out of town. >> thank you for having me, dana. >> thank you very much. house democratic leaders have l

because the javelins are weapons that ukraine depends on, again, to defend itself from russia. ukraine military aid, the javelins were often cited by the president and his defenders as proof that he is tough on russia. michael waltz to me just last month. >> this administration, jim, unlike the obama administration, has sold lethal aid to the ukrainians -- >> but they withheld the aid. they withheld it. >> and there's more. we also learned the president called his then national security adviser john bolton earlier this year to complain that a u.s. naval operation in the black sea looked like the u.s. was pushing back on russia and so that naval operation was canceled. trump tough on russia? let's ask the experts. joining us, stephen pifer. and shawn turner. shawn, you served a lot in the intelligence community through the years but certainly through russia's interference in the election as well. you've heard that claim from the president. nikki haley and others. do the facts back up the claim, trump tougher on russia than anybody, particularly when we look at this ukraine story

"witness: fictions about ukraine help russia."estimony in the last scheduled public hearings reinforces the case that the president's efforts work toward the detriment of u.s. security. and then you see the subhead there below the fiona hill photo. ex-white house aide says moskow was behind the claim. this is "the washington post" today. multiple stories on the impeachment inquiry overall and again another big main photo taking up most of the front page. four columns wide in the "post," fiona hill arriving for her testimony under the big headline, whirlwind week of testimony wraps up, a warning that conspiracy theories advance russia and divide americans. and the "st. louis post dispatch" from missouri. all-caps bold headline. it says fictional narrative, in quotes, hill says she predicted ukraine efforts would blow up. and then you've got the other bold headline there from fiona hill over the picture of her while she's testifying, quote, "in the course of this investigation i would ask that you please not promote politically driv

ukraine is an ally at war with russia? e were trying to help themselves defend against the russian invasion. here you have the ambassador to the e.u. saying the president doesn't care about any of that. he just cares about getting ukraine to investigate joe biden. >> yeah. certainly ukraine is a very important streeng partner for the united states. it is a front line state. it has the russian bear breathing down its neck and it has been invaded. it is at war with russia and russia annexed it. the only way it can stand up against russia is with the united states' help. the whoa idea of quid pro quo is a little silly because, you know, i was in ukraine back in the protests and it was quite clear that the government knew for a long time that if there was any chance of having a democracy, a real democracy in ukraine, despite all the corruption, and to be free of russia, they needed a big partner to help them. that was the united states. and that's really the way it will be for the foreseeable future for ukraine of the it is ver

russia. >> right. but it could also be ukraine. i'm not saying that i know one way or the other. >> well, monday senator kennedy changed his tune. >> i was wrong. the only evidence i have and it's overwhelming is it was russia that tried to hack the computer. i see no indication that ukraine tried to do it. >> countless u.s. intelligence officials and many republicans say russia continues to interfere with the sights set on the 2020 election. voters in iowa and new hampshire like to look at buttigieg. he's hitting a wall with black voters. the latest on the race for the white house. next. puberty means personal space. so sports clothes sit around growing odors. that's why we graduated to tide pods sport. finally something more powerful than the funk. tide sport removes even week-old sweat odor. it's got to be tide. >>> the climate christ in the united nations a report shows greenhouse gas levels hit a new record high. the paris climate accord doesn't seem to have made a dent. the gap between target and reality is glaring and growing

officials informed senators and their aides in recent weeks that russia has engaged in a years long campaign to essentially frame ukraine as possible for russia's hacking in the u.s. election. republicans have sought for weeks amid the impeachment inquiry to shift attention to president trump's demands that ukraine investigate any 2016 election meddling, defending that as a legitimate concern. that republican defense of mr. trump became essential to the impeachment proceedings when fiona hill, respected russia scholar and former senior white house official, added a hard critique of it at her testimony thursday. she told some of mr. trump's fiercest defenders in congress they were repeating, a coat, fictional narrative and that it likely came from a disinformation campaign from russian security services which themselves propagated it. quote, the revelations demonstrate -- excuse me, the revelations demonstrate russia's persistence in trying to sow discord among its adversaries and crucially showed that the kremlin apparently succeeded. as unfounded claims about ukrainian election interference seeped into republican talki

you in the day's testimony began with a warning from the former white house policy expert on russia and ukraine some of you on this committee appear to believe that russia and its security services did not conduct a company against a country and that perhaps somehow for some reason you craned it this is a fictional navas of this has been perpetrated in propagated by the russian security services themselves the on a hill testified russia was watching the impeachment hearings and ultimately would benefit from republicans repeating the quote fictions that ukraine meddled in the 26000 elections with the help of democrats she said she had warned gordon sagal and the e.u. ambassador the same when she realized he was carrying out the president's personal political agenda by requesting ukraine open investigations into trump's political rivals and i did said to him and gordon i think this is all going to blow up and here we are david holmes of foreign service officer in the kiev embassy testified ukraine has been cleaning up corruption under its new president billowed amir's alinsky homesteads alinsky w

russia has returned 3 captured naval ships to ukraine ahead of a planned peace summit next month the vessels have been moved to a handover location in the black sea russia sees the ships off the coast of crimea a year ago more than 13000 people have been killed in eastern ukraine over the past 5 years in fighting between progress the separatists and ukrainian forces the catalan separatist president is on trial in barcelona for disobedience toters accused of defying orders of the spanish electoral authority by not removing the yellow ribbon a symbol of support for catalan independence from a government building. and protesters in georgia have set up barricades around parliament to prevent m.p.'s from getting in demonstrators are demanding early elections after the parliament failed to pass a promised electoral reform bill that's not for today thanks for your company inside story is next on al-jazeera. it's been a year since hundreds of thousands of french citizens protested against a hike on fuel prices what became known as the yellow best movement against social inequality pose a chal

embassies in ukraine and russia. he has served as a military affairs officer for the joint chiefs of staff. he joined the trump administration in july 2018 when he was asked to serve on the national security council. herifer williams began career in government service shortly after graduate from college when she joined the department of homeland security as a political appointee during the george w. bush she completed tours in jamaica, beirut and lebanon. prior to joining the office of the vice president she served as a public affairs officer. she was detailed to the office of the vice president where she serves as a special advisor on his foreign policy team covering europe and russia issues. she keeps the vice president aware of foreign policy issues in europe and russia and prepares him for foreign policy engagements and meetings with foreign leaders. witness depositions were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will be held at the unclassified level. congress will not tolerate any reprisal, threat of repr

, russia ceases to be an empire. but with ukraine, and subordinated, russia automatically becomes an empire." your thoughts on how this could be put into context today, please? >> sir, that is a very powerful and accurate quote. >> i would agree. >> miss cooper, you talked about emails that were drawn to your attention, that they were sent to your staff, is that correct? >> the emails that i discussed this evening were email sent to my staff, that is correct. >> okay, i think, first of all it is important to point this out that it is not something you were aware of. it points to a larger issue that the defense department and the state department have refused to comply with a duly issued subpoena to provide this committee with documents that which further shed light on when exactly the ukrainians knew about the hold. so this is not something -- there is untold information out there being blocked that would draw greater light and help us understand. is there anything else out there that you are aware of, or possibilities that are out t

to iran syria ukraine russia gate iran syria ukraine russia. to yet another new or really really old democrat joining the race for their presidential nomination well hawk watchers i think it's time that we have to ask ourselves the question that will stump and confound historians for years to come is this truly the best politics the united states government has to offer its people i mean really palosi schumer mcconnell trumpet this this is the cream of our crop i mean here in washington d.c. walking down k. street these days it's like wading through a wolf a wall street party sequence thanks to this motley crew of democrats and republicans and all the party marches on capitol hill and the rest of us my friends it's the rest of us that have to deal with the aftermath like say a nuclear aftermath when one of our leaders drunk on russia date or cold war 2.0 who bruce accidentally bumped the button and up in smoke we all go.

was it russia or ukraine? >> i don't know. nor do you. nor do any others. interrupt to say the entire intelligence community says it was russia. >> right but it could also be ukraine. >> i was wrong. russia hacked the knc computer. i have no evidence whatsoever that ukraine did it. >> does that make you hopeful that he felt enough shame or read-it report and came back and said i was wrong about it? >> no, it doesn't make me particularly hopeful because what the republican strategy is to muddy the waters. trump has been caught doing something, just like russia was caught meddling unour elections. but instead they create an alternative thiery. pompeo, you heard him say lots of countries interfere in our election. no, there was only one that had multifaceted attempt to interrupt in our election and that was russia. and republican senators spreading that theory. and mike pompeo has to represent us to foreign governments. the only people who are trafficking in this theory are the republican partien this country and russian bots and russian disinformation campaig

supporttrong is your for ukraine and the conflict with russia? have you ever thought about getting out of ukraine? good, my support is very my relationship with ukraine is very good. my relationship with russia is very good. my relationship with china is very good. people don't understand, i get along. nobody is going to mess with me. >> -- under investigation? trump: the investigation is moving along, that is up to attorney general barr, highly respected. john durham is one of the most respected prosecutors in the last 50 years in this country. and i let them do their thing. and john durham and what they come up with will be very meaningful. we will see what happens. i do not get involved with it. way, i would be allowed to get involved with it, but why? i chose not to. it is up to bill barr. is john durham investigation very important. i feel, one of the most important investigations in the history of our country. do you have a date or a venue for your meeting? trump: i know they would like to meet, something like that could happen. >> du one ho

susan hennessey, laura cooper overseeing russia, ukraine,ure asia policy and she testified that the ambassadorr now the former ambassador told her that aid to ukraine might be released if ukraine would launch investigations that president trump was seeking. so how significant do you believe this revelation is? >> it is significant because it is yet another official acknowledging that there really was an explicit quid pro quo here. this is about exchanging military aid for politically motivated investigations that the president wanted to happen. cooper is not the first person to testify about this. b -- and but yet another individual. there is significant information in the transcripts including on conversations with kurt volker and mick mulvaney that this is being driven by the president himself. that president trump was the person who wanted these investigations, who was concerned about this aid in the first instance. now cooper said that at the department of defense they were concerned that the president might lack authorization for this. that is a little bit of a coded way of saying, they w

russia has returned back 3 naval ships it captured from ukraine last year the handover took place off the coast of disputed tri mia region at the time of the seizure russia accuses your pretty navy of illegally entering its waters this move is the latest effort to ease tensions between the 2 countries before a peace summit next month they've been locked in conflict since russia annexed crimea in 2014. along the story let me join our correspondents nick connelly in kiev and your leadership to moscow welcome to both the fields let me start with you u.t. why has moscow given the warships back to ukraine now. well we can assume that as the russian authorities decided to return the ships as a sign of good to go before the so-called common decent which is a scheduled for december night in paris france that's at least how russian media outlets are reading this at the summit will bring together the leaders of russia ukraine france germany and aims to resolve the conflict in eastern ukraine or at least achieve some progress in these issues for the 1st time in 3 years so that these kind of face

ukraine is the right thing to do. it's also the smart thing to do. if russia prevails and ukraine falls to russian dominion. e can expect to see other time. as the war against russia is ukraine struggling democracy has an equally important challenge. battling the soviet legacy of corruption which is pervaded ukraine's government. corruption makes ukraine's leaders ever vulnerable to russia. and the ukrainian people understand that. that's why they launched a revolution of dignity in 2014, demanding to be a part of europe. demanding the transformation of the system. demanding to live under the rules of law. ukrainians one of the law to apply equally to all people whether the individual the question is the president or any other citizen. it was a question of fairness of dignity. there's a coincidence of interests, corrupt leaders are inherently less trustworthy on honest and accountable ukrainian leadership makes a u s ukrainian partnership more reliable and more valuable united states. a level playing field in the strategically located country ordering for nato allies creates an environment in which us busine

ruling step what would it mean for both ukraine and russia. yes the international court of justice is in session right now reading this important ruling in a case was filed 2 years ago by ukraine basically it wants to take russia to discourse for a weapon giving weapons and no support to the separatist movement in the east of ukraine but also for racial discrimination in the crimea the area that was annexed by russia in 2014 and also for the downing of age 17 so basically this is a very crucial ruling if if the court decides that it wants to accept this case that it has the jurisdiction of course then ukraine will have a very strong international measure in its hand to put more pressure on russia but if the court rules there is no jurisdiction in this case of course this would be a win for russia and then ukraine doesn't have any other legal means at the moment to pursue reduce cases of what they say is an invasion of russia in ukrainian territory 5 years ago may last step the troop withdrawal plans in eastern ukraine that i hope should lead to

ambassador charlie talks about ukraine's position vis-a-vis russia and russia aggression against ukraine. >> let me just read, because it's worth people hearing from this attack on president, on candidate trump, who suggested that the crimeans would rather be with russia. ambassador charlie writes, even if trump's comments are only speculative and do not reflect a future foreign pol call for appeasement of an aggressor and support the sovereign country's territorial integrity and another's breach of international law. da da da, that's the attack on candidate trump. does that sound like election interference to you? >> well, i would say that it's probably not the most advisable thing to do for an ambassador, because you never know who is going to win. and i think that the second piece that was presented to me at great length and i want to thank mr. go back and read it again. when you asked me questions, i did remember the piece. kenneth fogle is very known and as you pointed out extraordinary journalist. i remembered reading this in january, 2017. but there had been a long time between th