We have our next speaker, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the u. S. , thank you. Thank you. The floor is yours. All right. Amb. Markarova good morning to everyone. Thank you for having me here and thank you for your excellent work. During this very difficult 610 days, almost 611, we are in a full phase of work in ukraine. Quickly, it turned into a conflict, a war. We were almost 40,000 people before the war started, but still, it was contained in eastern ukraine, and crimea, and this experience we have had the past 610 days is something we have never had before when we read about it during world war ii. During these 600 days, we were just going through dealing with our people back home and the defense generalists with me here. We have seen 70 journalists reported lost. That is something that should not even be happening during the wars. But therul but the rules are not under discussion, even with journalists, so runs of mind, when we found him, he still had his press vest on him, so they knew who they were killing, so i would like to start by thank you all of you, and by thank you those who are now in ukraine, israel, covering the war because it is very important. Without you, the world would not know what really happens, and it would be so easy for propaganda or for aggressors to spread false narratives and that is part of the war. Before we go into questions, one to open with a couple of thoughts. First, remind you what we are fighting for. Again, in war, because for a long time and sometimes we are always focused on the campaign, counteroffensives and battles, missile attacks, and how do we repair it, but it is important to keep in mind why did it start and what we are fighting for because in this war, it is very important. Ukraine has always wanted to be independent. We have been fighting for independence during 400 years literally, not a figure of speech. We had a brief time of independence in 1918. We were occupied by the soviet union shortly after that, unlike Baltic States or finland, and then in 1991, more than 92 of ukrainians voted to be independent. It is important to remember that all of us, including crimea, eastern, western, southern and northern ukraine, we all voted to be independent, and it was recognized by all. By all the countries, by all the united nations, and by russia. Since that time, we worked tirelessly to move closer to the European Union, to choose our own life, develop a democracy. We had a number of free and fair elections. It is very important for ukrainians. You heard about the revolutions we had. Not a lot of people are talking about the revolution in the early 1990s where we fought for independence, but the orange revolution was because our choice was stolen from us and not a particular candidate. It was a revolution for democracy. In 1913, the revolution of dignity because it was our european integration stolen from us. So it is very important for us to be ukrainian, independent, and this is what we are fighting for. This is what people went to fight without any weapons. Why am i telling you this because all this time we were fighting that, rusher was preparing to attack us and take us back because the whole ideology of Russian Federation since the breakup of the soviet union was how to restore the soviet union. They saw it as the biggest mistake or the biggest tragedy, and we thought that was the best thing that ever happened to us during the past 400 years. That it has a lot to do with intent. As military correspondence, every war has three elements. Window of opportunity, capability, and intent. Intent still is very near to russia. We just have to believe what putin says, he wants to destroy ukraine and occupy all of ukraine. And if not possible, to destroy it. This is what we see in all of the places. For us, it is very clear and existential. We have to win. The choice is very simple. And it is important to understand this when you look at the battlefield and when you analyze the battlefield. First, can we fight somewhere and not fight and other places . No. First, we know what happens on occupied territory. We know people have been tortured, killed, raped, kidnapped into russia. Therefore, we have to liberate all. We have seen it for nine years in crimea. Right now when we do prisoner swaps and we get our defenders back, they tell us what they have seen in those basements and form of an attention area facilities form of penitentiary facilities. There is no record, and they are being tortured on a regular basis. We have to liberate all of them. Therefore, yes, there are some complaints like in the south, and we started the Summer Campaign in june, and we can debate whether it is fast enough, not fast enough, but it is a very deliberate campaign. We did not lose during all this time but moving forward. It is one of the most difficult operations since world war ii, and while we are doing this, we cannot abandon any other places in ukraine. Yes, we will be doing everything in the east, everything in the black sea fleet, we will be doing everything in order to put Russian Troops, and we have more than 400,000 of Russian Troops on the territory of ukraine right now. So we have to fight it everywhere. Therefore, you know, we will focus, of course, in some months on one campaign or another, but we cannot essentially ask questions not to be in some places to torture left people, so that is an indirect answer to some of the debate of can we focus somewhere and not in other places . No. We have to stop them everywhere, and we have to liberate everywhere. Second, is it a never ending war . The answer is no. There is actually a very clear plan. It is clear what we need to do in order to liberate all ukraine. This is the strategic goal we have. It is very clear for that goal, but also for every goal we have, as a part of the overarching goal, we need to do that. Even understanding all the restrictions, as you know, there is not an unlimited supply of air defense or munition or something else. It just means we have to stick together with our partners, more than 50 countries who get together, and we have to be more creative. We have to find the right mix of capabilities and we have to use more game changers. Recently, the use of attack in two places has shown how this longerrange, even 300 kilometers is not really longrange from a military standpoint, but longerrange capabilities. This weekend reached everywhere on our territory, but we cannot only prepare the battlefield but change the situation. We need to threaten all logistical challenge of russians and put all of their ammo down, helicopters, everything they have. And the current situations shows that when we see frequent visits of hamas and iran to moscow and how they are coordinating and discussing their actions, and i think all of us without even being present at the meetings can guess they are not discussing how to retorting peace to the world return peace to the world. We have to take into account that russians presence in crimea and the black sea is a big threat, not only to ukraine and our theater, but also to the transatlantic and nato forces. It is our common goal to actually decrease in return the black sea under all of our control instead of it becoming the russia lake. Before we go because i know you all have questions and i would rather discuss it in the questions, but what is the focus now . We need to sustain the effort. I will just use the militarys formulations for what we need to do now. We know what we need to do, and in order to sustain the efforts, we need our partners to stay with us in the supply weapons, in budget support because it is important to have the energy of humanitarians and just put in order to sustain the efforts of the country. We are getting closer to winter. We all know already what russia did last winter. I think we can safely bet that they will try to double down on their work crimes. Just a few days ago, they hit a Postal Distribution Center in the south. Last week, they continued hitting grain storages and other facilities in the south. They are hitting residential areas. Why are they doing that . Because without being able to have some victories for them on the battlefield, they are trying to terrorize ukraine everywhere. Also, they are trying to decrease our capability to resist and fight. That is why, you know, what we need is clear from air defense to the artillery, to armored vehicles, to raters, to drones. Again, the military people, and at that point, the level of coordination between our two countries and other allies at the ukraine contact coordination group, is very clear. The question is, how to find it, deliver it faster, and, of course, all eyes are on congress right now. This supplemental request that the administration has submitted is a National Supplementary request because what this means to us, israel and other partners is vital now. We need to be able to sustain the effort. We still do not need the boots on the ground, but ukraine is a smaller country than russia, so in order for our great defenders to continue the effort and save more of them and save more lives of civilians, we need a little bit more weapons, and we have to be methodical to win, and we can win. This is the main point that i would really like you to take from our discussions today. We can win. We have shown it in the past. We have shown it when we liberated others, which people thought would be Mission Impossible by how much it was under threat, and there are so many kilometers already in the south when in fact, their elaborate to defense line is viewed by the russians. They have the edge of superiority, and are great defenders are still moving forward, so we can win, and we need to stay together. Thank you to all of you who have been in ukraine and thank you to all of you who will go to ukraine, and we need you more than ever now in ukraine, so please put ukraine on your agenda and focus, and we would be more than happy to help organize you on your trips to ukraine. Thank you. Thank you for speaking with sn being such an advocate for your country and thank you for being willing to be open, transparent and speak to the press whenever we ask, so thank you. We have a group of military people here, so i will try to keep my military focused questions to a minimum because i know you are more the political sphere, but lets talk about what is going on in washington. You mentioned congress a moment ago. There is a new speaker of the house, speaker johnson has said that in recent days, he would like to talk about getting aid for ukraine. He talked about how the United States has to ensure that Vladimir Putin is not successful, but he has voted against ukraine aid many times, so do you worry that the u. S. Will not be able to keep its promises to stay with ukraine for as long as it takes . Amb. Markarova well, we worry about the situation back home. Here, it is a task for us, and it is promising to hear what speakers said about russia cannot lose, and we heard loud and clear and frankly, ukraine has very much is on the forefront of that, so from the beginning of this, the all four previous packages, we not only have a detailed report because we are getting again, we have to be clear that we are getting the money only in the form of budget support. This is the portion that we are getting a real money into our budget, and that goes through the trust fund, and we report on it on a daily basis on where we get the transfers, how we change them into local currency, and what do we pay for . We have a primitive budget now because we have cut expenditures. Everything we should have cut. So we all saw the teachers, the health care officials, and the displaced people, and we can track how it gets to individuals and we are reporting it back. In addition, there is an audit underway, which is done during the past year now, so there is reporting from auditors on how it is used. In addition, there are three inspector generals. They have traveled to ukraine who are getting all the information i checking everything here. If you look at all of their reports, and if you look at their public statements they are putting out, they have been numerous times confirming that the u. S. Aid is transparent, and they have not seen any signs of any type of mismanagement. And now getting to military support, we are not getting the money, we are getting the goods. It is either where we are getting something from the u. S. Talks, and then thanks to generosity, the pentagon can replenish what they had given to us and buy equipment for the u. S. , which is a plus and develops your capabilities, or it is ordered that we are taking javelins, tanks refurbished for us, and it goes to the American Companies with job creations, and we are grateful for the weapons we are getting. When we are getting the weapons, we are using the nato system to record and track them. We know what we are getting, where it is, which unit is getting it, literally which soldier is taking it to the battlefield. It is very, very important for us to have this transparency. Not only because we believe in transparency, efficiency, and when i was the minister of finance in my previous job, i had and i am very proud of it actually i implemented the Public Finance spending portal. And then open budget portal. So ukraine is one of the few countries actually that has publicly available information on all of the expenditures and all of the revenues except for the secret ones. But, it is not a lot of them, which have been marked as secret. In the open index, if you look at Public Finance especially, ukraine is in the top bracket of the country. But it is also important to understand why we need more because when you report return, it is easy again, sorry for the long answer to your austin. We are concerned that delays answer to your question. Your concern that delays might cause more death and more horrible situations on the ground. But we also have to be clear. The choice we are making now is not between ukraine getting more support and winning not getting more support and stayed where we are. No. Because russia did not change the intent. If we will not get the support, it is a matter of time when russia will start winning. Carla do you feel like you have enough aid coming in now to win the war . Amb. Markarova not to win the war. We need Additional Support from both the u. S. And European Union and other countries. Right now, we have used all the budget support we have received from the u. S. , so we dont have any incoming budget support available. On the energy and humanitarian side, we still have some money available from the previous budget. On military support, the only amount available is the drawdown, so we cannot order anything. The u. S. Has used all of it, except for 300 million or less. And there is nothing else left. It is only the president ial drawdown, which the package was announced yesterday, hundred 50 million, but it is small. We need to order more from American Companies, especially in the air defense and artillery, which is very scarce. The interceptors for the air defense, and for all of this, we need supplementary money. Carla you mentioned iran, hamas talking with russia in your comment. I wonder, is the situation in the middle east right now between israel and hamas, is that concerning to you that the focus will become on the middle east, and people will lose focus on ukraine . Amb. Markarova what, state and what iran continues to do what hamas data what iran continues to do should make people understand that we have to keep focus on both or maybe even on a number of other locations rather than shifting the focus because it is the same axis of evil. So drones are not only delivered to russia but they are producing them together. Russia is not only receiving the drones, but just recently, there was a great exhibit of the un of the recovery in ukraine and other locations, and it is critical, even to nonmilitary people, that it is the same. But now there is a plant in russia which produces them, and they can produce much larger numbers. Since the beginning of the war, about 3000 have been used in ukraine. Last september, the one that just passed, there was more than a hundred something and 500 uab totals, so this is becoming one of the biggest choice of weapons for russia. Cheap, deadly, and we are using other weapons in order to intercept them. Instead of destroying them at the source in crimea or other places, should we have longerrange capabilities . We just have to be very clear. We need to win and just russian terrorist states, and we need to win against other terrorists. Surprise, surprise, they are related. They are not only talking to each other but they are trying to find collaboration. So we are only guessing what iran is getting from russia for the drones they are getting. We know russian officials traveled to iran and north korea, trying to find the missiles and trying to find additional equipment. But maybe not only asked. We will show this in the so, if anything, i think we half to wise and the focus and understand that we have to win all of this. And as a leader of the free world definitely can and should afford to keep the focus on all of this. Carla you mentioned the progress. Some up sum up how much territory has ukraine has regained at this point . Amb. Markarova it is about 50 of what russia has taken, initial on the 24 of february. I would encourage everybody to use the maps, and they are very good source to look at and track changes. You know, 50 , i will not be able to give you the exact we correct kilometer, but you can take a look and see it, so everything almost out of the key because there were even five in the outskirts of kyiv in early march. You know, literally 50 of if you take everything russians occupied during the first attack, they downgraded 50 of that. Carla so the long range weapons you have received, how have the effect battlefield at this point . How have they affected the morale of ukrainians back home . Amb. Markarova well, you have probably seen the twitter following when he has prayed out how the launch moment of this, and, of course, what we have seen, destroyed helicopters and russian places in both places that were hit with the first strike, first, it is a great result from the military standpoint because these are the key communicators that will not be used against us. Second, it affects the morale of our troops, but it also affected not only their morale but the planning of the russians because before that, and when they thought we would never get those items, they carefully planted everything that all their ammunition and everything else, literally like two 23 kilometers beyond the line which they knew we could not reach, with having something that can reach longer and hopefully we can long given death will put them on track everywhere and will not allow them to plan and deliver and planning because they know they will be under stress everywhere. That will be a game changer. Carla and that is another longawaited weapon that has made it to ukraine now, but have they made it to the beta field battlefield yet . Amb. Markarova we would like to surprise russians on the battle yield, but what i can tell you if you ask anyone who is using that method, he people are praying for those vehicles. Two days ago, we had an inventive ukrainian artist who are in the armed forces now. One of them, spent years in russian captivity because he was falsely arrested and crimea before that, and that he was in the prisoners book, and then he joined the army as soon the war started. He was wounded already two times and every time it was it save his life. It was used to evacuate civilians, and brad lives are not usually a civilian evacuation vehicle but it is performing well on the battlefield. Carla lets send it out to the audience. We have any audience questions . Wait for a mic please. Here. Thank you. I have with the American Home front project, the collaboration of local stations and National Public deal. Lets circle back to the american political scene. I think it is no secret at all that the last president had an unusual affinity for the russian leader. That candidate now has a lot of sway with the house and one of his colleagues was made leader of the house. Lets not sugarcoat this. What happens if all of the support goes away . Not just enough to win or keep the long grind going, but what happens if they pull all the support . Amb. Markarova well, it is going to be extremely difficult for us. It is very difficult to guess what will happen, but i can tell you that ukrainians will keep writing. Whether it will mean that we all die fighting or that we will fight successfully, we frankly dont know. What we know is that we dont have another home or land, and who will fight for this one as well as we would be able to do so . That is what ukrainians did after the world war two, the ukrainian Freedom Fighters fought against the soviets all the way until 1954. The implications of that is going to be wider than ukraine. If russia can win after they have violated the you and treasure and after they have violated all the rules with both country believe would be in place, and not wanted by the international court, can actually win over ukraine and move forward. Then, i think the question is not only what ukrainians were due but what would all of us do . We just have to be very clear that it will be very difficult. We are in a military sense, or 100 percent dependent on partners now. We started our own production of drones and ukraine is one of the fastest producers of this new capability, but we need the air defense, and we need to artillery, and we will try to reduce as much as we can area recently, we had a big forum between the industry in ukraine, so we are trying to make art worship that will take time. We are trying to make partnership but that will take time. Do not want to be dependent on friends and allies. That is why we are putting efforts in starting new production but that will take time. That is why this supplementary help and now is so important. In addition, we do have help from European Countries and other countries beyond the European Union. But for the United States, of course it is going to be very difficult. Those of the diplomatic words i should years. On the other hand, i am looking to so many people in the u. S. , and i am talking to both parties, and we still have bipartisan support. Whether you look at the Democratic Party ideas and beliefs, or you look at their answers and if we believe in freedom and democracy, and we believe we should defendant, then we should do it together while it is still contained in ukraine. As i said, lets listen to pretend, what he said. He is not only talking about getting ukraine occupied but about destroying restoring the soviet union empire, saying the Baltic States are historic their territory. He is talking about poland, so if he is emboldened by winning in ukraine, then it is just a matter of time when he will attack somebody else, and when, unfortunately, it will be more costly for nato countries. It will require carla is there any scenario where ukraine does not accept the full removal of russian versus from their territory . Is there an agreement that ukraine would accept that would not require full removal from of russians from ukrainian territory. President zelenskyy excluded crimea and the east. Amb. Markarova the short answer is, no, we will not accept a scenario without removal and i will tell you why. Because we have agreed and signed the answer to the Ukraine Court because, again, it was just after the revolution that the country was rocked blind. Our military leader was destroyed by the russian led old regime. Not a lot of people. Attention to it at the minister of defense in the covert government was a russian citizen. In the covid government was a russian citizen. Everything done in power shows whatever we have been able to do in the previous years. So we did not have our own capacity of what armed forces could do to really fight. We should look at the case now. So we look at everything they consider us to do now. We had the socalled support where russians kept shooting at us and we did not respond. We tried to use every diplomatic solution out there. We had the normandy format, the countless weekends, subgroups. I was in one of them on the financial issue. We put all the effort into it, and what did russia do . They used all those discussions and groups to divert our attention and pretend they are trying to find a solution. And they were just preparing for this attack. So when they say they need cease fire or any type of peace or sends other people to talk about the peace deal, this would include somehow stopping the war in the situation it is in now, we have to understand that a want to have time to produce more weapons and prepare and to attack us again. And we shall not allow them to do that. Carla do we have any other questions in the audience . In the back and then a couple in the firm. Front. Hi, a two part question. What are we learning about from the bear time a time strikes on crimea . Is there something the u. S. Can provide that you have not seen in terms of this . Amb. Markarova we believe the Russian Black Sea fleet is a source of attacks on the south of ukraine. It is a our goal is to dismantle the Russian Black Sea fleet. Cfleet. Producing them as much as we can, and i think i have a rare situation where the country does not really have a fleet as ukraine now and is successful in fighting with the other countries, please. It has an operational and strategic importance, so at least give them a drink, but, hopefully, because first, there are stories of deadly attacks on our areas on civilians. Second, they are blocking the black sea, the great corridors after they decided to pull out from the grain deal. They are essentially enforcing the use of the black sea, so from a military perspective, this is a stress we have to deal with. What do we need more . You know, whatever helps with the ground launch longerrange capabilities. Also, we look forward and are working actively on everything that could be used in order to supplement the capability that we have. It will definitely help. The fleet and the crimean bridge is a source of big resource for us. Have you asked for them at all . Amb. Markarova we used to have programs before covid, and we look to continuing it, and we just have to be very clear what difference they can make on the battlefield there, or they would just be something that will be attacked right away. Right now, it is very clear, you know, that we probably will not get a big Aircraft Carrier as a gift. At the moment, it is drawn, and the more faster we can build them, the more effectively we can use them. And the ground rate is the responsibility of whatever air capabilities we can get would really make a difference. On the maritime drones, are those based in u. S. Technologies . Amb. Markarova well, the technical issues of that, there are a number of them that are produced in ukraine. They use a range of readily available technologies, but it is hundred percent ukrainian produced, including the communication devices. We are trying. Right now, there are a number of projects and we have our own defense to use an analogy, they have pulled resources and brain together, and there are a number of projects being done right now. Are you concerned the focus will turn from ukraineisrael . Are you concerned about weapons dedicated for ukraine will end being transferred to israel . There have been stories to that effect and some analyst questions, but are you concerned about their version of ukraine, mckendree to israel . Amb. Markarova we did not see it, so everything that we have read with our partners, and i cannot go into details, but the previously announced packages goes as planned. We are working on the additional packages. I am not a military expert from but from public discussions, we need different capabilities with israel and we just need to make sure that they get what they need, what we need, and everything else. We dont see anything that would raise concerns about it. The biggest concern is how to find additional weapons and everything else. Carla last question. Thank you, ambassador. You mentioned earlier that ukraine discusses smaller population than your adversary. And you have lost a tremendous number of troops, unfortunately, in the past year and a half. What is ukraines capacity to absorb so many of these losses of troops . Also, capacity to absorb all of this equipment on material and so forth in an effective way so that your forces are trained to the maximum capability of using all of this, all of these packages. Amb. Markarova thank you. This is actually a gigantic task that we are doing. So, first of all, you know, to increase the armed forces, so what it was before the war started, and to the amount of almost one Million People that ran through the battlefield and armed forces now, is a big task. It is amazing what you can do when you are fighting for your home, for your life, and for your country. It is different than a typical task, and ukrainians have shown how we can look at the times, and all the other capabilities, we are trying to train people with additional brigades, and training them for the Summer Campaign, not as fast as we probably needed them, but much faster then is the standard time. We have listed all of the restrictions in the armed forces who were women. We dont necessarily have any restrictions in the armed forces for women, and we now have up to 15 of the armed forces who are women, including on the battlefield. I had a couple of my friends, one of them i know is in washington right now, who used to be with lawyers, business people, teachers, and who just volunteered and became soldiers on the front line. We understand it will take all of us, unless, of course, we get more weapons as quickly and we can win faster. Because of the difference in size. It is a big challenge. It is a big challenge, not only for the people on the battlefield, but also those who stayed, and those who had to flee because their buildings were destroyed like in one city that does not exist anymore, so we have about 6 million, plus or minus ukrainians, outside of ukraine, primarily children and women. You have more people who are needed on the battlefield, that puts additional stress on people who are left in the cities and villages. So in some of the areas, you see this completely woman run community because it is women who now have to also take on other responsibilities to become plumbers, electrical engineers, professions that predominantly men having ukraine, at least, so it is a big stress on society in general. And that is why we are working on the veterans policies already know because unlike in other countries, we would be in a society with the majority of veterans. All of us will be veterans and that has to be taken into account. We have the most mind country in the world now, but also country [indiscernible] we have to be able to take all of them back into the society, but also to plan our active defense and defense with the people we have, so it is a big challenge. I would say that in this situation, we can resolve this challenge and an effective way, but that is why we need more weapons because when we dont have enough military capabilities, we are replacing that capability with humans, and it is the best of us on the front lines right now. We are working with our partners on that, so this is one of the areas where i can say a big thank you to the u. S. And other countries because the equipment we have been receiving, not only for the battle degrades, but for brigades but for our prosecutors and investigators and the psychologist who work with the victims of the horrible abuse, especially of the newly liberated territories, is ongoing on a daily basis, and we are not only with the pentagon and department of state, but the doj plays a crucial role in it and in the whole of security. It is like a big, big effort that remains under the radar a little bit, but our prosecutors and investigators and everyone, the fire fighters, first responders, the police, which actually participate in active combat, areas, so it is not a typical situation when you have armed forces fighting the war and everyone else doing something else. It is all of us actively involved in it and supporting the armed forces and sometimes especially their militarized unions, the police he would not be doing it otherwise are doing the active defense or combat if their communities are affected. Carla oksana markarova, thank you for speaking with us today. Amb. Markarova thank you and have great conference with many more speakers who will share with you. Again, please come to ukraine. Carla lets give a round of applause. Thank you for your time. [applause] now, war journalist share their experiences in reporting from ukraine amidst russian invasion. The posture of ukraine preand post war, battleground practices and information sharing were among the discussion. This took race during the 20 33 military reporters and editors conference in march 2023 military reporters and editors conference in washington