Transcripts For ESPRESO 20240703

Ukraine was presented with a list of proposed reforms, what it includes and whether future military aid to ukraine depends on the implementation of these reforms, you know, maria, that list, that document that got into the hands of the ukrainian press, it contains priority reforms for 3, 6, 18 months , and they are all very important, it is, in particular, about reforms related to the functioning of supervisory boards of state enterprises, anticorruption from. Also in general, the functioning of the Judicial Branch of government, as well as reforms in Defense Enterprises or defense institutions and institutions, however , it is worth saying that in the ukrainian press, and the information that appeared, it was said that the white house somehow passed this list to ukrainian authorities and that the future of United States aid, in particular military aid, will depend on the implementation of these reforms, we actually decided to ask directly in the white house, in the white house, is this true, does such a list exist , and does it depend on the implementation of these reforms, does the future of military aid depend on it, and we received a response from a representative of the Us National Security council, which is about this clarification , firstly, that this is a working version of the list of priority reforms that was handed over for discussion and feedback at a recent meeting, in particular the meeting of the coordinating. Donor group that you talked about, and most importantly, that this list, as they say in white home, is not a condition for future military assistance, and that the information that was disseminated in the intelligence is not correct, this is the answer we received from the white house, and in the message that you mentioned from the United States embassy in ukraine, it also says that , that all these efforts are advisory, again priority reforms, and all these efforts are aimed at helping ukraine on the way to european integration, and this was also stated by President Biden, that reforms continue to be important. Julia, thank you for this clarification, also want to talk briefly about the main topic of the week in the United States, which is a possible government shutdown, it could happen as early as next week. Now the media reports that the leaders of the senate are preparing a document on shortterm funding, and it does not provide for the allocation of significant funds to help ukraine resist russian aggression. How did the white house react, because the administration is counting on providing additional funding for ukraine. Marie, a few points, here first of all, the negotiations are very active now on the capital hill, indeed, the deadline is literally a few days away, it expires on september 30, but again, negotiations are ongoing. The second point is that even if there is no help for ukraine in this short resolution in the interim solution, it does not mean that it will not be approved later. Today in karinjenper, the spokeswoman of the white house was asked how the white house will react if aid for ukraine is not prescribed, she expressed hope that the senate and the house of representatives understand the importance of continuing to help ukraine, and matthew miller, a spokesman for the state department, also responded to that. Lets listen. I dont want to speculate based on the debates that are still going on in congress. I will say we are encouraged by bipartisan support. Which we have received from Congress Since the beginning of this war. If you look at the debate in congress, there are bipartisan majorities in both houses of congress that support continued aid to ukraine. Now look, theres a process that we have to go through and work with congress. I believe that it was important that president zelensky was able to come to the capitalist hill last week and talk directly with members of congress about what is happening in ukraine. We were able to talk to congress about the accountability mechanisms we put in place to help. Were providing, weve heard what they want to hear about accountability, we have accountability mechanisms in place and were happy to talk about what those look like, so we think its important that congress continue to show a determination to leave. Of ukraine, so that it continues to restrain and repulse the russian one aggression, to make it clear to congress that we are not going to leave ukraine , we are not going to stand by when countries try to intimidate their neighbors, that is an Important Message that we have sent from this administration, we are glad that congress will support ukraine today and we hope , that they will continue to do this, thank you for this, julia, and the last question i want to ask directly about the white house, i know that President Biden today joined the strike of workers in the auto Manufacturing Industry in michigan, the press published his photo from megaphone in hand, what is going on there . You know, maria, this is really a unique thing, because this is the first time in 100 years that a sitting president has joined a strike by workers in any industry, in this case the auto industry, today President Biden actually participated in the strike joined the picket line in the background on the nearby general motors, production. And actually, why is this happening, President Biden and the Biden Administration will say that President Biden always stands up for workers for unions, but its also very important here understand that all this is happening on the eve of the 2024 election, President Biden wants to win the support of this important union. In 2020, he won in the state of michigan. The state of michigan will be one of the decisive states in 2024 and 2020. Biden had the support of this important union, this time President Biden does not have this support and he really wants to win it, tomorrow also in michigan will be donald trump, who is also trying to get these important points on the eve of the elections. Thank you yulia, we will follow the developments then, Yulia Yarmolenko from the white house was with us. Ways to implement president zelenskys peace formula, use. Russian oligarchs to rebuild ukraine and punish russia for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutor general of ukraine Andriy Kostin discussed these and other issues during the visit of the ukrainian delegation to washington. In particular, kostin met with the us secretary of Justice Merrick garland, american officials and lawyers who help kyiv in the investigation of war crimes. About cooperation the United States, despite holding the russians accountable for aggression against ukraine, kostin told my colleague maria prus. Could you name a few meetings or a few outcomes of events that you have participated in . My meetings with attorney general Merrick Garland and his team reaffirm that we now have substantial support, not only from the Justice Department s war crimes prosecution team, but also from the federal bureau of investigation, the fbi. We shared some things with these two teams, cases, some of which have gained worldwide publicity as an example of russian atrocities, and we look forward to the results of this cooperation. For me , it is very important that not only ukraine and not only the icc, as an International Judicial body, prosecute russian war criminals. It is important that other countries, especially the United States, which have specific legislation, specific capabilities, and which have great determination to help us and help ukrainians, so that they also achieve results in this work. Therefore, our work with the u. S. Department of justice is very broad, in essence, and not only to prosecute war criminals, not only to help us with our, i would say highpriority cases, such as the forced deportation of ukrainian children, but also to help us build practice in areas that have never previously uninvestigated in history, we now investigate environmental crimes like war crimes. We approach Cyber Attacks as war crimes, and we just had a very good meeting with the fbis special task force on prosecuting attacks on Cultural Heritage and illegal trade in Cultural Heritage as war crimes. Thus, we are approaching new dimensions of crimes committed by russia in ukraine and against ukrainians. And in all these issues and directions , the ministry of justice, the fbi and all Government Agencies help us. Authorities, not only in terms of cooperation in specific cases, but also for capacity building, also training our prosecutors and investigators, because we are approaching new ways and we have no room for error. Yes, you mentioned studying ukrainian prosecutors the Ukrainian Helsinki Union published a report that prosecutors, police officers, Law Enforcement officers at various levels, including your office, often lack skills and time. They feel too much pressure, so there are some problems with the progress of these investigations. How are these issues resolved . First of all, this is an unprecedented number of war crimes. So far we have registered more than 105,000 cases of war crimes committed, and importantly, these are not all war crimes committed, we understand that many of them go unreported because they are still being committed, they are still being committed in the occupied territories, or in the case of people who have already been killed and they have not been able to report the war crimes committed against them, so we understand that this huge number of crimes needs to be investigated and prosecuted, of course. And we have to do it properly because the standard of proof is very important. I always tell this to my prosecutors and all the Law Enforcement agencies, because i meet with them in various coordination very often, i tell them all that we need to ensure that the quality of your investigation, prosecution is at a high level. For us, this is the standard of the International Criminal court, because no one knows when collecting evidence of a crime that has just been committed, whether this case will not be transferred to the icc. We have to investigate it properly, that is to bring the culprits to justice. And one of the elements of the strategy is also the combination of cases. Therefore, when we understand, for example, that several missile and drone attacks were carried out, for example, by one unit of the russian army, we can try to combine these cases into one big one, because in this case it will be easier for us to establish a chain. We all know the criminal cases of deportation of ukrainian children, where parents are waiting for their children kidnapped to russia, civilian detainees this is the same crime, but with another layer, it is their children who are waiting for their parents, who are illegally detained in russia, and one from our messages during this visit and during the visit and additional events at the un general assembly, there was an increase in the awareness of the International Community, the United Nations should pay more attention, as i mentioned during one of the events, if the United Nations was so active in feeding children in other countries with ukrainian grain, the un could play a leading role in returning ukrainian Children Home from russia, using all elements of communication and pressure on the russian authorities to bring our Children Home, and this is important not only for ukrainian children, it is important for many others. Children in many other countries of the world where their rights are violated in many other wars and conflicts. This message is also repeated by president zelensky, have you voiced it, do you feel that you are being heard at the international level, especially in the United States, what can be done about it . As i already mentioned, karim khan and i were at this event regarding the deportation of ukrainian children, and i spoke after him, i said. That karim and i will do our work, we will give more results, but this is not enough, holding them accountable for the deportation of ukrainian children does not automatically mean that our children will be returned home, i mean there is no mechanism that would automatically return children to ukraine from russia, only because more and more criminal cases will be investigated and brought against those who commit this crime, of course we also we will impose sanctions on those who are involved in this illegal activity in russia. We will also use all other ways, which i will not talk about publicly, to return our Children Home to ukraine. What is important to me is that all the power of the United States is not just ready to support, she really helps us. Well, if we talk about ukraines attempt to prove the fact of genocide, what are the main obstacles on this way . After all, with the way ukraine is trying to do it. We hear its very hard to prove that there was intent, isnt it . Yes, but i would say that we have a special team in the investigation and prosecution of crimes of genocide. We have, i would say, quite Significant International support at the expert level. I would say that perhaps the best world experts work with us. In we have a Strategic Plan for how to continue to do this. Its a process, its not just a criminal case. Important, of course, not only. Prove the scale of atrocities, the variety of atrocities. We are now using this approach also in the case of forced deportation, abduction of ukrainian children, forced transfer of them from one group to another, as one of the elements of genocide. We also discuss the deliberate destruction of everything related to ukraine and ukrainians. I already mentioned Cultural Heritage, this is also one of the elements that i will not go into to go deeper, all other elements of intentions, but we are clear we are moving forward. We understand that in order to get closer to proving genocide, we need to first address crimes against humanity, which are the next level of war crimes, and we will move forward because we understand that genocide was committed by russia in ukraine, we understand , that it will take time for us to get, i would say the necessary amount of credible evidence, internationally credible, maybe 150 credible, to not lose this case, and we we understand that. Conservation on an industrial scale, generators, power banks and gas burners. Ukrainians are preparing for the second winter in the conditions. People are bracing themselves for the worstcase scenario, when russia attacks the Energy Infrastructure again and there are Power Outages. Lesya bakalets saw in kyiv how the people of kyiv prepare their homes and the owners of enterprises prepare their office premises. A huge diesel, 5. 3horsepower generator. This generator saved eugenes coffee shop last year, he opened the establishment in september and literally in three. The first week happened russias massive shelling of ukrainian Energy Infrastructure. During the first halfweek of outages, no one understood what was happening, there was no network, no electricity , no heating, yevhen barely found a generator , then the demand for them grew rapidly, then he bought a gas boiler for heating the facility and organized uninterrupted internet. The expense item was huge. It probably made up , well, in fact, half of the budget was open. Coffee shops, within a week the coffee shop turned into a coworking space, people from all over the world came here to work and warm themselves surrounding houses. It seems that 36 people are seated, in the corridor and on the stairs there are also about 15 people, that is, about 50 people, yevhen is preparing in advance for this winter, he and his colleagues have developed a scheme for seating people, bought extension cords, fuel and a supply of food for two weeks. They were worried about the generator, they took it out completely, cleaned everything, changed the oil, the last two days our electricians have been messing with the wiring, because there are also such drops, just the voltage, evgeny says, after last years winter, he is optimistic about the challenges of this one, more calm, in fact, when psychologically we understand that we have already experienced it, which means we will experience it again , the winter is not terrible for the it companys team either control even last autumn, after several Power Outages, they understood, to continue working in a Large Business the center is impossible for them. We decided very urgently and quickly to look for a place that we can move to that will provide us with security, electricity, the ability to function and be warm, because it was still very much winter in the Business Center coldly. Therefore, the team rented a threestory residential building and organized a coworking space for its employees here. We understood that we can provide a bomb shelter here and here we will be independent, that is, we will be able to put two, three, 10 generators, in general, as many as we need, and we will be able to go directly with the owners for some negotiations regarding the installation of certain equipment, because in Business Centers it is a very bureaucratic process, the basement where the sauna is located, the team uses as a shelter, the pool is not only for sports, but also an additional supply of water. Of course, we use it for its intended purpose, but first of all it is technical water that can be used, well, for technical issues with heating is also under control, we have a very powerful gas boiler, that is, if the electricity goes out, it will still be warm here for a very long time, but in case something suddenly happens, we have a fireplace and can warm ourselves, the main tool for working with the internet has been taken care of from the very beginning, there is optical fiber, there is starlink and there are supplies of equipment just in case breakdowns, here are our holy stocks, our starlinks, our batteries, our blues. This is a very large power bank that can be used to power laptops and the internet. Marketing specialist daryna chornom also makes stocks for the winter, but primarily edible ones, she started with canning. This is a mix of my mothers and my husbands mothers recipes, so i try to adapt them to my own conditions and tastes. Daryna admits that even a year ago, she could not have imagined that she would be engaged in harvesting for the winter, even on such a scale. In general, well, i counted. That somewhere i have now closed 40 cans, but these are cucumbers, these are tomatoes, these are peppers, to prepare for winter, darina and her husband started already in the summer, she says , previous experience has shown that we need to prepare for the worst case scenario, last year there were Power Outages for two days, we walked a good 5 km to catch a connection, and i contacted my mother to find out that everything was fine with her, it was difficult in terms of not only the lack of water and heating, but also the lack of communication, there was no the internet, it was very difficult, as in isolation, we did not know what was happening, the work had to be done to adjust the light switchoff schedule, the light turns on, the fourth time, but this is the first switchon in a day, well, you wake up, go there , collect water and go to work, the apartment is electric, so a tourist torch came to the rescue, the couple says they were lucky that before the war they often went to the mountains and already had tourist equipment, you just buy gas cylinders, connect them, the speed of boiling a liter of water there is less than a minute, accordingly, if i have oatmeal, i can steam it, salt it, open cucumbers and i have dinner, which does not require cooking, that is why daryna preserves, she says, even her mother is shocked by the scale of production. I do something that is very traditional, what my parents do, what i do, my grandmother does, and it also helps me to feel like everything is okay, tomorrow is bound to come, and im doing everything in my power to prepare for it tomorrow. Also, the couple already bought gas cylinders, have a supply of drinking and technical water and took care of alternative. Lighting, a simple lamp, works from a power bank, for the whole night, maybe there will still be paver left, in general , they say, they are ready for winter, that is, darina is sure of this, yevgen, on the other hand, thinks that a little more stock will not hurt, well, chef, i think that is enough, lesya bakalets, voice of america, from kyiv. This is how, preparing for the second winter during the great war, ukrainians master new skills. Lets move on to other news. The ministry of defense of romania condemned the attacks of russian kamikaze drones on the ukrainian infrastructure, which is located near the romanian border. Nataliya was previously the head of the joint press center of the Southern Defense forces humenyuk reported that the orlivka isakcha crossing point between ukraine and romania in the odesa region stopped its work due to a night attack by russian troops. In the izmail district, it was reported that the Port Infrastructure was hit, the building of the checkpoint and two posts were damaged. Romania is not the first to feel the consequences of the russian invasion. Wreckage of russian drones was already found twice on the border with the odesa region on september 4 and 13. Since the beginning of the russian invasion of ukraine, several fragments of russian rockets fell on the territory of moldova, in settlements on the border with ukraine. Odessa is a constant target for Russian Missile attacks, which have only intensified since russia withdrew from the black sea grain agreement. And capturing the city to create a land bridge between crimea and transnistria was one of russias main military goals. The president of moldova, maya sandu, noted that thanks to the stability and resistance of ukrainians, she does not see a threat for russia to physically reach the borders of her country. However, he believes that moscow is not will abandon plans to reintegrate moldova into the russian world, regardless of how the war in ukraine ends. I dont worry about it, thanks to the stability and. We do not see a threat of russia physically reaching our borders, but we see russia bombing ports, not only odesa, but also other ukrainian ports on the danube, which are only 5 km from the moldovan port, the International Community must understand that ukraine needs to be helped to stop the pressure, because russia is going to create problems not only for us in the region, but will also go beyond it if allowed. The victory of ukraine will guarantee us security, but it is clear that russia is not going to give up its plans to reintegrate moldova into the russian world, even after the victory of ukraine, but to do it in this case it will be much more difficult. Russia will remain a very large source of instability in the region for many years to come, this is why the democratic world must come together, democratic countries and those trying to. Consolidate democracies must to be together, it will benefit both the continent and the world in general. At times, the russians faced an unusual shortage of fuel and a rise in diesel prices in recent weeks. The British Ministry of Defense Associates this with the growth of demand from russian farmers. After the kremlin banned almost all diesel exports, observers in the west talked about russias potential to use energy as a weapon again. What from the gasoline crisis in russia, Oksana Bedratenko knows. Russia faced rising fuel prices internally countries. In the russian opposition, this is connected with the fact that on september 1, moscow reduced subsidy payments to those oil refiners who Sell Petroleum products on the domestic market. Against the backdrop of the gigantic needs of the russian army, the cost of these subsidies began to skyrocket, says the exminister of finance of russia serhii aleksashenko. After the reduction of subsidies , diesel was exported. Domestic prices rose and a deficit was created. The kremlin sharply limited any export of diesel, but after a couple of days it was forced to somewhat relax this restriction. However, world prices for diesel. Shook and there was talk in the west that russia wants to use energy as a weapon again before winter, the chief Energy Security researcher of the us center for strategic studies keel suggests that russia wants both to destabilize World Markets and to solve domestic fuel problems. It is both, i think, they are worried that diesel prices are rising in the middle of the country. They are harvesting in russia. Diesel prices are quite high for the population at a time when the economy is slowing down and the ruble is weak, but it also speaks volumes about geopolitical motives. We remember that russia has reduced oil exports by 3,000 Barrels Per Day these months. It now wants to extend these restrictions until the end of the year along with saudi arabia and other opec plus countries. Therefore, collectively , the worlds major buffers, especially russia and saudi arabia, are cooperating to reduce supply and change conditions. World fuel prices. Are growing and this is worrying, these steps to export diesel and gasoline only worsen the situation, and whether it is beneficial for russia, or the prices for measures were increasing, the answer is yes. Sanctions events made it much more difficult for russia to sell oil, instead of petrodollars, according to kpler analysts, russia receives almost a billion dollars every month in indian rupees. Rupees are not a hard currency and you can buy little with them. On the other hand, observers emphasize, russia has learned. Use the shadow fleet to bypass the price restrictions of the event. The price ceiling for the export of oil and oil products is not so strong. All the time , russian oil is exported with higher restrictions. They obviously succeeded in this, and russia transports oil around the world thanks to the socalled shadow fleet of tankers. Finds an alternative to the services of group of seven campaigns. Enforcement of the g7 sanctions regime is not as strong. And as a result, russia continues to export a lot of oil. And oil products. Oil exports have decreased somewhat in recent months, as they have pledged to reduce sales in cooperation with saudi arabia. In order to limit russias oil influence, according to robin brooks from the International Institute of finance, it is necessary to prohibit greek oligarchs from selling oil tankers to putin. In general, analysts agree, this winter russia cannot afford to destabilize europe, kagil predicts the russian ban will last only about a month. There is always friction. Between domestic sales and exports, because exports bring in hard currency, dollars or other currency, and that is much more valuable to Many Companies than the ruble, because the ruble has been falling because of all these events in the last 18 months, so from the Companies Point of view, it is very important to hold exports, and i think the russian government will talk about this with companies, but if this policy continues, it creates tension and difficulties, if you take away exports from the company, it will hurt, and it can cause a reaction to them. Subsidies will be replaced by manual distribution, says the former russian finance minister. He assumes that the kremlin will issue export quotas and ensure that fuel goes primarily to the military and farmers. This can be interpreted as a sign that the russian economy is beginning to go on a war footing. Oksana bedratenko, dmytro melnyk, voice of america. We will say goodbye on this, good night to you, good morning, bye we are looking for nineyearold artem holodny, who disappeared in kharkiv oblast in september 2022. His mother asked for help in finding the boy. Imagine that a woman has not seen or heard from her son for more than a year. I am appealing to everyone who can see or know any information about my child, my son, the cold one, artem andriyovych, if anyone has seen or heard, can provide any information, i am asking you to do so, because the mothers heart is breaking and, the fact is that artem kholodnys parents are divorced and live together separately, it so happened that when the war began, the boy was with his father in the city of kupyansk, in the kharkiv region, on the third day after the invasion of the headquarters, the city was completely occupied, and later the communication was cut off there. For almost six months, mrs. Elena did not have any news about her son and only in september 2022 she received a short message from him in viber. It was september, somewhere between september 1013 last year on the 22nd. Let me remind you that in september of last year, the soldiers of the armed forces liberated kharkiv oblast from occupation