one year later. almost exactly a year ago missile attacks against the capital of ukraine, kyiv. to most this was a surprise attack and invasion. the ukrainians didn t see it coming, nor did the europeans. the one consistent voice cautioning that an invasion was likely, the u.s. intelligence community. another surprise for the world, the intense resolve about entertainer turned president volodymyr zelenskyy, unlike others in his position he didn t flee but only left the country a handful of times to plea for guns and ammunition. and for the last year he s faced off from across the border with vladimir putin who has ruled russia for more than two de decades. the key player who is not a participant in the war, the united states of america. it is the country that has organized the sanctions against russia, it is the country that has been the single biggest provider of military and nonmilitary assistance and tonight on this special program, you ll hear from two top officials on am
the another surprise for the world the intense resolve of that entertainer turned president, volodymyr zelenskyy. unlike others in his position, he did not indeed, he s only left the country a handful of times to plea for guns and ammunition. and for the last year, he has faced off from across the border with vladimir putin, who has ruled russia for more than two decades. a key player who is not a participant in the war, the united states of america. it is a country that has organized the sanctions against russia. it is the country that has been the single biggest provider of military and non-military assistance, and tonight, on this special program, you will hear from two top officials on america s national security team. first, the biden administration s key player on countering russia s war in ukraine, the national security adviser jake sullivan, who is with president biden in kyiv this week. also, usaid administrator samantha power, the official responsible for making
as we head into the spring, what ukraine really needs is armor. infantry fighting vehicles and, yes, tanks. now, and we re providing those. the president was advised by his military abrams tanks, the american tank doesn t make sense for this fight. what they really need it where leopard tanks, german tanks, that a bunch of countries in europe no. but the germans said we will not provide our tanks unless you, the united states, provide your tax. and president biden said if me providing abrams tanks, even if it s not the most sensible military move will help unlock german tanks to get to the front lines, and also will sustain alliance unity, i will do it. i tell that particular story as it relates to f-16s. because these decisions are not just people sitting around and saying thumbs up thumbs down. a wide variety of factors go into the decision to provide a particular system, to train up the ukrainians on it, and then to get into the fight.
in this country who believe that the east of ukraine is essentially russian territory. historically russian territory, there s a lot of people who believe that territory was infringed upon by the united states, by nato, and that somehow, this conflict now is one between russia and the west. and specifically, between russia and the united states. so, right now, there s no public pressure on vladimir putin to end this war. and it certainly does not seem as though he s inclined to do so anytime soon, fareed. and fred, what is life like day-to-day for russians? do they feel the war in any sense? that s an extremely important question. i m really glad you asked that, fareed. because i think a lot of people be very surprised to see what life is like here in moscow. there s still a lot of products that are on the shelves. card payments are possible, electronic payments are possible. if you wanted to, you could
about the world of democracies and the world of autocracies. is this what we re up against, which is a sobering thought, because the three largest nuclear powers in the world, and you have to, russian china, allied and in a sense their missiles pointed at the united states? well, what i see as usaid administrator traveling to developing countries is china making, continuing to make a whole series of investments, often causing those countries to incur a awful lot of debt. but really, carrying a lot about its standing in the global south. and this gets to jake s point about the awkwardness of throwing its lot in with a naked aggressor committing war crimes as a matter of state policy. i mean, when you set out to de-electrify a country in the dead of winter, that is enshrining the intentional destruction of civilian infrastructure as a war aim. that s very unusual. and to do so publicly and flamboyantly, that is, that creates great awkwardness for the people s republic of china. and wit