Arseniy yatsenyuk in kyiv, welcome to hardtalk. Thanks for having me, stephen. Heres a very simple first question. Do you feel that ukraine right now is going through its bleakest moments in this war since your country survived that initial russian onslaught in late February 2022 . We are at a critical juncture, no doubt, stephen, youre absolutely correct. So we survived two years ago due to an unbelievable resolve of the ukrainian people and due to the real unity among the Western World. As of now, the mood is different, but i still believe that we have the chance to prevail. But we need an enormous effort that needs to be undertaken mainly by our Western Allies. So the mood is different, but chances for ukraine to prevail and to survive are very high. All depends on the actions. Spirit and morale are very important in war. Just tell me what impact the missile strikes on ukrainian cities like kharkiv, like chernihiv where weve seen the Death Toll Rise beyond a dozen what impact do tho
people who are going to rotest. ., ., , ., , , protest. how do you see this -la in: protest. how do you see this playing out? protest. how do you see this playing out? because - protest. how do you see this| playing out? because macron protest. how do you see this i playing out? because macron is pushing through regardless at the moment and yet the protests are getting more violent and the unions are standing firm so who will blink first? 50. who will blink first? so, everything who will blink first? so, everything depends - who will blink first? sr, everything depends now on the constitutional court where the reform is headed. if the constitutional court declares that the reform is constitutional, and the biggest worry for president macron is that there is advice and procedure that is being declared, the reform is going to be adopted. normal threat for french republic democratic procedures were adopted, there is no question about that. we are seeing that although the reform is wid
ukrainians. right now russia is trying to blank the ukrainians on the north and on the south. if they penetrate either one of those, it s possible for them to capture the entire battle force. and that would be a devastating and possibly lethal blow to the ukrainians. everything depends on ukraine holding that line. russian forces appear to have abandon the chernobyl nuclear power plant. does that fit in with the focus of donbas? it does. the result of troops being sickened by radiation. i wouldn t have any way to know whether that was the case. i know militarily it has no power no importance to them. it s not like they need to hold it for anything else. the ukrainians what they need is focus on what s going on in the donbas. they recognize that everything depends on that. you ll see them throw in the kitchen sink. and so is president zelenskyy.
more brutal turn. a senior u.s. official saying some russian soldiers now bringing in chem biosuits to protect against chemical and biological weapons. fearing that false flag event meant to justify russia s own use of chemical weapons. today the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. slamming russia for spreading disinformation. we have serious concerns that russia may be planning to use chemical or biological agents against the ukrainian people. reporter: as russia now expands its attacks for the first time into western ukraine with those deadly missile strikes. this while its ground forces are closing in on the capital. the russians are beginning to make more momentum on the ground towards kyiv. reporter: a u.s. official saying for vladimir putin, everything depends on taking kyiv. but fierce ukrainian resistance, these images from the ukrainian defense ministry, capturing this