in march. the local police chief has said that more than half had been shot. finland and sweden have formally announced their intention tojoin nato, in response to russia s invasion of ukraine. the alliance s secretary general, jens stoltenberg, has described the move, which amounts to abandoning their military non alignment, as historic while president putin described the plan as a mista ke . one person is dead and four others critically wounded when a gunman opened fire at a church in california. he s later overpowered. it comes just a day after a gunman killed ten people in a suspected racially motivated terror attack at a supermarket in the city of buffalo. now on bbc news, stephen sackur is in washington with hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from capitol hill, washington with me, stephen sackur. the united states is supporting ukraine in its war against vladimir putin with weapons, with money and with sweeping sanctions on moscow. in that, president biden has the support
divisions within us politics, not least within the republican party. it s that age old clash between isolationists and interventionists. my guest today is the ukrainian born republican congresswoman, victoria spa rtz. how much is donald trump influencing this internal republican argument? congresswoman victoria spartz, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. let me start with ukraine. the white house and you guys on capitol hill have worked together to put together a massive aid package for ukraine. it s almost $40 billion. military assistance, financial assistance, humanitarian assistance as well. are you personally satisfied with what the government is doing right now? i think our government is moving in the right direction. i think like in any crisis, speed, agility and really strength, peace through strength is the main determined deterrent to any war in any crisis. so, i think we. this administration has been very slow. west has been very slow. but with pressure from the america
forced to evacuate their homes. now on bbc news, it s time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from capitol hill, washington with me, stephen sackur. the united states is supporting ukraine in its war against vladimir putin with weapons, with money and with sweeping sanctions on moscow. in that, president biden has the support of the us congress. but the ukraine war is stirring divisions within us politics, not least within the republican party. it s that age old clash between isolationists and interventionists. my guest today is the ukrainian born republican congresswoman, victoria spa rtz. how much is donald trump influencing this internal republican argument? congresswoman victoria spartz, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. let me start with ukraine. the white house and you guys on capitol hill have worked together to put together a massive aid package for ukraine. it s almost $40 billion. military assistance, financial assistance, humanitarian assistance as well. are you perso
acknowledge that there is a fundamental division in your republican party right now between the america first trump supporters, who essentially have a message of american isolationism, and the old style security hawks who probably supported the bushes and reagan and their approach to security matters, who are much more interventionist. and there are colleagues of yours in this house of representatives, like matt rosendale, like paul gosar, who even today, three months into this war, are essentially saying there is no us interest in backing ukraine and volodymyr zelensky. what do you think of those people? well, ithink, you know, we re a very diverse party and it s good to have diverse opinion. but honestly, i also belong to people that say, you know what, we need to be smart when we engage in different conflicts, and to go and rebuild and spend a bunch of money in building democracy like in afghanistan, it wasn t a wise idea. i think we have to be smart where we spend money,
matters, who are much more interventionist. and there are colleagues of yours in this house of representatives, like matt rosendale, like paul gosar, who even today, three months into this war, are essentially saying there is no us interest in backing ukraine and vladimir zelensky. what do you think of those people? well, ithink, you know, we re a very diverse party and it s good to have diverse opinion. but honestly, i also belong to people that say, you know what, we need to be smart when we engage in different conflicts, and to go and rebuild and spend a bunch of money in building democracy like in afghanistan, it wasn t a wise idea. i think we have to be smart where we spend money, who are our allies and what is in the strategic interests of our country. we shouldn tjust be involved in every war and everything. no, i but i m specifically talking about, i m specifically talking about people like paul gosar, who you sit with on the republican benches, who said the other day. but. thi