uncomfortable for me in ukraine. i understood that he had joined forces with giuliani and that they both wanted me fired. but i salute on the mansion that they could be successful. the notion that an unscrupulous and disgruntled for an official, or even a president s personal dirt digger, would actually mean if you like the u.s. government to act against the sitting u. s. ambassador was inconceivable to me, and quote. the very next month, yovanovitch was suddenly recalled to washington in the middle of the night and summarily dismissed as ambassador. that happened just three days after the election of a new ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy. he was about to get sucked right into the middle of donald trump s extortion scheme. and marie ivanovich, the veteran ambassador, who was such a staunch ally of ukraine and its fight against russia and corruption would not be there to back him up. a few months later, yovanovitch was called to testify at donald trump s impeachment hearings.
i m mehdi hassan, the rachel maddow hosted by ali velshi in hungary, it s coming up in just a few minutes, with former ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch who was has her thoughts on the u.s. response to this conflict, and how president zelenskyy has risen to the moment to become a hero for the cause of democracy. that s ahead, but first the latest from ukraine where russian forces are increasingly striking civilian targets. as the invasion of ukraine enters its 15th day in the southern port of mario poll. a russian airstrike destroyed a children s hospital, a maternity ward, killing at least 18 people. the attacks have left people lacking their basic needs like food, water and, heat well relentless russian shelling has prevented civilians from safe
the past several weeks? well, i ve been very impressed by how he has used his communication skills, as an actor and comedian, and his executive skills, as the head of a large media empire, and now the president of a large country in the heart of europe. he has combine those two talents to communicate with his people in a time of great stress in peril. unite the ukrainian people behind him, and inspire the world. the man has met the moment, he is a true ukrainian hero right now. ambassador, thank you for your time tonight, we really appreciate it. former ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, she s the author of a new memoir, lessons from the edge. we really appreciate you being with us this evening. we ll continue with more ahead, stay with us. we got the house! you did!
she would visit the frontlines ten times as ambassador. she said it was to, quote, show the american flag and hear what was going on, sometimes literally as we heard the impact of artillery. when marie ivanovich arrived in ukraine in 2016, she was a veteran foreign services officer. in the previous decade she had been the ambassador to kyrgyzstan and armenia. she had experience in ukraine, by the, way being the deputy chief of mission in kyiv. that s her on the right performing election monitoring in ukraine s 2002 parliamentary elections. when she returned to ukraine in 2016, in addition to showing american support for ukraine in its war with russia, the other major pillar of marie yovanovitch s job as ambassador was to promote anti-corruption efforts. just a couple of years earlier, ukrainians had kicked out there fantastically corrupt pro-russian president and what was called the revolution of dignity.
where we are today. how clearly can we trace the line from donald trump s undermining of ukraine to the current catastrophe? joining me now is the former united states ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch. her new, book lessons from the, edge comes out next week, and we have never needed her insights more, more now than ever. thank you so much for joining us, ambassador. i have to tell you, it is very noisy here because they have just announce we are at the train station they have just announced a special trained to budapest, which will be leading here probably within the next half an hour or so. you can see people loading up. these are people who came in from all parts of ukraine. they are escaping, it is mostly women and children, as we have described, and that train that you are looking at now is going to be heading to budapest. they will try to find a new life, i and i have met people who know where they are going and others who do not. i apologize to our audience for the n