President of Ukraine on ongoing war with Russia
(CBS, KYMA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the ongoing war with Russia.
According to Brennan, President Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine has intelligence that Russia is preparing for a new massive attack, with Moscow warning foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, ahead of the strikes.
When asked what he is bracing for, Zelenskyy said:
"First of all, today at night, or tomorrow at night...we think that we will have big attacks from Russian side using drones, using cruise missiles and ballistic, and we see the preparation always. We see the preparation, by the way, we are thankful to United States and European partners when they share with us intelligence. So, when we know that Russia prepares a big massive attack, definitely, our partners also know, maybe not a lot of details, but we know. So today, of course, I didn't address yet to my country. I will do it a bit later in the evening, and of course, I will say that our people have to be very, very careful, cautious, and children, and they have to use bomb shelters, because today at night or tomorrow at night, high percent, of course, nobody knows 100% but there is a high percent. So usually we have, we have each day attack from Russian side on civilians, and of course on battlefield. And two times a week, or two times per 10 days, they have big, massive attacks with ballistic, and etc. Last massive attack, just to understand, it was...some days ago, it was 600 drones, Iranian drones, Shaheds, and they had...about 30 plus ballistic missiles. In total it was 90 missiles and more than 600 Iranian drones, so it was very difficult to destroy it. We used all our weapon, what we have, what we produce, and of course we used anti-ballistic missile. This is the biggest deficit for us."
Brennan also said one Russian drone slammed into a building in Romania while another hit a Turkish ship, with CBS News hearing from European countries who say Russia is taking more and more operation risks in Europe.
This prompted her to ask Zelenskyy why he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking these risks at the moment, to which he said:
"it's not the first time he's doing such pressure. I think it's political pressure. It's messages from Russia, don't help Ukraine. I think this is the most usual meaning, what he used, don't, if you will, help Ukraine, (or) I will do these such steps. So..he tried once crossing at the very beginning of this war. He did it in Romania, and then a little bit later it was in Poland when they used 21 drones. Then, for example, today at night it was again Romanian, not the first time, we gave these messages to our Romanian partners at night. Usually we try to catch all the drones, even when they go in their direction to other countries, like Romania, Moldova, or the direction of Poland, we try to catch everything. If we can't, of course, we give these messages to our partners. We try to help them, and also the same with the Baltic countries, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia. So Russia uses this just to attack politically and by weapon pressure on NATO countries to look at the reaction. So...I think the reaction has to be more strong from the unity of NATO countries. And I think that Putin is comparing how this reaction and how it's changed during this one year or two years, three years, this is the way how- and he also, the testing of air defense of other countries, NATO countries, which are bordering us or bordering Belarus or Russia. So he's testing what air defense they have. Can they destroy all the missiles or drones. This is what I think."
During the interview, Brennan and Zelenskyy talked about a personal letter Zelenskyy sent to the White House and to Congress, saying ballistic missiles remain Putin's last major battlefield advantage, and said Ukraine needs a surge of interceptors to take the missiles out.
This led Brennan to ask if Zelenskyy has received a response from the U.S., and the Ukrainian president said:
"This is the biggest, this is the priority for us, and big, big challenge. We had a very difficult, tough winter. Russia attacked us by lots of ballistic missiles on our energy infrastructure, water supply, schools...it was very difficult. Now, we see big deficit. Of course, one of the reasons is the situation in the Middle East with the Iranian war, and we see that the deficit is increasing, and we need to hurry up to rush and to send messages and meetings, and do a lot of meetings with other partners. We don't see enough missiles in production of the United States. We see that this it can be crisis in the world, including Middle East, of course. I hope, God bless, that the ceasefire will be long and lasting peace. I wish it to Middle East countries and to the United States, and I hope that President Trump and his team and American side will negotiate ceasefire. But what we see, we have to prepare for the challenges. And we in Ukraine, we don't have ceasefire, we have long five years war, and we see that Russia is increasing their internal production, the production of ballistic missiles, and we have deficit with anti ballistic. This is big problem. I sent a letter to the White House and Congress of the United States, and I hope that they will understand and will answer, respond. And this is very important. We need to increase the production. I know all the companies in the United States, huge companies, great companies, but only United States can produce such number. 60, 65 missiles per month for today's challenges, it's nothing. Russia knows it, it's not, you know, secret information. We need to do production wider. Germany now has some licenses. I asked previous administration, I am asking today's administration, give Ukraine licenses. We will increase the production of Patriot missiles. It will be very helpful for us, it will be very helpful for Middle East, for everybody whom United States will decide to help."
Later in the interview, Brennan and Zelenskyy talked about possible peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there is no negotiations scheduled between Russia and Ukraine, seeming to acknowledge that they are completely stalled, while Putin's spokesperson said it's too early to speak on the specifics about the end of the war.
When asked if he thinks Russia can ever come to negotiate an end to the war, Zelenskyy said:
"Yes, of course. First of all, I want to say that there are several tracks. And the priority track was during last year, I think it was American track, it was trilateral meeting, United States, Ukraine, and Russia. Yes, it was technical level, not leaders level, on the level of NSA, but it was, I think it was good. It was a priority then, United States be open...and we have to be open, between us, we are partners. United States moved and shift their focus on the Middle East, and because of this, I think Middle East is a priority. That's why we have some pauses in our diplomatic negotiations. We have European track. I will always be on the side that it can't be just United States track or European. I thought that the most strong position is when Ukraine, Russia, America- United States, and Europe, I think that this is the most strong, powerful negotiation format. But, we have what we have. Now, Europe tries to find their way how to push Russia to the peace. And also, the third way, and of course, we are ready to speak bilaterally with Russia. I'm ready to meet with Putin if he will be ready. I think we need more sanctions. I think we need more pressure. And you asked when they will be ready, and if they will be ready, theoretically. I think yes, more sanctions, more pressure, they will be ready for the dialogue. Even now, they have losses. 30, 35,000 soldiers, Russian soldiers, per month. And it's a huge number of losses. Really, we increased this number, we- I mean, they increase the number to attack us, and that's why the number of losses is very big. And each month, you have to know that they mobilize, I think the same, very comparable number with losses, so this is a problem for them, the deficit of people. And they are on the way to the big crisis with the people, I think all these things will push them to the dialogue."
To watch Brennan's full interview with Zelenskyy, click here.
