this very closely, not just as a congressman, but as an expert on this in the state department. it is a bit personal to you as it is for a lot of people who come from this part of central and eastern europe which borders or was part of the former soviet union. give me a sense of where you think we are in this and when america can or should be doing. it is personal to me. it should be personal to every american. they are fighting for our freedom, for our security, as well as they are fighting for their own. we have done a great deal. we have helped the ukrainians defeat russia s initial plans which was to take over kyiv. in the few days to get rid of the democratically elected government, who opposed an occupation. this is been defeated. absolutely clearly. we are entering a phase that can still be very dangerous. as putin considers a very bats set of options from his point
say would be successful. number one, there are still european countries, particularly eastern european allies, that need to encourage those countries and arrange for this transfers as quickly as possible. number two, you are right. the europeans are still overly dependent on russia for energy supplies. it is therefore harder for them to move as quickly as we have moved to ban the import of russian oil. i think they recognize that this is something they have to do in a much faster timeline than they are comfortable with, or working towards before. there are things united states can do for, them for the europeans, to ease the burden. to ease the blow that they will suffer. we also have to talk about scenarios going forward. this could go well. we could have a negotiation
i just want to play that for our viewers. what is a situation like where you are now? ali, behind me you see the same park, the same fair, where i took that footage. it may seem like a normal day here in lviv, people run the earlier you can hear the buskers playing music in the background. but this is a defining city. this is a show of force in any way that they can, as the attacks have persisted all across this country extend here to the west of the country as well, with that airport maintenance facility being struck by russian airstrikes, just a couple of days ago. a little quick update in mariupol, you mess and you mentioned the former in the dark school that was doubling as a shelter. local officials are saying now
would be a guarantee for putin because. we will keep his word. there is a huge line of countries saying, okay. without that, there will be an ongoing mark on our land. ongoing horror with my people. and this is why we will continue fighting here, because we see no other way right now to resolve this. because i may have a map that i can show my viewers. we have not talked about belarus for a long time. but you have made the point that the belarusian s have left. belarusian officials, government officials, have left kyiv. when you are a little bit concerned that they might actually join this fight. obviously belarus is closely aligned to russia. they think of themselves as a union state, something that russia would like to make ukraine into. why does this mean if belarus coast into the fight? which does mean for ukraine? it was before we anticipated
lifelines. china would be the main one. but other countries are going to continue to trade with russia, and are not going to condemn it in the united nations or anywhere else. i just spoke to an assistant to the deputy prime minister, who was saying that the european and russian sanctions will be a very big deal. obviously here in hungary victor is up for reelection in three weeks, and says it is a nonstarter to even discuss. it there are other european countries that may soften on that. will that make a very big difference if europe stops buying energy, natural gas, oil and natural gas? that will make an enormous difference. russia we ve always thought it was a superpower, and then if you superpower. it probably will not be an energy superpower going forward, particularly if they agree to sanctions on russian oil and natural gas, at least with the