does not rule out the deployment of nato nuclear weapons on its territory, what do russian nuclear threats lead to? over the next hour, we will talk about this and other things with our guests, politician-diplomat volodymyr ogryysk, military expert dmytro snigerev, and political scientist serhiy taran. however, before starting our big conversation, i suggest you watch the video of how the russian troops hit the tv tower today in...

friends, we are working live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube platforms and facebook, for those who are currently watching us on these platforms, please subscribe to our pages and also vote in our poll, today we ask you whether russia would dare to use nuclear. weapons

in the war with ukraine, yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, yes, no, or write your answer in the comments under this video, if you watch us on tv, take an expensive smartphone or phone and vote if you think that russia would dare to use nuclear weapons in a war with ukraine (0800-211-381), no (0800-211-382). all calls to these numbers are free, vote, at the end of the program we will sum up the results. this vote. and we have our first guest volodymyr ogrysko, diplomat, minister of foreign affairs of ukraine in 2007-9, head of the russian research center. mr. volodymyr, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today. i congratulate you, mr. serhiy. good health, greetings to our dear viewers. mr. volodymyr, let's start our conversation with great saturday, which was in the congress of the united states of america, there is a lot of talk about aid, or rather, about the bill on... allocation of aid

to ukraine in the amount of $61 billion, we will talk about it, but first of all i would like to start with the bill on the confiscation of russian assets for ukraine, since the is about the freezing of those russian assets, the transfer to ukraine of approximately 8 billion dollars, whether or not this decision can become a precedent in the world and... countries will do the same, referring to the fact that the united the states of america did it. well, mr. serhiy, come on, let's be frank, when they say that the usa only has 5 billion dollars that russian oligarchs hid there, then this is a very big, i would say so, delicate disinformation, what the russians stole. oligarchs in russia, and what they

calculated and invested in the american economy is not 5 billion and not even 50 billion, and not even 500 billion, it is trillions of american dollars, they know everything about this perfectly well, but when it comes down to it about such obvious slurs when they see that there is... the russian oligarchs, who already very clearly support putin there, who are already very clearly on the side of the aggressor, then they are precisely those who are chosen, therefore 5 billion is of course a drop in the ocean for the american economy, and i think that these huge sums , which are really hidden there, no one will ever tell, because they work for the american economy and no one will ever take them from there, of course, but... you are right,

mr. sergey, if it is a case of confiscation precedent, then there may be even the topic of 100 million, not necessarily, even 5 billion, the main thing is to be a precedent that it can be done, and then the world financial system will start to think, well, how should we react to this, and is it right? i think that if our western, mostly european politicians here came to a simple conclusion that it is necessary to change approaches to relations with russia in principle and not to be afraid that it can... file lawsuits in courts simply because it wants to use democracy to fight democracy, then the situation would be different. i lead to the fact that it is necessary to make not legal, but politico -legal decisions, that is, recognize that

any attempts by russia to challenge these decisions in european courts should not be accepted as such by these european courts, because... russia itself has violated all possible international and domestic laws of these countries, so she has no right to sue, sometimes they say that, you know, it will set a bad precedent, and some countries, let's say china, the countries of the middle east, will be able to think about withdrawing their funds from europe, well here... the logic is absolutely not clear, if the europeans declare that no country that has not committed any international crimes, aggression, can feel free and calm, if you violated these rules, well, then what, then

you will have to pay for it, and so in a way that no normal country that does not want to have problems with international law and sanctions, never in its life. will not do any such things and will calmly store their funds in the same european depository, in a word, there is work to be done, but here again it is necessary the political will of these western politicians, which unfortunately is not enough. meanwhile, they are already croaking at russia about these sanctions, regarding assets, and they are saying that there will be mirror sanctions, well, in a word, they are very worried about this, and this cannot help but be happy, as well as ... angry that the congress of the united states of america still voted on april 20 for the decision to allocate aid to ukraine, as it all turned out, let's remind our tv viewers of the atmosphere that prevailed in the hall of the congress of

the united states of america. in this vote of 311 to 112, one abstained. this means that the draft law has been adopted. i call for order in the hall. i call for order in the hall. the chairman would like to remind that, unfortunately, our regulations do not allow the use of flags. and the chairman tried to bring everyone to their senses, but we have another vote ahead of us, mr. volodymyr, on april 23 already in the senate, and

the leader of the majority in the senate, chuck schumer , announced that american senators will come out of recess specifically to vote for aid to ukraine. considering the fact that the democrats seem to have a majority there and none there should be no problems there, are there any other problems that could arise, or after all , the historicity of this decision was already on april 20, and simply on the 23rd there will be confirmation of this historicity, well, you see, mr. serhiy, what will the senate actually vote on, well it is the same that he has already voted, only under a slightly different sign, which does not change the essence of the issue, so yes, of course there will be several proposals for amendments, they will be considered, it is written that it will last

as long as 10 minutes, that is, it is purely formal things and i think the bill will be again supported by the senate, and then immediately signed by the president and... and this will mean that by the end of the week , the ukrainian defense forces, the weapons that are extremely necessary, will finally fall into our hands. heroes, and this will give an opportunity to stop a very difficult, if not to say, critical situation, which is developing today in some areas of the ukrainian-russian front. in an interview with nbc news, president zelensky thanked everyone who supported the aid package of the united states of america to ukraine, which will give our country a chance to win the war. let's listen what zelensky said. this support will really strengthen ukraine and the armed forces. and we will have a chance to win, but under the condition that with this money

ukraine receives the scarce weapons that are so necessary to repel the enemy, this includes artillery, this is a long-range strategic weapon, this is what was in the law thanks to the speaker that it is written there, these are atakams, that is, long-range combat weapons, which are so important in order not to lose people on... mr. volodymyr, the fact that in this draft law it is now written separately that there will be atakams missiles - this is a signal to putin, as far as i understand, it is correct, it is correct, although it is a late signal, but finally it has happened, as they say, and this finally seems to me to indicate that the line has won in the white house ... that it is necessary to end with this sub-empire, because these

attacks will definitely and primarily, i think, be used to cover those targets in the temporarily occupied territory of ukraine and outside this occupied territory, in order to make it impossible for russia to continue. of this terrible war of aggression, so if these there will be enough attackers, and here again we need to talk not about units, but about hundreds, then we can hope that the breakthrough will still take place, add to this the fact that in a couple of months the corresponding forces are expected, which will help close the ukrainian sky and not to give... the opportunity to attack it as it is happening today, then it will really

create very serious positive preconditions for this hack to happen as quickly as possible, but when, mr. sergey, we are talking about this stage, this stage of assistance from the side of the united states of america, i think i talked about it today with several of your colleagues, i think we shouldn't dwell on it here, because we really need to ensure that we don't have more such six-month breaks, but for this , it seems to me, two things need to be done, the first is to ensure that in our bilateral agreement with the usa, which is called security, the truth, which i call security in the field of defense assistance to ukraine, to prescribe clear, specific, very

clear obligations by the united states america to provide ukraine with the weapons we need over the next 10 years. these agreements, they are really designed for 10 years, they have already been signed with several countries, members of nato, in europe, and they give such a very clear. a framework that can be taken as a basis for planning certain actions. this gives partners the opportunity to prepare so that it does not happen once and at once, and now suddenly it is necessary to collect shells all over the world, but so that it is a clear, planned work, calculated for the moment, until we become a full member of the alliance. when this happens, all these...things will definitely be corrected, it will be a completely different story,

this is the first moment, the second moment, despite all this , in my opinion, we must continue the line to restore such a topic, it cannot be enough now weapons, it must be taken from all possible sources and from all possible points, so to speak, so although i imagine that it will not be accepted... well, at least initially positively, but one way or another this topic must be forced and lobbied for, well, let's not forget that there are a large number of european partners. they are very much to be commended for what they are doing, and here, i think, despite some of the problems that germany has had with these long-range weapons, we have to thank them for being a really powerful, ally that gives us everything we need, and for some reason it seems to me that after the decision on atakamsam, the same thing

will happen on there is taurus, well, this is my guess, then i think that if these efforts and american and european ones are united, and moreover, our defense industry will start producing more products than our armed forces need, then such a breach will certainly be objectively real, and let's help everyone in our own way. everyone is doing their best to make this scenario actually happen. mr. volodymyr, the head of the european committee in the bundestag, anton hofreiter, does not rule out that the aid to ukraine, approved by the house of representatives of the united states of america, may be the last, well, for some reason he thinks so. you mentioned this ten-year program of ours

cooperation with the united states of america and not only with the united states. after iran attacked israel on the night of april 13-14, there was a lot of talk about why our western partners do not protect us, such as the state of israel, why, why they actually do not join this war on the side of ukraine, how likely it is that , that before ukraine joins nato, we can get this status of the main ally outside... outside nato, outside the alliance with the united states of america, with great britain, with germany? well, i, mr. sergey, i have repeatedly expressed my opinion about this status, i am not a falcon supporter of this status, because in my opinion, it can

only delay the main goal, which is the entry into the alliance, what will be spelled out in these bilateral agreements with many european countries with the us in the field of defense, they will, i think, essentially have what is written in such agreements about this status that you just mentioned, but this, in my opinion, can have a ... negative political aspect , because they will necessarily be found in in some countries, there are political forces that will say that this is enough for ukraine at this stage, and there about nato, let's not talk about it yet, in fact, it will to some extent divert attention from this key security issue for us to the side, that ,

we will receive what we need on a bilateral basis, and the goal... to blur the goal of joining nato, it seems to me, does not make any sense in this case. after the united states congress voted to allocate aid to ukraine, polish president andrzej duda confirmed that already spoke several times with representatives of the united states of america about the possibility of placing nuclear weapons on polish territory in response to the transfer of russian nuclear weapons to belarus, i will quote mr. duda. if there is such a decision. our allies regarding the placement of nuclear weapons within the framework of a nuclear exchange, including on our territory in order to strengthen the security of nato's eastern flank, we are ready for this, we are an ally of the north atlantic alliance and bear obligations in this regard as well, that is, we simply conduct common policy - said the president of poland, that is, putin, who

tried so hard to blackmail the entire world with nuclear weapons. in december of the 21st year, all these ultimatums that he put forward, that regarding the expansion of nato and regarding the spheres of influence in general, in this situation, he receives yet another insult if there are american weapons on the territory of poland, what does this give to the north atlantic alliance, what does this give to ukraine and how can it be perceived in moscow? it seems to me that this is... a logical answer to what moscow did in belarus, that is, let's not forget that russia demonstratively, brazenly, placed its nuclear, weapons on the territory of belarus, and for some reason she thought that the west would dig it up just like that. by the way, today i read already

such a confused, aggressive reaction of the ministry of foreign affairs, of moscow to this event, well, but the reaction is traditional, they began and ended with the fact that poland will pay for this, because in the event of the deployment of i... them american armed forces forces on the territory of poland, it will become an object for a russian attack, well, it's not even interesting anymore, because it's already been repeated 1500 times and nothing but, well, you know that except that it doesn't make anyone smile anymore, i am completely on the side of president duda, it would be adequate and the right step, i don't know if the united states of america will immediately agree to it, but i think it would be

an absolutely logical, logical step in the answer to what russia is doing, which does not see its own steps, but even a potential step that could be, is already stamping, like the approach of humanity to nuclear war, well... this is a traditional story, which we are already, i think, should disappear, and in relation to what is over ukraine russian missiles have not been shot down yet, so in my opinion this is, well, to a certain extent, well, i don’t want to say harsh words, but well , the west’s misunderstanding of its role and function, ultimately it is not about the territory of... nato member countries, for that matter, what about the territory of a third country over which they fly, uh, missiles, shells, unmanned aerial vehicles, of unknown

origin for these countries, and they, at the request of ukraine, can quite easily shoot down these missiles and everything that flies overhead , this is our bilateral relationship, so none the western... plane does not come into direct combat contact with russian pilots, because it is about unmanned aerial vehicles. what is the problem here, and how does someone here get involved in some kind of war, well, this is already a question that comes back again and again, it is a question of fears, how can they evaluate it and what will the kremlin say, well, the kremlin has already said a thousand times that they are at war with nato, then... why can't nato fight with russia, if we follow this, according to this logic, well, if so, then yes, well , then let's be together with nato

shoot down and cover, shoot down russian missiles and cover the ukrainian sky, actually everything started with this in february 22, unfortunately, there were much more fears then, you see, during this time they have decreased, but they are still present. unfortunately, the leader of ukraine volodymyr zelenskyi also spoke about these fears and what might happen if ukraine loses the war with russia in an interview with the nbc channel, he said that after that putin will go to war against the baltic states. let's listen to what zelensky said. i know one thing is that if ukraine does not stand up, then putin is definitely in... a merchant in the baltic states, and why? not because there is some interesting idea or

strategy, etc., but because putin wants to regain the influence of the soviet union, and for this he does not hide, he wants to regain completely by force, by war, all the independent, once, once republics of the soviet union, but not now... they are in nato or not in nato, he is not interested in that, he is not afraid of nato countries. and so this is his strategy. undoubtedly, after the baltic states, poland will also be under attack, and part of germany. mr. volodymyr, if possible, in a minute, briefly describe the probability of such a scenario that zelensky is talking about. if we assume that ukraine has fallen, then it is quite realistic, but fortunately for us and the west

, ukraine will not fall. ukraine will win, because it seems to me that now in the minds of many western politicians, this turning point is finally coming, when everyone understands that either we will win it, or we will all lose together, therefore, i think that this super-empire has no chance, and we will definitely wait the moment when only a mention of her will remain on the pages of history textbooks. mr. volodymyr, i am grateful to you... for the conversation, this was a diplomat, politician, minister of foreign affairs of ukraine in 2007-9, volodymyr ogrysko, friends, we work live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms, if you are watching us on these platforms, please subscribe to our pages, take part in our survey, today we ask you if russia would dare to use nuclear weapons in the war with ukraine, everything is quite simple on youtube, yes, no, or your own, own opinion

on... please write in the comments under this video, if you watch us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote, if you believe that russia will dare to use nuclear weapons in a war against ukraine (0800-211-381 and 0800-211-382). next, we have dmytro snigerev, military expert, co-head of the legal affairs, mr. dmytro, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today, thank you for the invitation, congratulations, mr. dmytro. let's start with the situation which predicted by both president zelenskyi and the head of the main intelligence department of the ministry of defense, general budanov, because budanov, this is the second time in the last few weeks, has declared that a difficult situation awaits ukraine from mid-may, it is not only about the front or domestic politics, about he said this in an interview with the bbc. let's listen to a small fragment of the said

general. a difficult situation in the near future, but it is not catastrophic, this must also be understood, but armageddon will not happen, as many are now starting to say, no, but there will be problems from mid-may, this is an integrated approach, because the russians will use an integrated approach, they are conducting. complex operation, we will not talk about it with you for a long time, but it will be a difficult period, mid-may, early june. mr. dmitry, what is a complex operation, internal and external? well, actually, you answered your question, this is both an internal and

an external operation, respectively. that is, it involves both the intensification of hostilities directly on the line of combat and the efforts of russian diplomats at the moment blocking the military-technical and macroeconomic support of ukraine, plus destabilization within ukraine itself. carrying out a number of so-called active operations, including in the information space, with the aim of forming a general opinion. well, most likely, budanov means by the end of may to advance the thesis that... until the illegitimacy of the ukrainian president, in relation to the battle line, the situation is not until the end of may, it is quite tense, it is worth saying that the russian occupiers are not leaving attempts to break through the defense of the armed forces forces of ukraine along all the lines of the conflict of the ukrainian-russian front, which is the length of the front approximately 1200 km, the most difficult situation is in the donetsk direction, this is

from... the lymansky direction, where in the last day there have been more than 14 enemy attacks, the largest number, by the way , mariyanskyi and, accordingly , pokrovskyi ugledarskyi. the task of the occupiers until the end of may is to try to seize not only time, but also to try to reach the administrative borders of the donetsk region. there is talk that the occupiers understand very well that by the end of may, at the beginning adj. will start working in june. the ska initiative to supply artillery projectiles in the amount of approximately half a million, the initiative of the eu countries to supply approximately half a million projectiles, and finally we will receive the long-awaited military-technical and macroeconomic assistance from the united states, including weapons, artillery projectiles, air defense systems , which will significantly strengthen the position of the armed forces of ukraine. therefore, talk about what

will begin at the beginning of summer... this is another russian offensive.