Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00U.S. Secretary of State and his British counterpart are in Kiev this Wednesday.
00:04Anthony Blinken and David Lamey in the Ukrainian capital, as Vladimir Zelensky continues to
00:08pressure NATO allies for permission to use donated weaponry to strike targets inside Russia.
00:14Their visit to Ukraine comes a day after sanctions were slapped on Iran over reports
00:19Tehran had sent missiles to Moscow to be used in the war.
00:24We have adjusted and we've adapted, trying to make sure that Ukraine had what it needed,
00:29when it needed it, to be effective in repelling the Russian aggression.
00:33And you've seen from the different, highly sophisticated weapon systems we've provided,
00:39intelligence sharing and many other forms of support,
00:42we've worked with many other countries to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs.
00:47We can now bring in our international affairs editor, Philip Tove. Philip, great to see you.
00:52What is the point of Anthony Blinken's visit as well as David Lamey's visit to Kiev today?
00:57There are two important reasons that these two men have gone there. The first one is basically
01:03just to understand and work out what are Kiev's goals. And the second is what are Kiev's needs,
01:11Kiev being the capital of Ukraine, of course. And the underlying factor here is that the Ukrainians
01:17have been crying out, not just for months, but almost since the start of this war, for
01:22long-range missiles to be given to them so they can fire them into Russian territory.
01:26They say the only way that they can fight back against the Russian advances in the east of
01:31Ukraine is to hit those bases where the Russian missiles are being fired from within Russia
01:36itself. We've seen these attacks by drones over the past few days, but that's not enough
01:41to stop the Russian advance. What they want is for the Western missiles, Western weapons,
01:46to be able to be used in Russia. They say they're basically fighting with their
01:50one-arm tie behind their back. The problem here is that the West, and particularly the United
01:55States, don't want Ukraine to be able to do that because they are worried about this
01:59spiralling into a much wider war with potentially Russia unleashing attacks against NATO members.
02:06And this could all basically turn out to be a much wider conflict. So that has explained why
02:13the West has been so reluctant to give in to what Vladimir Zelensky has been asking for. But
02:20Joe Biden yesterday was asked the question, he said actually in reply to that, we are working
02:27that out now. That is in asking him about whether the US will allow long-range missiles to be fired.
02:32Now you mentioned just as you were introducing this subject, the fact that there are sanctions
02:38imposed on Iran. I think that is playing into the hands of the Ukrainians and into the hands
02:46of the United States because they say, and Antony Blinken has said this, that those weapons that
02:51Iran is giving to Russia will be used within the next few weeks in Russia's war against Ukraine.
02:57Since then, of course, both Russia and Iran have said that's baseless, but I don't think anybody
03:02in the West believes that. Now it was unsurprising that the war in Ukraine featured in last night's
03:07presidential debate. Take a listen. Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies
03:14are so thankful that you are no longer president. Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kiev with his
03:21eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland. And why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans
03:27right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think
03:34is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.
03:40I want to get the war settled. I know Zelensky very well and I know Putin very well. I have a
03:44good relationship and they respect your president, okay? They respect me. They don't respect Biden.
03:50We're playing with World War III and we have a president that we don't even know if he's...
03:55Where is our president? We don't even know if he's a president.
03:58So, Philip, clearly two very different displays there on how to end this war in Ukraine.
04:05Well, we've seen Kamala Harris go on the attack in this debate, not only in Ukraine, but on a
04:10multitude of different issues. And I think Ukraine was one of the issues that she was really keen to
04:15attack Donald Trump on. Remember that foreign policy doesn't play very much of a big role in
04:21the election campaign in the United States. It's not seen as one of the key elements that could
04:25swing the election. That's more on the economy, on spending power. But it's important. I think
04:31it was important for Kamala Harris to mark points on what was going on in Ukraine. And
04:35a couple of takeaways from that. First of all, that heated exchange about
04:39the ability of Donald Trump to end the war. He's had more bad news just in the last
04:45few minutes because Russia, the Ukraine, has been issuing a statement saying, well,
04:48no phone call by Donald Trump would end the war. That doesn't mean anything at all.
04:54The second point is that Donald Trump was asked during that debate twice in a row by the moderator,
05:00would you prefer, would it be in the interest of the United States that Ukraine won the war?
05:05He wouldn't answer that question. He just said he wanted to bring the war to an end. So I think that
05:11also unleashed suspicion that Donald Trump, if re-elected to the White House, would play into
05:16the hands of Vladimir Putin. And if you remember, there are other exchanges that Donald Trump has
05:22had in the past which have led one to believe that he could play into the arms of Vladimir
05:28Putin. The first one saying that Russia had a green card to go and attack any country,
05:32any NATO country that didn't pay its dues. He said that they could basically do, to quote Donald
05:37Trump, whatever the hell they want. And secondly, back in 2018, remember then that Donald Trump
05:42defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election in contradiction
05:48of the US intelligence agencies which said the contrary. So all of that playing into the hands
05:53of what many say would be Donald Trump's flattery towards Vladimir Putin.
05:57Thank you very much for that, Philip.
05:59Philip, tell them.