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July 27, 2022 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
01:03:07
20220727_piers-morgan-uncensored-in-ukraine-part-3-with-pre
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Stronger Bonds in Marriage 00:10:13
Piers Morgan uncensored in Kyiv, Ukraine.
And tonight, a world-exclusive interview with two of the most iconic people in the world right now.
President Vladimir Zelensky and his wife, the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.
Mr. President, happy to see you again.
Thank you so much.
Your English is better than my Ukrainian.
Yes, that's true.
That's for sure.
It was a wide-ranging, long, fascinating, heart-rending, occasionally laugh out loud against all the odds, interview.
My grandmother, she remembers Churchill.
He rallied the whole country.
I think you're doing the same.
As Churchill, I'm trying.
With two compelling people.
And at the end of it, one thing's for sure.
Ukraine right now could not be in better hands than they are with their president and their first lady.
I'm Piers Morgan, Uncensored, in Kiev, Ukraine.
Tonight, a world-exclusive interview with the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, and his wife, the First Lady, Olena Zelenska.
Mr. President, First Lady, thank you both very much indeed for taking this time to sit down with me.
I greatly appreciate it.
And First Lady, thank you for giving me the honor of moderating your summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen.
It was an amazing day.
We'll come to that.
I want to ask you first, we're five months into the war, into the sixth month now.
How are you both doing?
How are you coping with this?
How are you doing?
How are you doing?
Well, if I may say so, to be honest, I have this feeling as if it were one day.
That is why when it was the sixth day, the seventh day of war, since that day I really have this feeling that all of this is one very long day.
I don't really see the difference between five months or six months.
The only difference is when we feel that at the battlefield the situation is stabilized.
Or we know that at some points, in some positions, we are advancing.
And I keep thinking about that.
But another point is my family, my wife, they have found a format how sometimes we can have this possibility of seeing each other.
Thank you for the interview.
This interview is one of the good opportunities for us to see each other.
That is very important for us.
As you know, we are all human beings and we have to be strong.
Sometimes we want to have someone close to be next to us and that is what you miss in these moments.
Yes, I miss my children, I miss my wife.
It is impossible to get used to it.
Everything else you can get used to.
For you First Lady, is this like a TV date?
Yes.
Thank you for this TV date.
Yes, yes, because each day, each time when we have this interview, we experience joy because we have the chance to see each other throughout past days, past months.
Because during this period, Volodymyr has been living at his workplace and I'm with children, but we are in another place.
We were separated and I can see him only several times per week in the office, but children do not get to see him very often.
Of course, they miss it under such a serious period in their life of our daughter who graduated from school.
She's entering university and today she's going to take an exam and she's preparing thoroughly for this.
Even she really needs her dad to be around to be able to talk to him.
And this period of time and she's entering this adult life.
So it's important to make sure that there's such a smooth transition for her.
But unfortunately, there's something we cannot afford.
And what is supportive, what helps us, you understand that you are not alone.
All of the Ukrainian people are in this situation.
Too many are separated and all of us are waiting for our victory and waiting for normal life to be reunited again and just to lead normal lives like ordinary people live.
The only thing that I could add here is that I absolutely agree with Onena.
I think that for those people who are in occupied territories, it's much more difficult and this is something one cannot get used to actually.
So we have to try our best to make sure we can deoccupy these territories and at least to save the lives of these people and to make sure that there is still hope for them.
These kind of situations they can make or break a marriage.
Is your marriage stronger, do you think, because of what you've gone through in the last few months?
What do you think?
I should have to begin to answer.
I agree with the theory that marriage gets stronger with challenges.
I think in our case it would be the same.
We have become more interested in each other.
I think in our case it will be the same story.
We have got something else to say to each other.
That is why I want this challenge to make us more united.
What do you think about it?
My answer wouldn't be different.
You should have your own opinion about it.
Of course, I have my own opinions.
And when you're next to me, your opinion has priority.
But I'm interested to hear what you have to say.
Well, what I can say is that I didn't have any other experience, actually.
Because I have only one wife and I'm happy.
Yes, that's the right answer.
It is.
Yes.
I am happy to have this set up.
I am happy that in my life I have got one wife, one love and one family.
I never got any feeling that there was anything wrong with us or in our relationship.
And I probably, well, it is how it is.
Probably there are different moments in families and marriages and different points.
Or maybe do you feel unhappy with me sometimes?
Not with you, but without you, I'm very unhappy.
Yes, yes, right you are.
That is why I can't notice any big changes.
The war is making our relationship stronger.
What is so nice, I think, is that your relationship was founded on humor, comedy.
You wrote comedy scripts, you were writing and performing.
And I was going to ask you later in the interview if you'd had any chance to even laugh together.
And then here you are laughing together.
And it's very nice to see that, because that's how you met and fell in love, was making each other laugh.
It's true.
There are no moments of laughing in our these days, more days.
It's true.
And sometimes I can see smile.
And also I have these minutes for smiling.
I think it helps.
Helps very much.
Is it true?
I've got a question for you, Mr. President.
Is it true that you met at high school?
You were high school sweethearts.
Is it true that you got together with two friends, male friends?
and all of you proposed marriage to your wife and to two other women at the same time.
It is true.
It was, yes.
I don't remember exactly why we did such ways.
If you remember, could you please tell a story?
Yes.
They had very many, very many performances then, and we were always on the road.
Sometimes it was with them, and their girlfriends were also with them.
And when we saw that we had a more flexible schedule for the upcoming months, then the guys decided to put it to good use because we planned to get married anyway.
I remember you three guys saying, let's do it, and everything will be okay.
And we agreed.
Let's do the right thing.
And we agreed somehow, you know.
We agreed, yes.
I remember we were having a wedding ceremony every week.
Yes, yeah.
So, you know, it was every week that we got married.
It was the 31st of August.
Ours is on the 6th of September, and then another couple on the 13th of September.
So each Saturday, we would have another function to celebrate it.
Yes, that shows that at the time I didn't have many friends.
But if I had 10 or 20 friends, we would have had weddings all over the year.
It's a lovely story.
And you all got married within the same two-week period, right?
Yes.
All three marriages.
Amazing.
Mr. President.
Well, the most important thing is not to have divorces every week.
We are managing.
We are managing?
Yes, we are managing is not the right word.
We are in love with each other.
Mr. President, when this war started, that awful night back in February, you appeared very soon afterwards and made a video address which you put out on social media.
Waking Children to War 00:02:36
And I remember watching it in real time and being very moved by it.
And it was really your decision to stay here in Ukraine and to encourage the people of Ukraine to fight for their country.
Some leaders might have left.
What made you stay?
Well, it couldn't have gone any other way because the president is a leader of its people.
The people voted for me and the strengths of our state.
This is something that I have already mentioned, the strengths of our state.
This is consolidation.
This is unity of our people.
All of us together.
The government, the people, the servicemen, people just want it started.
They would go to the streets, they would stop tanks, other military vehicles.
So the government had to stay in the center of the decision-making processes.
It was very important to make sure that there is no informational chaos because we cannot say that this intimidation works because otherwise they would say that their informational propaganda actually won that the government would leave this is what they wanted is chaos because chaos is the weakness of the state.
This is the weakness of institutions.
So one can occupy some territory very quickly.
Frankly, yes.
Unfortunately, in some places, some settlements or towns of Ukraine, this is what happened with some police officers, some local authorities.
Yes, they would.
They would actually run away and it was possible for the troops to address sooner.
But actually there was a lot of resistance and it was next to impossible to occupy because of the resistance coming from people.
This is why we really tried really hard to make sure that other territories remain integral.
That was the only way for me to act.
And I understood the consequences.
And I think that these consequences, they were so much more important than what happens to me the next day.
First lady, that night you had to wake your children and tell them this war had started, your children at 18 and 9 years old.
That must have been a very difficult thing to do.
And then you had to leave your husband as he went to leave the country.
And you had to leave him perhaps fearing, I don't know, you tell me, that you may never see him again.
Life Under Permanent Siege 00:02:02
Yes, it was difficult.
I was a little bit worried actually when I had to wake up the children to let them know that the war had begun and that we had to park some stuff.
But luckily I didn't have to do that because when I entered the room of my daughter, she was already awake and she understood everything because you know, social media, everything works so fast these days.
I didn't see in her eyes any panic.
She just asked me, what do we have to do now?
And that was exactly the same question which I addressed to my husband.
And what he told me was, wait, wait, and I will tell you.
I had some thoughts.
Would it be possible for me to see him again?
How long is it going to last?
What happens next?
The fear was there.
But I tried not to show it to the children that I was confused, that I was scared.
And I was not really scared, but it was important for me to be in a cheerful mood, to keep talking to them, to smile to them.
That is what I had to do.
And after this very long day, believe me, my cheeks hurt because I had to smile so much and to be cheerful.
And as Volodymyr just said, as for any Ukrainian, the 24th of February keeps repeating every day.
You know, this is the 24th of February is a permanent condition in which we are living right now as the circumstances are changing, but we're just waiting for one thing when all of that is going to be all rolled back and we will be back to our normal lives.
That is why I don't...
I wouldn't really want anyone in the whole world to endure these horrific days that we had to go through at the end of February.
The Lucky Hero's Wife 00:04:11
Yes, but we hope for better.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
We are sure about our future.
We believe in peace.
We believe in our victory.
And I absolutely agree.
Well, this is the way it is.
We are living in these times.
Social media, they work faster.
They explain things faster than parents do sometimes.
And we can say that it's not only about our children.
We have children of war.
They hear a lot about what's happening.
They understand that this war made them more grown up.
And there are very many important things which have to be explained by parents.
How do you feel about that?
I am proud of that.
I am proud of our army.
And as a father, I would be proud if my son became a soldier.
I can provide support for him.
I know he is wearing military-style clothing.
He's got quite a lot of weapons, not the kind of weapons we've got from our partners.
You've become strange for your children because you've become this international hero to many people.
Incredibly famous, the whole world knows of you and is inspired by you.
And yet, to your children, you're just your dad.
And they see you on television, I presume.
And it's still their father.
Not this global family.
I hope I still father.
I'm still a father.
Have you seen them at all?
Yes, at some point there was the movement of my family to different places.
It was important in terms of security of my family.
It was not possible for us to communicate or to use any means of communication for some longer periods of time.
At some point, it was possible for us to have an online date, and I saw my children.
How was that?
Nice?
Great.
I'm proud of them and they are proud of me.
And it is such a delight because this is what it gets you through.
This is what I can hear.
First lady, the world sees your husband as a hero.
Is he your hero?
Maybe you want to answer without me.
Yes, I think it would be better.
I think that I have already answered similar questions a couple of times already.
And if each time I have to answer this question because victory is getting closer and closer, you know, I cannot make up any other answer.
There's only one truth.
I have always known that he's the most trustworthy person ever.
And under this condition, this is something the world learned.
And the same is true about our children.
He has always been a champion for them, the best dad, the best person in our family.
And right now, they're not really surprised.
They take it as a test.
They have this confidence and they support.
I'm one of the best ones in our family.
Yes, you're the one of the many best people in our family.
But there's not many, as we don't really have a big family.
Mr. President, having spent time with the First Lady at the summit all day, are you familiar with the phrase punching above your weight?
Are you familiar with that phrase?
Familiar?
It means you're very lucky.
You're doing very well.
Yeah, I think so.
Sanctions and No Deals 00:13:30
You agree?
I'm very lucky with my wife.
I got really lucky to have her as a wife with my family, with my children.
I think that I'm a happy person.
I am absolutely a happy person.
What is your view of Vladimir Putin, the man who is leading this war?
He is enemy number one in this war.
It seems to me the scariest thing about it is that he is in fact sane and he understands what he's doing.
It is difficult to put it into words.
It's not possible to understand how one crooked idea can throw the whole of mankind into the medieval ages.
I really don't have words.
You said on a more serious note that the Russians, you're the number one target for them and your family is the number two target.
That must be a constant pressure for all of you.
It's not really about you thinking about your family.
Yes, in this case, the family is at the center of attention and yes, this is true.
These targets still remain for some people from the Russian Federation.
As far as I am concerned, I think it is a given.
I think that it is a part of this situation we are in and we are in a state of war.
I think that any person can become a target.
There is an example, there is a good example of the number of artillery missiles and some other strikes which took place.
Innocent people suffer.
Civilians suffer as soldiers and me, if I can really put it this way, we are at war.
We were at war.
Yes, we understand that these things could happen.
The result could be a bad one.
Some people lose their lives.
But what about suffering of civilians, their families, common people?
And the only thing they did was being a Ukrainian.
Because this is what it is for Ukrainian soldiers and politicians.
That is why I think this is something which is unsettling.
And First Lady, for you as a mother to know that the Russians are targeting not just your husband as president, but you and potentially your children, your family, for any mother, that must be a terrifying thought.
I tried never to think about these numbers of targets because when you think in terms of target number one, target number two, if you think too much into it, then you can become really paranoid.
And yes, I understand I'm a mother like many other mothers in Ukraine.
That is why all Ukrainians are targets number two.
And of course, it's all unpleasant feeling.
I don't want to think that they want to do this to our family.
I'm trying to push this kind of thoughts away.
I can see that you can see what they did to civilians and what they're doing now in any part of our country.
I don't understand what they've got in mind.
And possibly we are in danger.
I don't want to allow these kind of thoughts to go deep into my mind because I could feel scared.
And this is not what we need right now.
Mr. President, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, said that you can't win this war, that Russia is too dominant, the sanctions aren't working, and that eventually America will have to do a deal with Russia to end this.
What is your response to that?
The war of Russia against Ukraine is in our territory.
The United States of America are our partners, and Russia, unfortunately, is an invader and an enemy.
That is why the partner and an enemy cannot really make a deal about the future of our country.
The country which is fighting for its independence and for its sovereignty, nothing is going to happen without our participation.
Regardless of what Russia think, what is important to us is that our partners understand this.
The United States of America in particular.
If you're talking about those statements of the Hungarian Prime Minister, sometimes we say something when it seems to us so, and sometimes we say what we want to say when we want this to be this way.
We say this, but sometimes, you know, these answers, you know, we fight on the ground, we fight in the air.
It is easier for us to see what the future holds for us.
This is why we want to talk about the sanctions.
The biggest problem is that Russia does not understand the outcomes of what it has already done.
It does not understand the consequences of these sanctions because one of these outcomes is the actual introduction of these sanctions.
The isolation of the president and the military.
That is why it is such a blow to their development.
And primarily it is the isolation of the people.
This is what has happened and it has already happened.
Another point is no one knows about the consequences of these sanctions.
From the economic viewpoint, we understand that Russia is going to lose a lot technologically.
The West, I think, they will stop really being involved in the Russian economy or when it is trying to find balance between Russia and Ukraine.
This is what he's trying to do.
He's an exception.
I will say that he is an exception when it comes to the European Union.
Is the problem that at the moment Putin and Russia are effectively blackmailing the world over food supply, over energy supply, that maybe the world has been too reliant on that supply and now Putin can use that to effectively paralyze the world?
Is that a problem?
The world was weak and was very diplomatic when talking about their attitude towards the Russian Federation because the world, in its principles, always divided the management of the country and the people.
And it kept saying that it's very important to show some way out for their people, that we cannot really impose sanctions on everyone, because most people, they are innocent.
They have nothing to do about what is happening.
And what the Russian government decided when talking about the occupation and full-on invasion, later the world understood that, no, well, people of Russia, they are guilty of keeping the silence.
Well, not everyone is silent.
You can hear some voices, but unfortunately, this is something that is not very common.
So if you give this possibility to kill other people, then you're not just witnesses.
You're participants.
That is why we need to do everything possible for your government, for those people whom you voted for every four, five, or six years, I think, because they changed the constitution.
Then it is something that you're guilty of.
Will you ever contemplate doing any kind of deal which involves Ukraine giving up territory to Russia?
Henry Kissinger and others, you know, have suggested you should go back to the start of the war and give up the territory which Russia had for that point.
Do you accept that or do you think he's wrong?
We are not prepared to exchange or trade the territory of the independent state of Ukraine.
We have no right for this.
First of all, we are the government because this land belongs to Ukrainian people.
Then the second thing is that I don't truly understand these compromises or talks with Russia in the format in which it was suggested by the Russian side.
And it was an ultimatum for us.
And we know that ultimatums.
This is not a dialect.
This is not about diplomacy or talks.
And we know it from our experience that ultimatums with Ukraine, this is something which will not work, which is not working.
And you know that we have already have the past history of having so many ultimatums from them throughout the history of our state.
That is why, for three years, I've been suggesting this dialogue to the Russian side to find a diplomatic solution to this armed conflict, to the war, when before it became a full-scale war.
But right now, believe me, they don't want peace.
They're not ready to have a dialogue.
What they say for the media and what they are doing, these absolutely different stories.
What your people have been saying to me, I interviewed a father in Bucha whose son was tortured and murdered by the Russians.
And he was very emotional.
And when I suggested to him, how would you feel if your president did a deal with Russia?
He said, no, no, no, no.
And I interviewed two young women whose apartment block was the last apartment block to be hit by a cruise missile a month ago.
The same reaction, instant.
No deal.
They hate.
Yes.
They hate and it's understandable.
When so many families lost, for example, their neighbors, their children, what the deal?
So what the result of this deal?
Could Russia or can Russia give a child back?
No.
That's why they say no.
So there are no emotions, only one emotion, hate.
Yes.
First lady, I remember your husband going to Bucha and the emotion and fury on his face.
I know you felt the same about this.
And you've talked about how the civilization and then there's what's going on here and that the Russians are behaving in a way that you just never imagined possible, a total lack of humanity.
Tell me about that.
Any civilized person during this war would have terrible feelings, fear and hate towards the enemy.
And we tried to explain it to Camon English.
Any civilized person during this war would have terrible feelings, fear and hate towards the enemy.
And we tried to explain it to Calmon Englishmen.
When they take their child to bed, try to imagine what is going to happen at night if they heard the sirens and explosions next to where they live.
What would they grab from their children's bedroom and where would they run to if they recognized there's already a large queue of cars trying to leave the city?
Are they going to take their pets with them?
And imagine if you stayed there and you are under occupation.
Imagine the road you usually take your child to school with tanks on it.
The grave of your close relative in your back garden because you can't have a normal funeral to remember them.
And imagine you have to search for water and your only source is a dirty puddle like it was in Mariupol.
The medical service is not available.
Just imagine you are in your home and in two hours time you are forced to deal with these kinds of problems.
Just to survive, you don't understand why this is happening.
Words That Cannot Be Said 00:02:33
What is your view of Vladimir Putin, the man who is leading this war?
It is difficult to put it into words.
It's not possible to understand how one crooked idea can throw the whole of mankind into the medieval ages.
I really don't have words.
And I really don't want to say anything aloud.
Because normal words don't exist to describe this.
Mr. President, he is your enemy in this war.
He's the leader of Russia.
They've been doing despicable things to your people, bombing maternity hospitals, committing war crimes, no question.
Torturing people, murdering them.
What is your view, your opinion of Vladimir Putin?
Well, it's clear, and as you have mentioned, he is enemy number one in this war.
It seems to me the scariest thing about it is that he is in fact sane and he understands what he's doing.
I'd say that's the scariest conclusion I can make, that he understands what he's doing.
He knows how many people he kills.
He knows how many people were raped and by who.
And the number of children killed or deported.
Therefore, I only understand one thing.
The world allowed this situation to develop.
It allowed such a person to emerge with that ideology and attitude towards people.
The world should understand that this result, this mistake, to allow this situation is the responsibility of the whole world, to give the possibility for this to happen.
It is not about democracy.
I wouldn't want to mix these things because some leaders say that what did we have to do it?
It is not really about democracy.
Do you believe you can win this war?
Yes.
NATO Support Levels 00:16:06
No question.
I don't only believe it, I know it will happen.
We will win.
We already showed the whole world that he can kill us.
But to conquer our people is impossible.
Millions of soldiers have died, but he cannot occupy the people.
He can occupy these towns and villages, but all of them would be destroyed.
Because without ruining them, they will not be able to take those places.
How important has it been to get support from so much of the world for Ukraine?
This is the goal number two.
Like you said, there is the aim number one, number two.
But there are also the goals of Ukraine.
Our goal is our land.
That's number one.
Both number one and number two, this is our land and our people.
How we can get it, we need some help.
And nowadays it's very important.
But number two is of course the union of our country.
These trends of the country and it leads to the help from like an ambulance.
They help from the world.
911 from the whole world.
And exactly right now we need this powerful help.
Are you worried that Boris Johnson is now going to be leaving Downing Street, leaving the Scottish?
To be honest, I am worried about it.
You ask me, do I worry?
Yes, I worry a lot.
We would like to have at least the same level of support because my personal relationship with Boris accelerated the level of British support that was provided.
The British were the leaders in this kind of support.
How important has Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, been to you?
We really needed the attitude and the relationship between the leaders.
We have been in contact every other day.
I was not only connected through the bureaucratic way.
I was able to call him once a day, every other day.
When the situation became easier after the occupation of Kevin, we have been in contact weekly.
Not like having a conversation once a month or once every six months.
This shows we have such a close relationship.
Are you worried that Boris Johnson is now going to be leaving Downing Street, leaving Especially?
To be honest, I am worried about it.
You ask me, do I worry?
Yes, I worry a lot.
We would like to have at least the same level of support because my personal relationship with Boris accelerated the level of British support that was provided.
The British were the leaders in this kind of support.
I know that any person, any candidate who will take this position, they will help Ukraine in the same way like Boris did.
But I'm worried.
I'm really worried because we need to have at least the same level, not worse, because our personal relationship, mine and Boris, they influence the help.
How fast we got the help from Great Britain.
His last words to the British Parliament as Prime Minister were a baby, which of course comes from Terminator.
And the next line is, I'll be back.
There's already a campaign to have Boris Johnson back as Prime Minister.
Would you support that?
I have no right to play in politics inside this game.
What I can say is he is a big friend of Ukraine.
I want him to be somewhere in politics, in a position to be someone.
I don't want him to disappear, but the decision is in the hands of the British people.
I am sure that whatever position he is going to take, he is always going to be with Ukraine.
This is from the heart.
And the two candidates to be the next Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, what is your message to them?
One of them will be Prime Minister within a few weeks.
I would be happy to cooperate very closely, like we used to have with Boris.
The same close relationship with the UK and Ukraine.
I know those two candidates are very respectful and they have the support of the people and society from the UK.
We know about this support.
We know about the positive strength of these leaders.
I used to have contact with Liz Truss.
We would be happy to cooperate with whoever is elected as leader.
Whoever is the leader, the highest level of support will be provided from Ukraine.
What about America?
Hugely important.
They've given billions of dollars to help your effort.
But President Biden hasn't been to Ukraine yet.
Would you like him to come?
Very much.
I believe this would be a great signal, a big signal.
Everyone sees Ukraine's attitude towards the US.
This would be the highest signal.
And we had huge support from the First Lady.
She met with Olena and it was the correct visit.
Very, I would say, unexpected.
I would say we were waiting for it a lot, but we didn't expect it to happen.
These are very important things.
Then the trip, Olena will not say it for herself, I can say it.
That was a very important moment.
She did a great job and her efforts really worked.
There are quick decisions from the Congress and the White House that emerged after her speech and her visit.
And these are very important things.
And of course, the visit of President Biden to Ukraine would be the strongest signal which can be given in support of Ukraine.
Have you invited him?
Yes.
You have?
Are you hopeful he'll come?
I don't know that his choice, I mean, not even here, his choice, that is of his security.
I mean, that their choice.
I think if he will have any possibilities, he will come.
Is there more America could be doing right now?
They're so powerful, obviously, as a country.
As the president of a country that is in a war, I can tell you that the help would not be sufficient until the war is over and until we win.
So you understand a few times I've spoken with President Biden and I told him about our people and about our country.
I said, forgive me if I'm quite firm in my position.
Maybe some things are not very diplomatic, but he gave me quite a dignified response that he understands and he would do the same in my place.
He would do the same thing.
You would like to see Ukraine become a member of NATO and of the European Union as fast as possible.
Yes.
Yes, this is so.
I believe there is nothing to fear here.
Nothing to fear.
Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO with their power and strength.
I guess that would be the strongest protection.
But for now, NATO doesn't see us there.
Can I talk to you about morality with the position of the West here?
Because if you were a NATO country, then NATO would have attacked Russia.
But because you're not a NATO country, they will supply arms for you to do the fighting, but NATO won't engage directly.
And yet NATO is the biggest military force in the history of the planet.
Putin is using his nuclear weapons as a protective shield to allow him to commit these atrocities.
Is there going to be a moment in this war when NATO should feel a moral duty to intervene more directly?
It has been so many times.
I've had a conversation with many different leaders about NATO and their role.
They didn't take part on time.
And what kind of consequences did they have of it?
First of all, I guess that if Ukraine were in NATO, I'm not sure that the President of Russia would be the one who is right now there.
That's the strongest weakness for them.
And that's the strongest victory of the Western world.
The second, I guess, that NATO will be involved and in a diplomatical way, it is already there.
Because Russia will hear the message they say that NATO is fighting against us because Russia will never ever be able to leave.
Who's the fact that Ukraine is the country that is 28 times smaller than Russia, their army and government, that they are fighting for their freedom?
Ukraine is fighting for freedom and no kind of things of occupation in three days.
Nothing worked in this case.
Not Ukraine is fighting with us.
NATO is working with us.
They say in Russia, that is why this way or other way we understand that the main enemy for Russia is NATO.
You would like to see Ukraine become a member of NATO and of the European Union as fast as possible.
Yes.
Yes, this is so.
I believe there is nothing to fear here.
Nothing to fear.
Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO with their power and strength.
I guess that that would be the strongest protection.
But for now, NATO doesn't see us here.
NATO can see us as an alliance, so they don't see us.
That's why now we need some signs of protection.
I rely on Great Britain, America, that they will be the engine and we will get the security.
There are people in America, some on the Republican side in particular, who think that America shouldn't be spending all this money on a war here which has nothing to do with them.
They think there are more important things in America, like inflation and so on, that they should be working on.
What is your message to those Americans who do not think America should be as heavily involved?
We are fighting for absolutely communal values that are universally understood.
Some time ago, I responded that war doesn't have a distance.
And the war in Ukraine is still the war against those values that are professed in the United States and in Europe.
The distance doesn't exist today.
Today, Russian rockets can fly over a few thousand kilometers.
And tomorrow, they will have rockets that can cover tens of thousands of kilometres.
What difference does it make?
They kill civilians who do not agree with the politics of the President of Russia.
So this war here and now in Ukraine, and forgive me that I'm saying it so cynically, is for the safety of Europe.
As long as we are resisting, the integrity of the United States will continue.
Therefore, we are giving our lives for your values and the joint security of the world.
Therefore, inflation is nothing.
COVID is nothing.
Ask those people who lost their children, their peace, their property at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
Who is thinking about masks and COVID?
Who is thinking about inflation?
These things are secondary.
The most important thing is to survive and preserve your life, family, and your country.
Therefore, at the moment, we are doing this job, but the West has to help us.
Well, he forgot.
You forgot?
You forgot to tell your wife you're running for president?
I saw his New Year's address.
It was New Year's night and found out he was actually running.
Yes, but I said.
Wait a minute, you found that on TV?
Really?
Mr. President, really?
You announced it before you told your wife.
I was not laughing so much, so loud.
The other argument that you will hear, and I'm sure you've heard it, is that Putin has all these nuclear weapons.
No one should do anything to trigger World War III.
What do you say to that?
I think that if he decides to use it, then there will be no reason for that.
Explicit reason is only about his decision, their ambitious plans.
Just listen to me.
In any other case, what if tomorrow he says, you know what?
Germany.
I think that half of there was this division in the country after the Second World War.
And I think that that part of Germany belongs to us.
I believe and I think that we should have some influence upon the territory and our troops should be there.
Any other case, I decide to have nuclear weapons should be able to raise our hands and do this because I don't believe that this is the choice that Europe and the USA do.
Reality of Nazi Plans 00:06:57
I think we should not really believe in that.
Do you believe he would ever use a nuclear weapon, Putin?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know what his aims are.
I don't know what the civilized world allows him to do because if it shows its weakness, he will use everything.
You mentioned Germany, Mr. President.
One of the more sickening things that Putin has said is that he's liberating Ukrainian people from Nazis.
By implication, you.
You're a Jewish man.
You had relatives who were murdered by the Nazis.
That must have been for you a particularly egregious insult.
It's not that it is unpleasant to hear it.
I don't pay attention to that.
These are empty words.
If something is very populous for their people, I pay no attention to this.
If you want to draw attention to these questions, then the first you need to think about their first actions and the results of what they're doing.
They are Nazis.
And take a look at biography and the people who are close to Putin, his family.
What happened to them during the times when the Nazis were out there during the Second World War?
What was happening?
Who did he get to lose?
And for him to take a look at my family, what is their blood?
Where are they now?
And why I don't truly have a big family.
I mean, people who are still here, by the way, tortured by Nazis, what happened to his family?
Were they under occupation?
They were not.
So what was happening there?
So I would probably pay attention to that.
It's not really about him.
I think that political leaders of the Russian Federation, I will pay more attention to their families.
It is of the utmost importance.
President Biden said that Putin should be removed from office.
Do you agree?
I think that any war ends when you talk about diplomatic solutions.
And the impression that I have is that the result of this diplomacy is the conversation between the Ukrainian part with the presence of our partners and the Russian Federation.
And I think that this is the only model to talk with, with someone else, not the contemporary leader of the Russian Federation.
I want to take you back to a few years ago when you were a comedy performer in a hugely popular TV show in which you played an anti-establishment figure who runs for president and becomes president.
And then you actually run for president in real life and you become president.
It's a bit crazy when you say it like that.
The question is that for many people it was surreal that you were playing a role in a comedy show as someone who becomes president and then you become the real president.
Well, it is a reality.
This is the reality which we are all living now.
To be honest, I am proud of the fact that this is how it happens.
I'm proud of being the president of Ukraine, that people voted for me.
A reality and about this surreal thing, I think it's more about what is actually happening with our neighbors.
For very many years, they lived alongside and then they decided to attack us and to kill us.
I think it is way more surreal than this.
First lady, is it true that he didn't tell you that he was going to run for president?
Say true?
Say true?
Well, he forgot.
You forgot?
You forgot to tell your wife you're running for president?
He understood that probably I wouldn't have been fond of this idea and that it would take a couple of hours of very difficult negotiations with me.
That is why probably each day he was thinking that this is the day, that this is the moment I should tell her, you know.
But he kept postponing it.
Then it was on TV.
I saw his New Year's address.
It was New Year's night and found out he was actually running.
She is when I see T. Wait a minute, you see it?
You found out on TV?
Really?
Mr. President, I...
Really?
You announced it on television before you told your wife?
I was not laughing so much.
So loud last night.
Yes, he was sitting next to me.
There was a long 10 minutes, but that wasn't it.
Okay, say everything.
Okay.
This question was up in the air.
There were some discussions, but I didn't really want to do to keep asking him.
You are going to tell them?
Is it happening?
Is it not?
Somehow I believe that at that point he will tell me, but I didn't really think that that would be the moment.
You have to explain yourself.
Yes, I will.
I mean, I've heard of not telling your wife things, but not telling her you're going to be president is like crazy.
What were you thinking?
No.
This was a difficult decision for our family.
I knew that it would hit them.
It would be a tough call.
It's not a joke.
These are serious matters.
It's true that we didn't talk about it for a long period of time.
But we had been talking about it.
And Olena had been talking about it separately.
That's true.
We had been putting off talking about it and avoiding it for a long time because my family was not prepared to let me go.
And you are right.
My first public statement that was before the day of New Year.
I mentioned that I am intending to run for the office and it is true.
That was the moment when Olena heard about that.
Olena.
And she told me that she didn't want that.
But the decision is that.
This is your opportunity to apologize to your wife.
Okay, I'm sorry.
Football Fans and Heroes 00:04:50
Yes.
He didn't propose on his knee, you know.
Really?
He didn't?
No knee?
He didn't propose on your knee?
Well, that is my...
That's, you know.
Well, why not?
Later.
Do it later.
When you apologize again.
You were written off at the start of this war by the New York Times, called you an inept leader, unsuitable for war.
Another headline, this comedian turned president is in seriously over his head.
They couldn't have been more wrong.
You've turned out to be the right man at the right time for your country.
You've been an incredibly inspiring leader in this war.
What do you say to those who doubted you?
What can I say?
I'm happy that right now they can see how wrong they were and that they admit it.
First Lady, do you feel that Ukraine is fortunate to have your husband leading the country at this time?
Well, I think on behalf of the rest of the country, I cannot really say, but this is how I feel it.
And yes, this is what I can say on behalf of everyone that we believe in him.
And this is the way people feel.
I'm not only his wife, I'm also a citizen of this country.
And I like this president.
At this summit, which was magnificent, your first lady and first gentleman summit, which I was proud to help moderate for you, there was a moment when I revealed that my football team, Arsenal, have signed a Ukrainian player, Alexander Zinchenko.
I'm very excited about this.
It's just happened.
And I asked the audience, are there any Arsenal fans in the room?
And you put your hand up.
You're an Arsenal fan.
Yes, I think that Zinchenko is the person who is loved by everyone in Ukraine.
He's one of the most recent heroes of the nation and Ukrainians.
They always fervently support football players, and Zinchenko is such a nice guy, and even girls like him so much.
This is why I'm hopeful when Zinchenko starts playing, our people will become fans of this football team.
Mr. President, are you an Arsenal supporter?
Maybe there's some other footballers that you like.
I know some of them personally.
Let me explain why you should be.
Because Arsenal is named after a weapons factory which used to make weapons for the British Army and the Royal Navy.
And our motto, the motto of the club, is in Latin, Victoria Concordia Kreskit, which stands for Victory Through Harmony.
It's appropriate.
Honestly, we are all fans of Zinchenko, as Olena has mentioned.
Personally, I know very many great Ukrainian football players.
So to be honest, they are doing a great thing.
They are working really hard.
They're well-known people and they're helping us a lot.
Shevchenko is a great person.
I cannot say that I love Zinchenko over Shevchenko because then Shevchenko will stop talking to me.
And then I can do the opposite thing.
There are so many of them.
Believe me, there are some legendary figures.
They took arms and they are on the front line.
And we know some football players from other teams from Dynamo.
So I mean that I'm a fan of football like any man in Ukraine.
We've now established, thanks to the First Lady, you're all Arsenal supporters.
And I actually have a gift for you, which I will give you after the interview, of Arsenal shirts for the President, for the First Lady, and for both of your children.
Thank you.
Because we need your support as we'll give you our support.
Thank you both very much indeed for all the time that you've given me today.
I think I'll speak on everyone's behalf in the United Kingdom when I salute you for the courage that you've shown, the inspiration you've shown the people here.
We're all behind you.
We need you to win this war.
We understand the world needs you to win this war.
Keep fighting.
And I think the words I need to use are slava Ukraini.
Glory to the heroes.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
So that's it from tonight from Kyiv, Ukraine, where I've just finished this remarkable interview with two remarkable people.
I feel honoured and privileged to be here, and I think the Ukrainian people are in Great hands.
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