In this show “Face the Nation” moderated by John Dickerson:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
- Fiona Hillformer senior director of European and Russian affairs of the National Security Council
- HR McMasterformer national security adviser to Trump’s White House and a contributor to CBS News
- Rep. Jamie RaskinDemocrat of Maryland
- Eric Adams, Mayor of New York
Click here for full transcripts of “Face the Nation.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome to Face the Nation.
As we go on the air, Russia’s war strategy seems to have undergone a major change. Two weeks ago, the Russians focused on surrounding the capital of Kyiv. They have now increased their assault on the east and south of the country.
Earlier this morning, Russian missiles struck an oil refinery in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. And there are reports of new explosions in the Russian border town of Belgorod, the site of two more Ukrainian attacks last week.
It has been a horrible scene since day one, but the atrocities of the war are on the rise.
Please note that some of the images you are about to see are disturbing.
We start today with Holly Williams reporting from Dnipro, Ukraine.
(Start VT)
HOLLY WILLIAMS (voiceover): Russian forces have withdrawn from the vicinity of the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, and Ukraine says it has recaptured more than 30 cities and towns.
But what Russian troops have left behind is pure horror. In the city of Bucha, the streets are full of bodies. Some, with their hands tied behind their backs, appear to have been executed. Others are buried in a mass grave. More than 300 people died, according to the mayor.
(VASILI SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HOLLY WILLIAMS: Vasili (sp?) Survived, but the trauma of what he witnessed is written on his face.
(VASILI SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HOLLY WILLIAMS: She calls the Russian soldiers dogs and says she was protected in her cellar for two weeks.
Ukrainian soldiers are carefully removing the dead, fearing they could be caught with explosives. Ukrainian officials say these images show the naked bodies of at least four women on a road on the outskirts of Kyiv. They claim that the Russians tried to burn the bodies.
Despite the devastation, it seems that Vladimir Putin’s original battle plan has failed in the face of Ukrainian resistance, and Russian forces are shifting their attention east of the country. Gostomel Airport in northern Kyiv, where Russian paratroopers landed on the first day of the invasion, is also back in Ukrainian hands.
A visiting Ukrainian politician was optimistic.
OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO (Member of the Ukrainian Parliament): We will rebuild our country. We will rebuild our dream. Our country will be beautiful, prosperous, and Russia will pay for everything they did.
HOLLY WILLIAMS: But many parts of this country are still occupied.
(EXPLOSION)
HOLLY WILLIAMS: Ukraine says Russian forces opened fire on civilian protesters in the city of Enerhodar yesterday.
And in the besieged city of Mariupol, bombed for weeks by the Russians, an estimated 100,000 people are believed to be trapped. Evacuation efforts continue. The United Nations believes thousands may have died in Mariupol, but the actual number cannot be counted while the city is under siege and under Russian assault.
(VT final)
HOLLY WILLIAMS: A Ukrainian official said yesterday that a meeting between President Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is likely to take place soon.
But today, Russia’s chief negotiator rejected the idea: Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Holly Williams, thank you.
Let us now turn to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He accompanies us from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Good evening, sir.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (President of Ukraine) (through the translator): Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. President, it looks like Russian forces are withdrawing from northern Ukraine.
Do you think this means that Putin’s calculation is changing?
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through the translator): Thank you for that question.
You know, Margaret, we … we’ve retired from some places. In others, they are redoing redistribution, because the conflict, the situation is difficult. There were some communities that were trying to take over several times.
And this is a tragedy, because our army also had to recover, so the city of Chornobaivka, nine times, tried to take it. But we believe that this is redistribution, in our opinion. Now they are changing tactics. They were trying to take Kyiv and some cities in the Kyiv region.
Some of them have been occupied, and then they destroyed everything. Civilians, houses, were stealing washing machines and equipment.
So there were also torturers. I think you saw the clips we shared with you. It is important that free people in the United States look at it and understand it and see it for themselves.
Before the war, when there was a lot of free time, we were watching different movies, and also war movies, but we would not have imagined anything like that, because this is a manic decision to destroy the whole nation.
Well, in terms of tactics and withdrawal and what Putin’s strategy is, they are now focusing on eastern Ukraine. Therefore, this corridor, which runs from the Crimea to the east of Ukraine, is located in the south of Ukraine.
And this is where the Chechen troops occupying the cities try to focus in terms of armaments, in terms of the deployment of their personnel. They brought people from different parts of the world, because they had a shortage of staff. And now they are grouping all these troops in the south and east of our country.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The pictures you’re talking about have been described by leaders around the world as horrible.
The mayor of Kyiv used the term genocide. Your Deputy Prime Minister asks if this is fascism or genocide, as far as what is left around Kyiv is concerned. Do you think the world will really live up to its promise to hold Vladimir Putin accountable for war crimes?
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through the translator): Everything must be fair and in accordance with justice, as the civilized world will decide.
We believe in justice, in the justice of the Western world, of – and therefore the question is not just about the leader of the Russian Federation. We don’t think it would be fair to take him alone. I believe that all military commanders, all those who gave instructions and orders should be properly punished.
Proper punishment for these people is hard to come by. It must be done according to the law and what they have done.
And I want to apologize to you and those people who are looking at us now, but for some things they have done, when we find people with their hands tied behind their backs and beheaded, these things, I do not understand, I do not understand, children who were murdered and tortured.
So it was not enough to kill for these criminals. Maybe they wanted to get gold or washing machines. And they killed them, but they also tortured them while they were doing this.
And your question is absolutely fair, but I have no answer. I don’t know what law or what prison sentence would be appropriate for that. As a father of two, and as president, I think these people, if they put it behind bars, that’s little for what they’ve done.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is this genocide?
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through the translator): In fact, this is genocide, the elimination of the whole nation and the people.
We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. It is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities. We are the citizens of Ukraine. And we do not want to be subject to the policy of the Russian Federation.
That is why we are being destroyed and exterminated, and this is happening in 21st century Europe. So this is the torture of the whole nation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: In the southeastern Donbass area of your country, the city of Mariupol, do you have any success in getting civilians out?
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through the translator): Many people, many thousands of people have been evacuated.
In certain cities, 35,000, 30,000, 40,000 have been evacuated, so a total of hundreds of thousands. However, there are hundreds of thousands still blocked. Some of them are blocked or behind bars.
To answer your question about Mariupol, before the start of this full-fledged war and the occupation of Mariupol, there were many people. And all the corridors have been blocked, including the humanitarian corridors, the supply of food and water.
So in this city there are now 150,000, many corpses on the street, many wounded among the military and civilians. The evacuation only takes place when the Russian side accepts a Ukrainian proposal to open a corridor.
Therefore, the corridor for food or water simply does not exist in the cities that are occupied by Russia.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. President, your team has shared a video with us, images that your government has collected of what has been left out of Kyiv that I do want to share with our viewers.
And I want to ask you about that. Looking and listening to what Vladimir Putin has said, he has said that Ukraine is not a real country. He said he is controlled by petty Nazis. A drugged thug told you.
Is there anyone you can negotiate with?
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (via translator): As President of Ukraine, there can be only my personal view of President Putin and a dialogue with the Russian Federation.
I must defend the interests of my country. Therefore, it is difficult to say how, after all, what has been done, we can have any kind of negotiation with Russia. This is on a personal level.
But as president, I have to do it. Any war must end, just end. I’m not talking about ending this peacefully, because peace in this situation, when there are thousands of people killed, is something I’m not good at. But there is no other way. That, I say, as president.
There is no other way but dialogue, if we do not want hundreds of thousands, millions to die. But it is important to have the agreement between the two parties and the understanding or at least the desire to understand that dialogue is needed, because we will stay until the end.
And they have to understand that. So I keep talking about this dialogue, which I have been repeating throughout my tenure as president.
MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of security guarantees, the United States has given security guarantees to Ukraine in the past, and that didn’t stop this invasion.
When you spoke to President Biden recently, did you make any concrete promises that the US and NATO would not allow this to happen again in Ukraine?
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (through the translator): So we no longer believe in papers.
So we are very grateful for the support of the United States, in fact, and it is a very powerful support. But as for security guarantees, we haven’t received them from anyone yet. And we have to get them.
For us, it is also important what will be the circle of countries that will offer security guarantees and how specifically it will be enforced.
Therefore, as President, I am not satisfied with just one guarantee, because then I do not know what the agreement will be about or whether we will have an agreement with Russia. What will we agree on? Who will be the guarantors?
Because if the war starts again tomorrow, and only sanctions have been introduced, well, that’s nothing, because sanctions are important. But if they …
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