The following is a transcript of an interview with White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan aired on Sunday, April 10, 2022 on “Face the Nation.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let’s go now to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Good morning to you, Jake.
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCILOR JAKE SULLIVAN: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Vladimir Putin has selected a new central war commander for Ukraine, the same general who oversaw a very brutal campaign in Syria where hospitals were bombed and civilians killed. Is this a sign that this is the kind of scorched earth war we should expect?
SULLIVAN: Well, Margaret, I think it’s actually consistent with the way Russia has conducted this war from the beginning. We have already seen the war of the scorched earth. We have seen atrocities and war crimes and mass murders and horrific and shocking images of cities like Bucha and a rocket attack on Kramatorsk. So I think this is an indication that we will see more of this. And it is our responsibility as the United States and the international community to bring weapons and military assistance to Ukraine so that they have the tools to fight it effectively. This is what the United States wants to do, and this is what we will do together with our allies and partners.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said a few days ago that Russia had suffered heavy troop losses. But you say that Russia still has forces that it can use to outnumber Ukraine. Do you think that Ukraine can earn more than the capital of Kyiv?
SULLIVAN: Well, first, let’s stop here for a moment, because it’s remarkable that the Ukrainians are winning the battle of Kyiv. Russia lost the battle of Kyiv. Kyiv still remains. The capital of Ukraine was attacked when its invading neighbor tried to conquer Kyiv. And Russia failed. And they failed mainly because of the courage and skill of the Ukrainian armed forces. But they also failed because the United States and our partners put in the hands of these armed forces advanced weapons that help defeat the Russians. And so we were proud to be able to support the Ukrainians in this. Now the Russians are regrouping. They are readjusting and refocusing. And the refocusing to the east where they will try to move forward. Our job, Margaret, as I said before, is to help ensure that the Ukrainians are in a position to resist this advance and, finally, to be in the strongest position possible, both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. . This is what we are determined to do. And we are working all day to deliver weapons and military assistance every day, including today.
MARGARET BRENNAN: European leaders are walking around the city of Kyiv. They are sending diplomats back, reopening embassies. What will the Americans return?
SULLIVAN: Well, we are working until we are able to re-establish our diplomatic presence in Kyiv. This is a judgment that is worked out through our security professionals. They are actively doing so. Meanwhile, Margaret, the United States is increasing resources, weapons, military equipment, but also diplomatic resources to support the Ukrainians. It was President Biden of the United States who took the lead at the United Nations last week, for example, to oust the Russians from the Human Rights Council, allying with the world to do so. It is the United States that is taking the lead in organizing and delivering not only our own military supplies, but those of allies and partners. So we will continue to do so even as we work to get American diplomats back to the country.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Jake, you mean a more muscular level of support, it seems. Does this mean that the United States and President Biden have now authorized the dispatch of the type of weapons that could be used to attack Russia? And are you authorizing the training of Ukrainian forces?
SULLIVAN: First of all, our goal is to help the Ukrainians to defend their territory in Ukraine and to recover the territory in Ukraine, territory that they have reclaimed, for example, in the north, in the northeast of the country. And we want to set them up so they can do the same elsewhere. Second, when it comes to the issue of training, the US is looking for systems that require some training for Ukrainians. And we’re talking to them about how this might work …
MARGARET BRENNAN: Like what?
SULLIVAN: – out of the country. But … but we’re also just about to end this point, because I think it’s important. We are also looking to get weapon systems from allies and partners that the Ukrainians already know how to use. A good example of this is the S-300 air defense system that Slovakia sent this week. The reason they sent it is because the United States was willing to provide a Patriot battery to replace this system. So much of this is about getting our allies and partners who have other types of military equipment that are better suited to what the Ukrainians need will actually deliver it. And we are helping them do that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: What equipment are you talking about now?
SULLIVAN: Well, just to be clear, I’m not going to go into, as I said on the podium earlier this week, announcing all the kind of military assistance that the United States will offer for operational reasons, but also because we want to make sure we’re in a position where Ukrainians can use what we give them. But let me tell you this, Margaret, because I think it’s very important. This week, President Milley, the Joint Chief of Staff, and I spent two hours on the phone with the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and President Zelensky’s top adviser. And we reviewed each of your requests. Priority by priority and worked through a game plan of how, whether from our actions or the actions of our allies and partners, we could reach the Ukrainians. This is what we are doing. Part of that has been delivered. One part is on its way and another is still working to find it. But this is the kind of effort the United States is putting into it, not just in its own name, but leading a coalition of countries to comply with the Ukrainians.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Jake, I want to play something for you that President Biden said just after Russia invaded.
BIDEN SOUND ON THE RIBBON: “No one expected sanctions to prevent anything from happening. It has to be shown, it will take time. They are. Deep sanctions. Let’s talk in a month or so to see if they are. Work .
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s been a month now. Do you think President Putin does not understand the profound impact on his economy? Don’t you feel it or just don’t care?
SULLIVAN: Well, first of all, Russia has changed its behavior in this war. They have withdrawn. They have withdrawn from substantial portions of the territory in northern and northeastern Ukraine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Because of what’s happening on the battlefield …
SULLIVAN: Now, mainly the reason they made these adjustments is because they were hit on the battlefield. But as you heard from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov just a couple of days ago on the podium, they also publicly acknowledge the great losses on the battlefield. And President Putin himself is acknowledging the pain of the Russian economy. He himself has spoken about the extent to which the Russian economy has been affected and other senior Kremlin officials have also been forced to acknowledge it. In addition, as President Biden has repeatedly said, the purpose of these sanctions is in part to impose costs on Russia to make it difficult for them to power their war machine and, over time, to reduce power and capacity. Russians. And yes, as President Biden said, that will take time. But we will continue to pressure Russia to impose costs on Russia. And we believe that as these costs increase, in fact, they will improve Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table and make it more likely an outcome of this war that Ukraine wants to see.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But what you’re presenting is a very slow bleeding of the Ukrainian people. And what we are hearing from President Zelensky in this program last Sunday was an attempt to exterminate genocide, was the word he used at the UN this week. He talked about setting up camps. He said 2,000 children had disappeared, abducted by Russia. This kind of intention, this kind of planning, is difficult for many people of the stomach that the United States no longer has a direct responsibility to protect for a president who ran for human rights. How do you justify it?
SULLIVAN: We have a direct responsibility. It is a responsibility to provide the Ukrainians with the tools they need to be able to defend their cities and push back the Russians. And we’ve done it at an unprecedented reach, scale, and speed, and it’s had a profound effect. Victory in the battle for the liberation of cities and towns in Ukraine, the resistance of the Ukrainians against Russian advances in the east. They are, as I said before, mainly about the courage and skill of Ukraine, but they would not be possible without the supply of weapons and the generosity of the American people and the leadership of President Biden in bringing together the world and the sanctions they are imposing severe. costs of the Russian economy. They will have effects. They will lead to a circumstance in which Russia has less capacity, less resources to be able to process this war. Therefore, the United States is intensifying and fulfilling its obligations on behalf of the Ukrainian people, in the name of the principles of freedom and liberty and democracy and human rights. And we will continue to do so.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Jake Sullivan, thank you for your time today.
SULLIVAN: Thank you.
Add Comment