The following is a transcript of an interview with Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova which aired on Sunday, March 20, 2022 on “Face the Nation.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: We once again address the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, Oksana Markarova. Madam Ambassador, thank you for coming back. I want to ask you about these horrible reports from Mariupol. A local government official there said the Russian army was moving people to the camps and taking them out of the country. Do you have any idea what is going on in the field?
UKRAINE AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES OKSANA MARKAROVA: We are hearing all these horrible reports about the purpose of the school, the art school with four hundred people hidden in the basement, about, you know, the house of retirees in the Crimea there and elsewhere, where more than 50 people died as a result of the bombings. And what happens in Mariupol is … it’s an epitome of war crime. I mean, city surrounded without food, with nothing for 13 days, 14 hours days putting up resistance. And instead of just opening humanitarian corridors as we agreed and letting people out and bringing in supplies, the Russians are just trying to tear down the city. So, and the people of the city are still fighting. So all our hearts are with them and we are trying our best on the diplomatic front and elsewhere, to help the people of Mariupol.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Does the government have any idea exactly where these people are moving from? I mean the reference to the camps was compared to World War II, when the Nazis forcibly moved people to other countries.
WITH. MARKAROVA: Well, we saw it again. I don’t mean any information that we don’t have the exact proof. I mean, we hear all the reports and we have them, but we also saw it in the cities, smaller cities that were taken or occupied by the Russians where they left people out of prison. They would try to shout, catch our mayors and imprison them, cage activists and imprison them. So this is an MO of these war criminals and we see the protest in every city, you know, even in cities like today and Kherson and others. People are protesting against the Russians, not just the armed forces, not just the police, but the common people. Everyone wants them to leave, to come home.
MARGARET BRENNAN: This week, your president made an emotional speech in Congress. Congress authorized $ 13 billion in emergency support in Ukraine. But one of the things your president said was a personal call to President Biden to be the leader of the nation of this great nation, but also to be the leader of the world. President Biden is going to NATO this week. How do you want me to lead the world? What isn’t the US doing yet?
WITH. MARKAROVA: Well, we have seen exceptional US leadership over the last three weeks, and deterring Putin before the war, trying and helping us a lot during the first weeks of this war. Now we all need to understand that while we are all united in this effort to help Ukraine, Putin is not changing his behavior. It’s very different. In fact, it is becoming terror and doing what war criminals do, not what the armed forces do. Therefore, it is a clear message to the whole civilized world that we must also intensify. Ukrainians will not give up. We will continue to defend our homes. We have no choice. And I think it’s – it’s – it’s time that every day that passes is an opportunity to stop this war, and every day that passes we have to be discussed and all together, the civilized world, the United States, NATO countries, but also the others. like China, discuss what it is, plus we can do to stop it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Ukraine’s constitution refers to NATO membership, but your president said even a few days ago that Ukrainians must admit that the West has indicated that Ukraine will not be a member of the NATO. Is it indicating space for a more diplomatic opening there? I keep feeling that diplomacy is going nowhere.
WITH. MARKAROVA: Well, look, let me be very undiplomatic here. So when a killer maniac catches someone attacking someone on the streets of the city, we ask a person, a victim, you know, what are you willing to give up? Bed ?, arm to stay alive? What are you willing to give up on living? No, we called the police. Do we stop this and then discuss what we can do to punish the criminal and help the victim? So I think that’s where we are right now. We fight, heroically, with our armed forces and people to defend our home. Now, of course, from day one, our president said we would like this to stop. We are ready to negotiate. Negotiating does not mean giving up. We are unwilling to give up our dreams or our sovereignty or territorial integrity. But we are willing to negotiate even with the brutal enemy to stop him. And we ask all our friends and allies to help us R: fight successfully, but also press all the pressure for Russia to negotiate.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Secretary of State Blinken said this week that a simple withdrawal of troops by Russia will not meet the U.S. standard for lifting sanctions. Something more irreversible must happen here. What is on display here? What is the Ukrainian vision?
WITH. MARKAROVA: Well, I’ll let Secretary Blinken say what he said, but for us, of course, I mean, it’s a brutal attack. We lost people. Many of our cities are destroyed and were still destroyed. We have completely lost 60 universities. I mean, they get wiped out of there. So we need that to stop. They have to stop and get out of Ukraine. But we must also be talking about repairs, security guarantees and everything else. We must know that this attack, which I want to remember, is not the first attack. Russia attacked us in 2014. Russia attacked us in 1918. So we know that the goal that Russia has in this now, as it had before, is to destroy Ukraine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Ambassador, thank you for your time as always. we will be back in a moment.
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