00:00I'm now joined by Zewalot Kchentsov, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic
00:06Integration. Good morning, sir, and thank you for coming. So what do you expect from this meeting,
00:14Trump-Selensky? Is there really a chance for peace? I mean, Selensky said in the run-up of this that
00:19there is momentum, diplomatic momentum in the air. Good morning. Indeed, in general,
00:26UN General Assembly meeting is an important opportunity to talk to our main partners and
00:34definitely President Trump is one of them. And before this meeting, you know, there was a visit
00:42of US invoices to Kiev. There were good discussions, preparing ground for this meeting. So and now you
00:51see what is happening in Ukraine. You have daily attacks on civilian infrastructure. Winter is
00:56coming. Ukrainian grains are locked in the Black Sea. So this is a moment to mobilize support for
01:03Ukraine to talk both to US and European partners and to try to stop this war. So you're optimistic?
01:11I am. Give us a sense of the military situation. Can Ukraine sustain the aerial attacks that we've seen
01:20over the weekend? Look, the situation is really complex because on the battlefield, the Russians are
01:26stuck. At the same time, the increasing pressure on Ukrainian cities, in particular big cities,
01:33starting with Kiev. And to tell you the truth, it's difficult to withstand this pressure without
01:40relevant equipment, without anti-ballistic missiles. And this is one of the main issues, again, for the
01:47General Assembly to discuss with US, first of all, and other partners, how we stop this terror of Russia
01:56against Ukraine, including this new equipment, jet drones, which they're using every day.
02:04Let's talk about the European Union for a second. Yesterday, the member states failed to pass a new
02:10round of anti-Russian sanctions. What's your reaction? Look, what is the purpose of this sanction regime?
02:20It's about increasing pressure on Russia to stop this war. So that's why we are definitely against political
02:31delistings. So Russia should make real concrete steps toward peace. Then there is a reason to discuss
02:41any delistings, any easing of the sanctions. In this situation, we expect from the EU to keep the unity,
02:50to continue sanctions regime, to have this rollover for the next period. Yes, it should be extended,
02:58because six months is not enough, it's not sustainable, and definitely keep this pressure on Russia.
03:06So you're optimistic here as well? Look, it's definitely up to our EU partners to find a
03:15wise solution, how to keep this unity. This is the most important thing now.
03:21All right, Deputy Prime Minister, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
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