reporting on the war in Ukraine
is supported in partnership with
the pulitzer center and now we
return to today's united nations
security council meeting on
Ukraine that link -- that
featured a lengthy denunciation
by president zelenskyy for its
inability to bring pressure to
heal.
I spoke a short time ago with
Linda thomas-greenfield, the
U.S. Ambassador to the united
nations.
Madam ambassador, thank you so
much for joining us.
I want to start by asking if you
think the atrocities that we
have seen in Ukraine now that
Russian troops have repositioned
themselves changed the
responsibility of the west, of
the United States, of the united
>> It certainly has changed us a
great deal.
Once we saw the pictures of
those atrocities, it became
clear to us that the first
action we needed to take among
many is to get Russia suspended
from the human rights council.
It cannot present itself to the
world as a country that respects
human rights and then carry out
the kinds of atrocities and war
crimes that they have carried
out in Ukraine.
As you may have heard, our
intention is to ask for a vote
in the general assembly this
week, calling for the suspension
of Russia from the human rights
council.
Judy: With all due respect, is
there reason to believe removing
them from the human rights
council will have any effect at
all on Vladimir Putin?
He is enduring sanctions.
His country has been squeezed on
the economic front, and still,
he is plowing ahead.
>> Putin continues to carry out
his war of aggression against
the Ukrainian people despite the
impact of the sanctions and
other pressure being put on the
Russians, but they are feeling
the pressure.
They are feeling the isolation
in the security council and
around the world.
They are feeling the
condemnation, and we will keep
the pressure on until he comes
to the right conclusion, and
that is he has to pull his
troops out of Ukraine.
In the meantime, we are going to
continue to support the
Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian
government in their efforts to
defeat the Russians.
As you know, I traveled over the
weekend to Romania and Moldova
where I met women and children
who have fled Ukraine, who have
fled the terror that the
Russians are carrying out in
that country, and it was heart
wrenching to hear their stories
and to hear their pain and
despair over the situation in
their country.
Judy: Which is all the more
reason to ask -- where is the
evidence that weta may Putin and
the people around him are
feeling the pain from these
sanctions?
They continue to pound Ukraine
in the east, in the south.
>> They certainly are, and we
are going to keep wrapping up
pressure on them until they
stop.
They cannot continue to do this
forever.
They have been pushed back by
Ukrainians, and the only thing
they have succeeded in doing is
they have succeeded in unifying
the Europeans and Americans.
They have unified nato, and they
have given Ukrainians a greater
will to fight.
Judy: At the same time, Russia
continues to have a seat on the
united nations security council.
They are a permanent member.
As long as they are a permanent
member, does the united nations
have the teeth to make whatever
resolutions it passes felt by
the Russian leadership?
>> They are a permanent member
of the security council.
That we cannot change, but he
can isolate them in that
position, and we have.
We have succeeded in isolating
them.
We have isolated them in the
security council.
You may have heard the speeches
today.
Not a single country spoke
without speaking of the horror
they are seeing happening in
Ukraine and calling on the
Russians to cease their
unconscionable war on the
Ukrainian people.
They were isolated in the
general assembly.
We got 140 votes condemning
them.
We got 140 votes supporting the
Ukrainian need for humanitarian
assistance, so they are feeling
the pressure, and they are
feeling the isolation, and I
cannot explain Putin's actions,
but I can say what he is doing
is a disgrace to their position
on the security council, their
position on the human rights
council.
Judy: Given the restraints on
the united nations because they
sit on the security council,
because they still have the
support of China, given all
that, does the world need to
have some sort of alternative
body that enforces the rule of
law, that enforces the kind of
values that, frankly, humanity
demands?
>> No, but the united nations is
the body that we have and we
have to work to improve the
united nations and continue to
use this body to put pressure on
the Russians, and while they do
have the veto power, they cannot
veto our voices.
They cannot veto the Ukrainian
president coming in front of the
security council and condemning
them.
They cannot veto you and others
who are reporting the truth to
the world, and they are
uncomfortable, and as for the
Chinese, they are uncomfortable
in this position that they find
themselves in, depending what
the Russians are doing, so we
are going to keep the pressure
on.
We are going to keep applying
that pressure until Russia comes
to understand that they cannot
continue this unconscionable for
against the Ukrainian people.
Judy: I want to quote to you
ambassador Thomas Greenfield,
something president zelenskyy
quarter today, he said, was it
really necessary to wait for
this?
Did hundreds of Ukrainians have
to die in agony for some leaders
to understand that Russia
deserves the most severe
pressure?
>> We have in putting pressure
on the Russians since day one.
You will recall that on the day
of the attack, before the
attacks started on February 4,
we were in an emergency meeting
of the security council calling
out Russia, so we have been
condemning them since day one
and we have been ramping up the
pressure on them since day one,
and we have been supporting
Ukraine, even before this
started, and we will continue to
support them.
Judy: As you know, he is
continuing to ask president
zelenskyy for more weapons.
He spoke today.
Antitank weapons, antimissile,
anti-ship.
He is still not getting what he
says he needs to put up the
defense that Ukraine in his
words has to put up in order to
prevail.
>> We are continuing to engage
with the Ukrainian government on
their needs.
We have provided the Ukrainian
government close to $1 billion
before this started and $1
billion since this has started,
and we have provided them
antitank weapons and missiles,
and we are continuing to engage
with them on other needs that
they may have.
In addition, other countries in
nato and in the region have been
providing them with additional
support.
Judy: On the negotiating front,
we are hearing that these talks
between the Russians and
Ukrainians are going in circles,
that the Russians are not taking
this at all seriously.
What is your understanding?
>> We tried prior to this war
starting to negotiate with the
Russians, to try to help them
find a diplomatic solution to
their security concerns, and the
Russians would not sit at the
negotiating table.
They wanted to go to war, and
now the Ukrainians are sincerely
trying to find an offramp for
them, and while they continue to
pound Ukraine, the Ukrainian
government continues to look for
a diplomatic way to end the
carnage that the Russians are
carrying out against them, and
they will continue, and we
support their efforts to find a
diplomatic solution.
Others have complained that we
have moved too fast to impose
sanctions on the Russians.
We need to look for a diplomatic
way out.
Well, what I say to them is we
have made that effort.
Now Russia has to come to the
negotiating table.
We cannot negotiate a loan, and
the Ukrainians cannot continue
to negotiate with themselves.
The Russians have to negotiate
with sincerity.
They have to negotiate with the
intent to find a solution, and
at this point, they have not
done that.
Judy: The U.S. Ambassador to the
united nations, thank you very
much.
>> Thank you very much.
It was great to be here with