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>> Russian president Vladimir
Putin said today his war in
Ukraine will continue until it
has achieved goals he set forth,
and he insisted all was going to
plan despite dogged Ukrainian
resistance that forced the
Russians to retreat from an
assault on the capital, Kyiv.
Meantime, Ukrainian officials
said they are investigating the
possible use of a chemical agent
against their troops in
mariupol, where the mayor said
today twenty-one thousand people
have been killed during the
ongoing siege.
On that trip to Iowa this
afternoon, president Biden had
some of his harshest words yet
for Putin, and tied the war to
America's energy crisis:
>> None of it should hinge on
whether a dictator declares war
and commits genocide a half a
world away."
>> The administration had
previously made a point of not
labelling Russian killings in
Ukraine "Genocide", instead
calling out Russian "War
crimes".
Before Mr. Biden spoke, but
after Putin's remarks this
morning, special correspondent
Simon ostrovsky sat down with
Ukraine's foreign minister,
dmytro kuleba, in Kyiv.
>> The question on everybody's
mind is how can the world help
Ukraine?
What hasn't the United States?
What hasn't the euro-atlantic
alliance done yet in order to
support Ukraine in its fight in
this war with Russia?
>> Well, there are three ways to
help Ukraine here and now. The
first one is to provide Ukraine
with all necessary weapons.
Second is to impose the harshest
sanctions on Russia. Third, to
provide Ukraine Ukraine with
macro-financial assistance that
will help us to keep the economy
afloat because we are at war.
>> What is the urgency of
weapons supplies right now? Why
do you need these weapons now
and not later?
>> In the beginning. You hear
'no'. This is not going to
happen. Then you hear, ok, we
will give you this, but this is
it. We cannot give it anything
more. Then you break this wall
again and then people tell you,
ok, you can get this as much as
you need, but you cannot get
that because it's too
sophisticated or it's offensive
not defensive. In the end, we
get everything but the time
between the initial question
that we asked and the moment
when we get it is wasted and the
price that we pay is human
lives,
destroyed houses and villages
and the war taking place in
Ukraine.
>> You said that eventually
Ukraine always gets what it
asked for, but there's a lapse
in time. Well, what about those
mig jets that Poland promised
and nato and the United States
blocked.
>> Two weeks ago the the the
real message that I was
receiving about it was
"Impossible." Two days ago, the
message was we are working on
it.
And that's just to reinforce my
point that in the end, we get
what we need.
>> We've been looking at the
atrocities that were perpetrated
by Russia while they occupied
areas around kiev. And it's just
horrible to imagine what's
happening in the areas that are
still occupied by Russia right
now.
>> It will be much worse.
But the situation in mariupol is
much worse. The situation in the
occupied donbas in the occupied
south up south of Ukraine is
also very bad
but after the massacre of
butcher, Russia, of course, will
try to conceal evidence and
traces of its atrocities in the
in the currently occupied
territories.
>> What do you say to critics
who want to see a negotiated
solution with Russia, who
criticize the supply of weapons
to Ukraine because they believe
that it will escalate the
conflict?
>> Well, the perfect case
scenario for Russia would be
disarmed. Ukraine raped,
tortured, killed by a Russian
army, and no one is coming to
help her. And when you hear
statements like this, like the
one that you mentioned, this is
exactly what Russia wants to do,
it wants to have. It's not the
west who provides us with
weapons who launched the war.
It's not western soldiers who
commit crimes and atrocities in
Ukraine to provide Ukraine with
weapons is actually to prevent
further escalation. Because the
stronger we are, the more
careful Russia will be in
launching its next attacks.
>> Do you think there is an
opportunity for a negotiated
settlement? Vladimir Putin today
said that peace talks have
reached a dead end.
>> I don't think that the deal
can be signed now as we see how
Russia is unfolding its
offensive operation in donbas. I
think the moment for
negotiations will be after the
end of the battle for donbas,
when both sides will understand
the prospect of this war.
>> I've heard it said that an
energy embargo on Russia would
end its appetite for war in a
matter of months. Do you believe
that?
>> Well within within days,
maybe weeks.
>> Why are you so confident of
that?
>> Because war needs money,
we analyzed Russia's revenues. I
don't think you have to be a
rocket scientist to understand
where the money come from and
they all come from oil and gas.
All the sanctions that have been
imposed today are important, but
their true effect will be will
be felt in mid-term and long
term perspective.
If they run out of gas and oil
revenues, their economy will be
in Tatters and their war machine
will simply will simply stumble.
If they see that we are weak, if
we see if they see that we don't
have weapons to defend
ourselves. Of course this they
will be tempted to move further
to advance.
>> Let's talk about a peace
agreement.
Is Ukraine willing to make
territorial concessions to
Russia in order to achieve a
peace settlement?
>> No. Ukraine will not make
Russia in order to achieve peace
settlement. I'm copy pasting
your question in my answer to
avoid any misunderstandings or
double double interpretations.
>> But surely I mean, some
people watching this program
will find it unbelievable to
imagine that Ukraine will give
no territorial concessions in
order to achieve peace to end
the war. They'll say it's not
realistic to expect the war to
end without some kind of a
territorial concession.
>> I can tell to those people
that since 2014, the recipe that
was, uh, the recipe of ending
the war that was proposed to us
by our partners, including the
United States at that time was
make a concession here. And
Putin will step back, make a
concession there, and it will
pacify Putin,
and it never worked.
Stop looking for excuses, why
not to help Ukraine? And stand
by us to make Putin concede. Not
Ukraine.
>> Your position seems to be
there's only two ways for this
war to end either Ukraine wins
or Ukraine loses.
>> No, no. There is one way for
this war to end. It's Ukraine
wins. Everything else is just
tactics.
>> Mr. Foreign minister, thank