It's been a historic
evening in Washington.
Ukraine's President
Vladimir Zelensky tonight.
300 some days into the war,
a new military aid package
in and including Patriot
anti-aircraft missiles
addressing a joint meeting of Congress
We'll
celebrate Christmas.
Celebrate Christmas
and even if there is no electricity,
delight or our faith in ourselves
will not be put out.
If Russian
if Russian missiles attack us.
We'll do our best to protect ourselves.
If they attack us with Iranian drones
and our people will have to go
to bomb shelters on Christmas Eve.
Ukrainians will still sit down
at the holiday table
and cheer up each other.
And we don't don't have to know every
everyone's wish as we know
that all of us, millions of Ukrainians
wish the same victory all the victory
We're joined
now by
former secretary of state
to a center in 2016
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Madam Secretary
good to have you on tonight.
What are your thoughts about what
President Zelinsky said tonight
I thought it was extraordinary, Anderson.
It was, as others
have said, rousing and inspiring.
It also touched all the chords.
It connected the struggle
of Ukrainian people
to our own revolution,
to our own feelings
that we want to be warm
in our homes, to celebrate Christmas
and to
get us to think
about all the families in Ukraine
that will be huddled in the cold
and to know
that they are
on the frontlines of freedom right now.
They're fighting
their cause is our cause.
And I was thrilled to see
the very positive response
from the Congress.
I also thought that the meeting between
President Zelensky
and President
Biden was
substantive and very positive
along with their press conference.
It could not have been
a better day for him,
but more importantly,
as he pointed out, a better day
for the people of Ukraine
and for the cause of democracy
and freedom.
Do you think sending
a Patriot battery to Ukraine was
the right move?
Absolutely.
I hope that they will send more than one.
I know that
there's been some reluctance in the past
by not just the United States,
but our NATO's allies to provide
a lot of the advanced
equipment, particularly in this case
defensive equipment,
which is what the Patriot Battery is
But I think we've seen
we've seen with our own eyes
how effective Ukrainian military is.
I think they will be quickly trained
to use the Patriot system,
and they should be getting as much
help as we can
give them
to end this war as quickly as possible
in victory.
There's obviously opposition
in among some, particularly Republicans
in Congress.
Kevin McCarthy,
you said something towards
the effect of he's not sure
American family
is going to be willing to continue
writing a blank check
or having
a blank
check in a recession to to Ukraine.
Do you think that Zelensky's visit
will have changed any minds
and those who were skeptical
I think it will
certainly have strengthened
both Democrats
and Republicans
who understand
what's at stake
in this fight against Putin.
And Russian aggression
and now with their ally Iran as well.
I also think
no one is asking for a blank check.
I believe that the Ukrainians have proven
that they're
a really good investment
for the United States.
They are not asking us to be there
to fight their war.
They're fighting it themselves.
They're asking us
and our allies for the means to
not only defend themselves,
but to actually win.
So I think this had a positive effect.
And I agree with some of the
people
you've already talked
with on the program.
This was historic.
Some people have compared it
to when Churchill came
81 years ago and basically he asked that
the United States continue
to stand with them
after we'd been attacked, and we did.
So there were a lot of points
that Zelensky made
that were quite resonant
with any of us who know
how hard our own struggle
for freedom
and the cost that we've paid
to defend it over all these years
actually has been.
You've obviously been
Vladimir Putin on a number of occasions.
I'm wondering
what you make of the position
that he now finds himself in
and what you think he may do
Well, it's always
probably impossible
to actually predict, but
I think around now
what he is
considering is how to throw more bodies.
And that's what they will be bodies
of Russian conscripts
into the fight in Ukraine.
It's been proven,
I think, conclusively
that he's
willing to sacrifice as many Russian men
as he can round up throughout the vast
reach of the Russian territory.
I think he's trying
desperately to convince Lukashenko to go
and Belarus
to try to get him to be involved.
I think so far
Lukashenko has played his hand adroitly.
He doesn't want to get drawn into that.
He doesn't want to
see his own military decimated.
Where that ends up,
I don't think we know yet.
So there has to be a moment of reckoning.
And it can only come if the cost,
both in military losses
and an economic pain
because of sanctions,
continues to increase on Putin.
And I thought it was quite
smart of Zelensky to make it clear that
he's willing to reach out
to the Russian people.
He in effect invited the Russian people
to free their minds
from the rule of Putin.
And by doing so he is sending a signal
that if the Russian people,
whether it is people around Putin
or more generally,
people out in the country
understand that this is a war
that is Putin's war, not Russia's war.
That could also change
the internal dynamic
that will be confronting Putin.
So there's a lot of moving pieces,
but the most important thing
is to keep supplying them
with what they need
to keep defeating Russia
every chance they get to.
Do you think that is
a possible scenario of dissent in Russia,
whether it's,
you know, nationwide or among powerful
sort of forces around Vladimir Putin
that could actually topple him
in Well,
I don't know
about topple,
but it could certainly influence
the calculations he makes.
There is some reporting
that I have
seen coming out of Russia that
there is increasing distress
and anger among mothers of sons and
and people
who are related to those Russian men
who have been rounded up
as they come back, having been poorly
or not at all trained, having been killed
in the front line of Putin's war.
That can have an impact.
I think information
continues, not enough,
but still to seep in to Russia.
So that the defeats and the resolve
of the Ukrainian people
become clearer and clearer.
I think
there will be jockeying around Putin.
One never knows if there is the appetite
to do anything directly against him
or try to maneuver him
so that he's looking for an exit.
All of this is happening simultaneous.
This is an incredibly complex
set of circumstances, Anderson.
But right now,
I think it's fair to say
Ukraine has the upper hand.
Ukraine is winning its war
thanks to the enormous support
we and others have provided.
And we need to keep the pressure
on Putin.
Hillary Clinton, appreciate your time.
Thank you.