Trump Gifts Kiev 250 Million Dollars to Continue War in East Against Russian Speakers


EPA

Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine: I know that some politicians and entrepreneurs argue for lifting the anti-Russian sanctions and resume business activities with Moscow. Using this opportunity, I'd like to address those people. I'm sure they'll hear me. We didn't start this war. But we dream and fight to end it. Every day

60 Minutes

- While Zelensky is traveling around Europe, good news has arrived from across the ocean.

- Just now.

 

- Capitol Hill has signed the famous decree to give Ukraine 250 million dollars to purchase weapons, including lethal, to let Zelensky continue the war Turchinov and Poroshenko started. Zelensky is excited and demands additional sanctions on Russia. Let's hear it.

Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine: "I know that some politicians and entrepreneurs argue for lifting the anti-Russian sanctions and resume business activities with Moscow. Using this opportunity, I'd like to address those people. I'm sure they'll hear me. We didn't start this war. But we dream and fight to end it. Every day. We don't want our European partners to suffer from the sanctions, who joined hands with us to bring back peace and justice to Europe. But that's the only non-violent way of restoring peace on the continent. And we must walk this path to the very end. I encourage those who argue to lift the sanctions to come to Donbass and see how much grief this war has brought to the people of Ukraine. Take a look at Crimea. It used to be a tourist resort and a natural gem. Now, it's become a military camp".

- For your education, it's worth mentioning that when we were making a military camp out of the Ukrainian tourist gem, we invested 350 billion rubles ($5.5 billion) in it. Just so you understand, a million Ukrainians happily went on vacation in Russian Crimea last year. But that's not the point. "Come to Donbass to look at the war." We've been proposing the same thing for a long time.

- Welcome.

- That's right. Before inviting them, he should've come himself.

- We can guarantee his safety. He shouldn't be afraid.

- Breaking news: Eduard Basurin guarantees Zelensky's safety if the latter comes to Donbass.

Eduard Basurin: That's right.

- Okay, deal. Eduard, they get those 250 million dollars for a noble cause, to finish the war.

Eduard Basurin, Deputy Defense Minister of the DPR: There's one other thing, the US declared that it'll operate directly, not as a NATO state, and supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, they've already declared that. That 250 million is not the full sum. The total sum is about 700 million, if you count all of the funding coming from various agencies. That 250 million is for lethal weapons alone, they've said that.

- There's more to that.

- Nice budget allocation.

“The US Department of Defense announced its plans to give Ukraine 250 million dollars within the framework of their military cooperation. These funds will be allocated for training, equipment, and advisory assistance. The Armed Forces of Ukraine will acquire sniper rifles, missile launchers, radar equipment, means of electronic warfare, night vision equipment, and military medical equipment. Thus, the total amount of military assistance provided for Ukraine since 2014 is one and a half billion dollars.”

- That's a lot of money. Do you see their soldiers carrying foreign arms when you capture them?

Eduard Basurin: Well, those who saw this year's parade should remember one curious piece of hardware. We acquired it in Debaltsevo. It's foreign, right. When we liberated the airport, I showed the OSCE representative the weapons their soldiers, or "cyborgs", as Ukraine calls them, were using. However, there's one thing I'd like to point out. When we were extracting the bodies of the Ukrainian soldiers, we had a Ukrainian JCCC colonel visit us. He thanked us for treating the dead as warriors. We didn't deface the corpses. He saluted us and we helped him take the corpses back to their families in Ukraine. We showed him the weapons they were using, the weapons Ukraine was receiving even before it was officially announced. They've been receiving weapons for a long time. Look, here's the list: sniper rifles, that means they were in for the kill. They were going to kill people. Why? Because they speak another language? Because they think differently? Is that the only reason? Well, I don't know what to say. You believe that Donbass was occupied. It's the rest of Ukraine that was occupied. We say that Donetsk Oblast is occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Back in May of 2014, when the referendum was held, it was held on the entire territory, except for a small area in Belozersk, where the Ukrainian forces were gathering, who later proceeded to bomb Slavyansk.

- There was no referendum.

- There was!

- Nope.

- The man's telling you that there was a referendum. Wait, pay attention, please.

- You know it better.

- Wait! Pay attention, please. One and a half billion dollars since 2014. Twenty billion dollars were allocated for the democratization of Ukraine over the past five years.

Stop it!

Stop it.

That doesn't matter, we can all see what Ukraine's become. And America's pretty open about who's behind all that.

Jakub Korejba, political analyst, Poland: They need to invest ten times the sum.

- To kill them all instantly so they don't suffer?

- That's the thing, if America had actually taken resolute measures against Russia — instead of being afraid of it…

- What does Russia have to do with that? Military aid to Donbass. You mean the US needs to come and kill them all?

- If Ukraine got all of its territories back, including Crimea, it would be living a decent European life, stable and rich. But due to Americans being greedy cowards, we got what we have now — and probably will have for the rest of our days.

- Isn't he arrogant? Arrogant.

- If they had invested 50 billion instead of that pathetic five billion, all of Ukraine and we all would've forgotten about the war long ago.

- You won't be getting anymore American LNG after calling them greedy cowards.

- We'd have healthy cooperation.

- Wait a second. Wait a second! You closest friends and allies are greedy cowards?

- Indeed, without a doubt. I'm not happy with the US policy…

- But you let them in any way? The boots of greedy cowards stomp on holy Polish land?

- That's because we don't want to end up like Ukraine. They realized their mistakes, analyzed them, and will never repeat them.