ukraine. it's important to set the record straight oboe what is taking place in ukraine and the challenges you face internal and external the nato summit just happened a week ago and within the nato summit statement the open door policy remaining open i know that's a priority of yours. so we would go deeper into some of these challenging issues. but also those that are incredibly important and have been for the united states somebody working on it in and outside of government watching ukraine be successful to build on the desires and when president zelensky won in a landslide election he made sure to resolve the conflict in the east but tackle corruption and i have heard you talk here about where ukraine is going serving in several different governments over the past year as a diplomat i didn't read your full bio because of timing but you worked with a number of governments of how different this government is in terms of generation and focus. so hopefully he will touch on that were excited to

ambassador to ukraine and the former permanent ambassador to ukraine texted ambassador sohn and volker rather he stated in his testimony on july 20th i had a phone conversation with mr donnelly uk during which he conveyed to me that president selenski did not want to be used as a pawn in a u.s. reelection campaign. but president trump's pressure campaign on president selenski did not relent just 4 days later president selenski received that message via kurt volker that he needed to convince president trump that he would do the investigations in order to get that white house meeting and as i have described president does that selenski tried to do exactly that on the july 25th call with president trump in the weeks following the july 25th call president selenski he did president trump's request sending his top aide mr year moch to madrid to meet with mr giuliani in coordination with mr giuliani president and the president trumps handpicked representatives they continued ape this pressure campaign to secure a public announcement of the investigations now according to ambassador sandlin an

castor, ukraine energy company burisma holdings had a reputation in ukraine as a corrupt company. is that correct? >> big time. >> according to "new york times," hunter biden was part of a broad effort by burisma to bring in well-connected democratsec during a period whe the company was facing investigations. is that correct? >> yeah. "the new yorker" also had a pretty extensive report on that, as well. >> obama's deputy assistant secretary of state, george kent, testified that he raised concerns directly to vice president biden's office about hunter bibiden's services on burisma's erboard. is that correct? yes or no? >> yes. >> mr. castor, in the july 25th call, president trump referenced joe biden bragging about how he stopped the prosecution. we all saw that video earlier today. where joe biden bragged about how he told ukraine, if the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. mr. castor, is this the same prosecutor that looked into burisma? >> it is.me >> in a similar scheme, obama assistant attorney general said, and i quote, awarding prestigious employment oppor

russia ukraine command drome and by that i mean economic ties between russia and ukraine. publicly warm but privately cold and distant relationship between ukraine and the e.u. the nature of that mutual commitments etc all these host of issues that precipitated the conflict in the 1st place. that's very difficult because on the one hand you write the whole ukrainian disaster. was a product of the relationship between russia ukraine ukraine the us on the same time. on the stage who are now. you cannot start with the global big tasks and say ok let's discuss. and then the university can just start with the e.u. for example could start with having an honest conversation about the ukraine and discuss whether ukraine will ever be part of the e.u. what ukraine is getting from the association agreement whether ukraine once you have some sort of economic relationship with russia i mean we don't need to start big i mean those are issues that directly a fact the lives of everyday people yeah you know it would be great unfortunately in this particular case i'm afraid that no one. tho

why should they care about ukraine? first of all, this is not about ukraine. this is about our democracy. this is about our national security. this is about whether the american people have a right to expect that the president of the united states is going to act in their interests, with their security in mind, and not for some illicit personal or political reason. so americans should care deeply about whether the president of the united states is betraying their trust in him, betraying that oath that he took to the constitution to protect our country and defend its institutions. so, we should care about this. we must care about this. and if we don't care about this, we can darn well be assured the president will be back at it, doing this all over again. because indeed, he already has. first, there was the invitation to russia to interfere in our last election. "russia, if you're listening, hack hillary's emails," and indeed, later that day, they tried to do exactly that. but then there was the use of this official power to compel another country, ukraine, to

russia ukraine conundrum and by that i mean economic ties between russia and ukraine. publicly warm but privately cold and distant relationship between ukraine and the e.u. the nature of that mutual commitments etc all these host of issues that precipitated the conflict in the 1st place. that's very difficult because on the one hand you're right. disaster. was a product of the relationship between russia. and the same time. the stage who are now. you cannot start with. and say ok let's discuss. and then the university can just start with the e.u. for example could start with having an honest conversation about the ukraine and discuss whether ukraine will ever be part of the e.u. what ukraine is getting from the association agreement whether ukraine once you have some sort of economic relationship with russia i mean we don't need to start big i mean those are issues that directly affect the lives of everyday people. would be great unfortunately in this particular case i'm afraid that no one. those involved. wants to be 100 percent. open and honest that that was the natu

with your 2020 priorities you mention economics as critical to ukraine and that's true but with the ukraine economy there are couple of areas that you are focused on in to look at the government's priorities in 2020. >> you can mention a few of them. the list is so long it was exhausting. you may not know that ukraine that you cannot buy and sell land freely. there is no market. privatization ukrainian state owns 3000 enterprises with those of strategic importance from national security. and then has taken the necessary steps to launch the process of privatization and to develop those as commercial enterprises. and not sucking money from the state budget. energy security. energy efficiency. for us, security and efficiency is a matter of national survival because a neighbor who wants to create problems for us and i can be pretty effective. one of the most energy consuming economies. we can save a lot of money if we systemically introduce those measures throughout 2020 and the financials. the national currency is appreciating and becoming stronger and stronger and it makes our exporters mad b

we just need fair, balanced look on what ukraine has accomplished, where ukraine stands and where ukraine is moving. and on all three points i believe we have no fundamental differences with the united states. ukraine is a natural ally of the united states in the world. its global struggle for power that we are observing now. ukraine is part of this, part of the world. we share same principles, same values. we stand for the same things. and we never compromised the united states since independence in 1991. and we cannot imagine the horror when the united states will compromise us. i had very friendly beatings in washington over last two two c. maybe i meeting wrong people, but my overall sense is that the reason understanding this year that ukraine has to be treated fairly, that's what i can say is. what are our request. what this kind of our agenda? we want to be in a position of the country always ask for help. we want to build relationship. i was happy to read an article in dues of an american rocket carrying cargo to international space station, and part of that engine of the rocket i

where ukraine stands and where ukraine is moving. on all three points i believe we have no fundamental differences with the united states. ukraine is a natural ally of the united states in the world. in the global struggle for power that we are observing now, ukraine is part of this part of the world. we share same principles, same values, we stand for the same things. and we never compromised the united states since our independence in 1991. and we cannot imagine horror where the united states will compromise us. i have very friendly meetings in washington over the last two days. maybe i was meeting the wrong people. my overall sense is that the reason understanding in d.c. that ukraine has to be treated fairly. that's what i can say on this. what are our requests? what are our agenda? we don't want to be in the position of, you know, the country always asks for help. we want to build relationship. i was happy to read an article and use of american rocket carrying cargo to international space station and part of that the engine of t

from russia ukraine germany and france meet in paris to tackle ukraine's internal divisions are there reasons for optimism and impeachment are the democrats secretly scheming to have actually reelected. cross talking some real news i'm joined by my guest here in moscow dmitri bobbitt she's a political analyst and editor at innocent me internet media project and in london we crossed alexander be curious he's a writer on legal affairs as well as editor in chief of the duran dot com our gentlemen crossed up rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate let's go to london 1st alex we have. normandy format as they're calling it of course this is about the internal divisions and problems of ukraine the media falsely characterize it russia against the ukraine that's not it at all as a mystification from the media this is an internal ukrainian problem and outside powers are trying to help mediate it what is the normandy format it's called normandy for and where does it come from and what is it trying to achieve go ahead alex. yes it's called moment before

ukraine was not. anybody who has looked at the question has said they didn't, including the republicans. there's only one reason they're changing the story for you are right now and it's to confuse you, to distract you and make you not care about it. nothing is true unless you want it to be and that's not reality. that fakes us to another matter of fact. there one phone call other than the president's perfect one that he says saves him. we have to look at had and look at even if it exists next. braava jet m6 robot mop. with an adjustable precision jet spray and advanced pad system braava jet breaks up messes and gets deep in corners. braava jet. only from irobot. when we were looking he wanted someone super quiet. yeah, and he wanted someone to help out with chores. so, we got jean-pierre. but one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with renters insurance. ♪ yeah, geico did make it easy to switch and save. ♪ oh no. there's a wall there now. that's too bad. visit geico.com and se

here it is important to note ukraine's long profound history of endemic corruption several witnesses in the inquiry have testified about these problems ambassador marie yvonne of each for example said ukraine's corruption is not just prevalent but frankly is the system witnesses testified to having firsthand knowledge that president trump is deeply skeptical of ukraine due to its corruption back years and that this skepticism contributed to president trump's initial has its to meet with president selenski. ambassador volcker testified so i know he had a very deep rooted skeptical view and my understanding at the time was that even though he agreed in the meeting that we had with him say ok i'll invite him i'll invite him he didn't really want to do it volcker said and that's why the meeting kept getting delayed another relevant set of facts here is the effort of some ukrainian officials to approach president trump's candidacy in the 2016 election some of these ukrainian politicians initially remained in government when presidents alinsky took over witnesses testified that these ukrai

in ukraine. the conflict inside ukraine not the conflict between ukraine and russia issues like for example crimea are completely off the agenda now they there were a series of meetings there was an important agreement that was agreed in minsk in 2015 which was supposed to take the process further but of course what has happened is that poroshenko and he's government in ukraine refused to implement minsk the the minsk agreement that was reached vali this group is normandy full group which is supposed to be the way forward with the partway towards peace in ukraine the result is that the conflict has been frozen there was a further meeting between this group in october. of 2016 in paris which sort of tweaked the parkway further but that has again faye olds to change anything on the ground but then this year we've seen a complete change of our ukraine a new president and this is why all this glue has now come together and then there's now a reputed impetus towards peace with the entire geopolitical

to flow through ukraine. well i guess you could say they don't really trust them very much but if the deal is signed it obviously will be a positive step forward in the relations between these 2 countries we are now in the 6 year more than 5 years russia and ukraine have been at odds. russia annexed crimea back in 2014 and then russian supported forces have been fighting ukrainian forces in the east of the country and more than 13000 people have died there the relations between the 2 countries obviously because of that and has further worsened we also have the case that gazprom some $3000000000.00 to ukraine over odets according to the stockholm arbitration court so you could say that trust in the russians isn't great at the moment but obviously if this deal is in is confirmed we're waiting you know they say they've reached it in principle then this will be something that can be possibly built on to improve them in the future david you mentioned the financial aspect there ukraine is collecting transit fees fo

why should they care, indeed, about ukraine? first of all, this is not about ukraine. this is about our democracy, this is about our national security, this is about whether the american people have a right to expect that the president of the united states is going to act in their interest work their security in mind, and not for some ill list personal or political reason. so americans should care deeply about whether the president of the united states is betraying their trust in him. betraying that oath that he took to the constitution to protect our country. and defend its institutions. so we should care about. this we must care about this. and if we don't care about this we can darn well be sure, the president will be back at it, doing this all over again. because indeed he already has. first there was the invitation to russia to interfere in our last election. hey, russia, if you're listening, hack hillary's email, and indeed, later that day, they tried to do exactly that. but then there was the use of this official power to compel another country, ukraine, to inte

is russia a lot of people in ukraine are there it's about this. it's. my personal take on this but at the end of that they. say show me some korea and the occupation is temporary at the end of the crimea go back to ukraine in this case rain would inherit this. huge piece of infrastructure you cannot help it he may be a really a story to tell you're going to got a lot to think about that a lot to comment on as well through this problem victor out of it you heard what eliot had to say i mean from the russian perspective this is yet another you might say infrastructure success for the president but in recent weeks in the sort of state of the union the end of year address he did talk about the fact didn't he in his address to the russian people but there were problems with the economy there were problems with corruption and so i wonder how russian people would actually take the opening of this bridge i mean do they do they see it as something that they can take pride in or is it just an unnecessary expense. well of course crimea has a long history of both w

ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, testified that in ukraine -- and i quote -- corruption is not just prevalent but frankly, is the system, is that correct? >> yes, all the witnesses confirmed the environment is very corrupt. >> mr. castor, burisma holdings had a reputation in ukraine as a corrupt company, is that correct? >> big time. >> according to "the new york times," hunter biden was part of a broad effort by burisma to bring in well connected democrats during a period when the company was facing investigations, is that correct? >> yeah, k"the new yorker" had n extensive report on that as well. >> obama's deputy assistant secretary of state, george kent, testified that he raised concerns directly to vice president biden's office about hunter biden's services on burisma's board, is that correct? yes or no. >> yes. >> mr. castor, in the july 25th call president trump referenced joe biden bragging about how he stopped the prosecution. we all saw that video earlier today where joe biden bragged about how he told ukraine if the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the mon

ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch testified that in ukraine, and i quote, corruption is not just prevalent, but frankly is the system. is that correct? >> yes. all of the witnesses confirmed the environment as very corrupt. >> mr. castor, ukraine energy company burisma holdings had a reputation as a corrupt company, is that correct. >> big time. >> according to "the new york times," hunter biden was paut of a broad effort by burisma to bring in a period when the company was facing investigations, is that correct. >> the new yorker had a extensive report on that as well. >> obama's deputy assistant -- obama's deputy assistant secretary of state george kent testified he raised concerns directly to vice president biden's office about hunter biden's services on burisma's bords is that correct, yes or no? >> yes. >> mr. castor, in the july 25th call president trump referenced joe biden bragging about how he stopped the prosecution. we all saw that video earlier today. where joe biden bragged about how he told ukraine if the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. mr. ca

for ukraine. biden has no specific governance expertise and we don't believe he speaks ukrainian or russian. we don't believe he moved there. so he's getting this gigantic paycheck for what? the washington potion wrote at the time of biden's appointment to burisma's board that it look looked nepotismic at best. according to "the wall street journal," anti-corruption activists in ukraine also raised concerns that the former vp's son received money from zlochevsky. witnesses in the impeachment inquiry noted hunter biden's role on the board and how it presented at minimum a conflict of interest. lieutenant colonel vindman testified hunter biden appeared not qualified to serve on burisma's board. witnesses testified that hunter biden's role on the board was a legitimate concern to raise in fact, george kent explained in 2015 he raised a concern to the office of former vice president biden that hunter biden's role on burisma's board presented a potential conflict of interest. however, hunter biden's ro

in ukraine the conflict inside ukraine not the conflict between ukraine and russia issues like for example crimea are completely over.

let's be honest, things were much better under ukraine. >> reporter: ukraine's president won an election earlier this year on a platform of ending the war and has made it hisst admition's top priority. >> ( translated ): we need peace! >> ( translated ): we're working on it. >> ( translated ): we want a peaceful life. >> reporter: zelensky, a former tv star, took to social media this week in a video filmed on a kieadmill touting the mere fact that talks were place. >> ( translated ): this meeting is already a victory for us. >> reporter: but with approval ratings slipping, some observers worry his enthusiasm for results means he's willing to recognize russia's claims to territory in he's repeatedly denied.ething at the end of the day, the cards are in this man's hands. after all, it's men loyal to him that ukraine has been unable to push off of its territory inea nearly six of war. has he tired of shedding blood on the other side of his southern border? so far, he's kept quiet on that question >> sreenivasan: finally tonight, caroll spinney-- the "sesame street" puppeteer o was big bird

now they're accusing ukraine. in the face of clear evidence, not only from intelligence community experts, but from his own national security team that russia, not ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory. why? because it would help his own political standing. president trump even saukt sought to with hold an oval office meeting from the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin's lies. the leader who actually invaded ukraine. the second demand that president trump made of president zelensky during the july 25th call was to investigate the front-runner for the democratic nomination for president in 2020. former vice president joe biden. and his son hunter. president trump stated -- the other thing, there's a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that. so whatever you can do with t

are turning away from from steadfast support if ukraine where do you see ukraine's our eyes right now. actually who says it is out in several days because who would be. e.u. e.u. meeting which will decide on continuation of the so-called sec that all sentient is against russian to settle sentients are connected with implementation of means it remains and from what i understand this centuries will be continued for next half a year however if we analyze that international city asian is not too bad a favorable for ukraine because mccormick is making too much you know prashant statements to to have business as usual ways that asha and he's not very experienced in these kind of negotiations normandy for merkel is much more experienced definitely and by the way i believe today there was a statement from berlin said the ukraine 1st already done unilateral concessions in order to move forwards in negotiations and now it's time for russia to make adequate concessions from the russian side regarding crown definitely there is a scandal in ze united states so as there is a threat to the process i

now they are accusing ukraine. in a the face of clear evidence not only from intelligence community experts but from his own national security team, that russia not ukraine interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still d pressed the ukrainian government to announce ania investigation int this conspiracyto theory and wh? because it would help his own political standing. president trump even sought to withhold anen oval office meeti from o the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin's lies. the leader who had actually invaded ukraine.ra the second demand president trump made of president zelensky during the july 25th call was to investigate the front-runnerl the democratic nomination for president in 2020, former vice president joe biden. andvi his son hunter. president trump hustated, the other thing, there's a lot of talk about biden's son that biden stopped the's prosecution and a lot ofde people want to fd out about that so whatever you can doat wit

nower accusing ukraine. in the face of clear evidence, not only from intelligence community experts but from his own national security team that russia, not ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory. and why? because it would help his own political standing. president trump even sought to withhold an oval office meeting from the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin's lies. the leader, who had actually invaded ukraine. the second demand that president trump made of president zelensky during the july 25th call was to investigate the front-runner for the democratic nomination for president in 2020. former vice president joe biden and his son hunter. president trump stated, the other thing. there is a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to find out about that. so whatever you can do with t

ukraine is a friend. russia is a foe. ukraine is a democracy. russia is a dictatorship. the united states is probably the only thing standing between vladimir putin and ukraine being completely overrun as part of putin's fantasy to reconstruct the soviet union which would be averse to the national security interests of the united states and every fact witness before this congress said so. you can't even dispute that. so we allocated aid on a bipartisan basis. then the aid was withheld. so the american people deserve to figure out why. in february there was a letter sent by the trump administration saying, okay, the aid is on the way. but it never arrived. in april he had a phone call, the president, with zelensky. the word corruption was not mentioned once. and then in may the department of defense wrote to this congress and said all necessary preconditions for the receipt of the aid have been met by the new ukrainian government including the implementation of anti-corruption protocols. we have that letter. it was sent to you and it was sent to us. then in july, on the 1

now they're accusing ukraine. in the face of clear evidence, not only from intelligence community experts but from his own national security team that russia, not ukraine interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory and why? because it would help o political standing. president trump even sought to withhold an oval office meeting from the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin's lies. the leader who had actually invaded ukraine. the second demand that president trump made of president zelensky during the july 25th call was to investigate the front-runner for the democratic nomination for president in 2020, former vice president joe biden and his son, hunter. president trump stated, the other thing, there's a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that. so whatever you can do with the attorne

for ukraine. biden has no specific governance expertise and we don't believe he speaks ukrainian or russian. we don't believe he moved there. so he's getting this gigantic paycheck for what? the washington potion wrote at the time of biden's appointment to burisma's board that it look looked nepotismic at best. according to "the wall street journal," anti-corruption activists in ukraine also raised concerns that the former vp's son received money from zlochevsky. witnesses in the impeachment inquiry noted hunter biden's role on the board and how it presented at minimum a conflict of interest. lieutenant colonel vindman testified hunter biden appeared not qualified to serve on burisma's board. witnesses testified that hunter biden's role on the board was a legitimate concern to raise in fact, george kent explained in 2015 he raised a concern to the office of former vice president biden that hunter biden's role on burisma's board presented a potential conflict of interest. however, hunter biden's ro

i believe is harmful to us ukraine relations ukraine is being dragged through the political maad there are all sorts of efforts to try to connect ukraine which is unacceptable to interference in the 2016 election so there is so worried that that there is a breakdown of some of that bipartisan support but what i have seen over the last several weeks is both sides the aisle and washington step up to support that relationship. i can't speak to the future with with regards to president trump he has a penchant for for doing things one day and then doing the other the other day. frankly many of us here don't understand what his relationship truly is with president vladimir putin but the most important thing that we have seen over the last several weeks is strong support again for ukraine this includes assistance and just before the negotiations took place 2 senior u.s. officials from the state department went out to kiev to ensure kiev that the u.s. stands firmly behind them. just before we run out of time. about. this could be one of her final opportunities to mediate to be a peace maker do

ukraine. so i started talking to sources there and who were familiar with what was happening in ukraine, what russia was doing, and i saw this bigger context which was that in 2014 ukraine had had this pro-western revolution. very much sort of breaking free of the putin influence. and russia had responded by invading. and that physical invasion had been accompanied by wave after wave of cyber attacks. not just as one blackout, but, in fact, a whole series of them. they actually tried to spoof the results of ukrainian elections in 2014 before they tried to mess with our election. they had attacked every strata of ukrainian society, the media and government agencies and private industry, destroying, you know, hundreds of computers in some cases inside of these targeted networks. and then finally, that first blackout had been the kind of climax of that first attack. and hackers had turned out the power to ukrainian civilians, the first time that had ever happened anywhere in the world. and as i w

we just need fair, balanced look on what ukraine has accomplished, where ukraine stands and where ukraine is moving. and on all three points i believe we have no fundamental differences with the united states. ukraine is a natural ally of the united states in the world. its global struggle for power that we are observing now. ukraine is part of this, part of the world. we share same principles, same values. we stand for the same things. and we never compromised the united states since independence in 1991. and we cannot imagine the horror where the united states will compromise us. i had very friendly meetings in washington over last two days. maybe i meeting wrong people, but my overall sense is that the reason understanding this year that ukraine has to be treated fairly, that's what i can say on this. what are our request. what this kind of our agenda? we want to be in a position of the country always ask for help. we want to build relationship. i was happy to read an article in news of an american rocket carrying cargo to international space station, and part of that engine of the roc

1st formal talks fighting in eastern ukraine between moscow back separatists and ukraine's army has killed almost 15000 people within the last 5 years natasha butler reports but. ukraine's recently elected president was greeted by french president emmanuel my crawl at the lease a palace selenski flashed a peace sign as he prepared to meet vladimir putin for the 1st time the russian leader arrived shortly afterwards for talks aimed at paving the way to peace in eastern ukraine. outside the lease a police tackled and putin protesters while inside macro and german chancellor angela merkel sat down to mediate the full selenski and putin met one on one after nearly 9 hours of talks the leaders agreed to a cease fire by the end of 2019 a prisoner swap and to hold another summit in 4 months but there was little common ground on eastern ukraine future putin wants a special status for the don't pass region led by russian backed separatists. to synchronize the negotiation process with political settlement 1st of all it means amendments to the constitution that will ensure a special status to

7% of ukraine's territory. since 'sthen, the united states and our allies have provide support for ukraine, an emerging post-soviet democracy to fend off russiaac in the east. yet just a few weeks before this july b 25th call, president tru had inexplicably placed a hold once military assistance to ukraine without providing any reason to his own cabinet members or national security officials. the evidence the committee collected showed that there was unanimous support for the aid from every relevant agency in the trump administration. nevertheless, during the call, president trump complained that u.s. support for ukraine was not reciprocal, that somehow ukrains needed to give more to the united states. what did he mean? it became clear, because immediately after b president zelensky broughtaf up u.s. military support and purchased javelin anti-tank weapons president trump responded, i would like to you do us a favor, though, because our country has been throughus a lot and ukrain knows a lot about it. now the f

are turning away from from steadfast support if ukraine where do you see ukraine's our eyes right now. actually who says it is out in several days because who would be. e.u. e.u. meeting which will decide on continuation of the so-called sec that all sentient is against russian to settle sanctions are connected with implementation of means it greenness and from what i understand this centuries will be continued for the next half a year however if we analyze the international situation is not too bad a favorable for ukraine because macaron is making too much you know prashant statements to to have business as usual ways that asha and he's not very experienced in these kind of negotiations normandy for merkel is much more experienced definitely and by the way i believe today there was a statement from berlin said the ukraine 1st already done unilateral concessions in order to move forwards in negotiations and now it's time for russia to make adequate concessions from the russian side regarding clown definitely there is a scandal in ze united states so as there is a threat to the process

policy in ukraine. on this record there is a legitimateco basis for presiden trump to have concern about hunternc biden's role on burisms board. the prospect that some senior ukrainian officials worked against president trump in the runup to the 2016 election draws an even more visceral reaction from most democrats. let me say very, very clearly that election interference is not binary. i'm not saying that it was ukraine and not russia. i'm saying that both countries can work to influence an election. a systemic coordinated russian interference effort does not meanff that some ukrainian officials, some ukrainian officials did not work to oppose president trump's candidacy, did not make statements against president trump during the election. ambassador volker testified in his public hearing that it is possible forng more than one country to seek influence in u.s. elections. dr. hill testified likewise at her public hearing. contemporaneous news articles in 2016 noted how president trump's candidacy led k

now they are accusing ukraine. in the face of evidence not only for an intelligencfrom intelligy experts that his own national security team that russia, not ukraine interfered in the 2016 elections for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory and why, because it would help his own political standing. president trump even sought to withhold an oval office meeting from the president of ukraine until he fell in line with president putin lies. the leader that actually invaded ukraine.th the second demand president trump made during the july 25 call was to investigate the front-runner for the democratic nomination for president in 2020. president in 2020. former vice president joe biden and his son, hunter. president trump stated the other thing, there's a lot of talk about his son that he stops the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out abouter that. so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be gr

and ukraine have condemned it as illegal russia annexed the region from ukraine in 2014. and 62 planets outside earth solar system of been discovered by astronomers in the u.k. the planets are extremely hot making it difficult to determine the type of rock and surface scientists say with further research they could hold the key to unlocking the geology of planets in our solar system for veterans where the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after inside story stations and so much of africa . is glad i'm here putin creating a new reality on the ground in crimea moscow and explained they're from ukraine in 2014 and russia as it's been under international sanctions but now the russian president has opened a direct train link to the peninsula so what does this mean for the future this is inside story. hello welcome to the program i'm still robin a new road and rail bridge now connects the crimean peninsula with russia the 4000000000 dollar transport link is the longest in europe but it seemed by many in kiev as a symbol of moscow's control over the peninsula and t

are turning away from from steadfast support if ukraine where do you see ukraine's our eyes right now. actually who says it is out in several days because there would be. e.u. e.u. meeting which will decide on continuation of the so-called sec that all sentients against russia and this settle sanctions are connected with implementation of means it greenness and from what i understand this centuries will be continued for the next half a year however if we analyze the international situation is not too bad a favorable for ukraine because mccormack is making too much you know prashant statements to to have business as usual. and he's not very experienced in these kind of negotiations normandy for merkel is much more experienced definitely and by the way i believe today there was a statement from berlin said the ukraine 1st already done unilateral concessions in order to move forwards in negotiations and now it's time for russia to make adequate concessions from the russian side they've got in town definitely there is a scandal in ze united states so as there is a threat to the process in

ukraine is a friend, russia is a foe. ukraine is a democracy, russia is a dictatorship. the united states is probably the only thing standing between vladimir putin and ukraine being completely overrun as part of putin's fantasy to reconstruct the soviet union, which would be adverse to the national security interests of the united states. and every single fact witness before this congress said so. you can't even dispute that. so we allocated aid on a bipartisan basis. but then the aid was withheld. the american people deserve to figure out why. in february there was a letter sent by the trump administration saying okay, the aid is on the way. but it never arrived. in april he had a phone call, the president, with zelensky, the word corruption was not mentioned once. and then in may the department of defense wrote to this congress and said all necessary preconditions for the receipt of the aid have been met by the new ukrainian government, including the implementation of anti-corruption protocols. we have that letter. it was sent to you and it was sent to us. and in july

in ukraine. the conflict inside ukraine not the conflict between ukraine and russia issues like for example crimea are completely off the agenda now they there were a series of meetings there was an important agreement that was agreed in minsk in 2015 which was supposed to take the process further but of course what has happened is that poroshenko and he's government in ukraine refused to implement minsk the the minsk agreement that was reached vali this group is normandy for group which is supposed to be the way forward in the park way towards peace in ukraine the result is that the conflict has been frozen there was a further meeting between this group in october. of 2016 in paris which sort of tweaked the parkway further but that has again fails to change anything on the ground but then this year we've seen a complete change of power in ukraine a new president and this is why all this group has now come together and then there's now a reputed impetus towards peace when the entire geopolitical

now they're accusing ukraine. in the face of clear evidence, not only from intelligence community experts, but from his own national security team that russia, not ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of donald trump, president trump still pressed the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into this conspiracy theory. why? because it would

was reporting ukraine -- supporting ukraine and his own credibility. whatill hear that president trump did is he told his agencies to withhold military and security aid that had been approved and was supposed to be released to ukraine. hundreds of millions of dollars in order to put more pressure on ukraine. , state agencies involved department, defense department, national security council said it should be released, it had been approved until president trump personally stopped it. extent rainey's documents show it. people say they were -- extemporaneous documents show it. people say they were shocked. the president never offered an explanation. ultimately it was discovered why he did it. ,hen on the july 25 call president trump explicitly told him he wanted him to do two ukrainian investigations. one of a u.s. citizen and his political rival and the other about the origins of the interference in the 2016 election, a conspiracy theory that russia, who all intelligence agencies agreed, interfered with the 2016 election, that maybe it was ukraine. inves

the ukraine. return of the coup control of the borders returns fluke year they are going to relaunch their offensive against the people looked at us no longer and the russians will then be in local station to provide any assistance so that's what they want to put in place before them in place there you've got the constitutional change it's there in the guise of use of the special status and you have the elections and so therefore then and only then will you marry you know bring in your borders under control otherwise basically we're going to go back to what happened in 2014 when the government launched a horrific offensive against these 2 provinces georgia let's focus for a moment on some of the key players that were involved in these negotiations i mean . merkel aside they were moderating but let's talk about putin and selenski because as our correspondent in there this is the 1st time we've seen the sort of shaking hands they had some serious bilateral talks alongside the negotiations what do yo

for ukraine. agreement. was an agreement to stop war it was a very big war which ukraine was about to lose and they signed this agreement which from. that's argument that they don't have to fulfill it because it was signed under duress. argument not to fulfill them and president poroshenko. and. ukraine have no choice but that was a product of very complicated circumstances now on the one hand sometimes it looks like a deadlock in the same time why all sides stick to the there is no other framework to go if. agreement form then nothing else is left and that risk for a new war it will be one time now the russian ukrainian relationship has 2. major components economic and security i want to start with economic and i'm sure you would agree with me that in addition to solving the conflict in this to me ukraine russia and ukraine now has a much more accurate. dispute to settle i'm talking about the expiration of the gas transit contract the contract for transiting russian gas to the european union and what i find

military assistance to ukraine which one witness testified was nearly 10 percent of ukraine's defense budget and this support comes as a result of russia's invasion of ukraine in 2014 when russia illegally annexed nearly 7 percent of ukraine's territory since then the united states and our allies have provided support for ukraine an emerging post soviet democracy to fend off russia in the east yet just a few weeks before this july 25th call president trump had inexplicably place to hold on military assistance to ukraine without providing any reason to his own cabinet members or national security officials the evidence the committee's collected showed that there was unanimous support for the aid from every relevant agency in the trump administration. nevertheless during the call president trump complained that u.s. support for ukraine was not reciprocal that somehow ukraine needed to give more to the united states what did he mean well it became clear because immediately after president selenski brought up u.s. military support and purchasing javelin anti-tank weapons president trump r

russia ukraine germany and france meet in paris to tackle ukraine's internal divisions are there reasons for optimism and impeachment are the democrats secretly scheming to have actually reelected. cross talking some real news i'm joined by my guest here in moscow dimitri bobbitt she's a political analyst and editor at innocent me internet media project and in london we crossed alexander macarius he's a writer on legal affairs as well as editor in chief of the duran dot com our gentlemen crossed up rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate let's go to london 1st alex we have. normandy format as they're calling it of course this is about the internal divisions and problems of ukraine the media falsely characterizes it russia against the ukraine that's not it at all as a mystification from the media this is an internal ukrainian problem and outside powers are trying to help mediate it what is the normandy format it's called normandy for and where does it come from and what is it trying to achieve go ahead alex. yes is called normandy for because it

embassy in ukraine. the russians are violating all of the rules, treaties, understandings, that they committed to that actually kept the peace in europe for nearly 70 years. that rule, that order that kept the peace in europe and allowed for prosperity, as well as peace in europe, was violated by the russians. it affects the world we live in. our children and grandchildren grow up in. it affects the kind of world we want to see. >> that's ambassador taylor explaining why ukraine was so important and explaining why the president's actions risked hurting our national security, our national defense policy and our national interest. now you've already heard there are significant proof that president trump himself told the new president of the ukraine, president zelensky that he wanted him to investigate a political rival. former vice president joe biden and you'll hear a lot about that today. that proof is only the tip of the iceberg. there are so many more events and meetings and contemporaneous text messag

goldman, with holding aid from ukraine obviously hurts ukraine. it hurts the united states. does it help any country? >> the witnesses said that that would help russia. >> did you also hear testimony that these acts by the president, while being wrong and an abuse of power, also harmed u.s. national security? >> yes. >> did you hear anything about how it would harm our credibility? and i would turn you to a conversation ambassador volker had on september 14 of of this year with a senior ukrainian official where ambassador volker is impressing upon that official that president zelensky should not investigate his own political opponents. what was thrown back in the face of ambassador volker? >> after ambassador volker suggested to mr. yermak again who is here that they should not investigate the prior president of ukraine. mr. yermak said back to him, oh, like you're encouraging us to investigate the bidens and clintons. >> during watergate, the famous phrase from senator howard baker was asked, what did the president know and when did he know it? there is a reason that no one

is russia a lot of people in ukraine are angry about this. it's. my personal take on this but at the end of the day. say shylock remis temporary and occupation is temporary at the end of the crimea go back to ukraine in this case rain would inherit this. huge piece of infrastructure you cannot help it it may be a really a story to tell you're going to got a lot to think about that a lot to comment on as well through this problem victor out of it you had what earlier had to say i mean from the russian perspective this is yet another you might say infrastructure success for the president but in recent weeks in the sort of state of the union the end of year address he did talk about the fact didn t. in his address to the russian people but there were problems with the economy there were problems with corruption and so i wonder how russian people would actually take the opening of this bridge i mean do they do they see it as something they can take pride in or is it just an unnecessary expense. well of course crimea has a long history of both with russ