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The ending of the Cold War

was essentially seen as sort of
a inevitable march of progress.

That Western-style
democracy and capitalism

had achieved some kind
of definitive and permanent victory

over its adversaries.

And that it was only a matter of time

before other countries also joined
in this great wave of democratization

and freedom that was coming along
with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Of course,
it doesn't work out that way,

and the story of the 21st century
ends up in many ways

being the re-emergence
of authoritarian nations

and totalitarian nations

again battling the land
of freedom and democracy.

But we're in a much worse place
than we were in the Cold War.

The Cold War was cold.

This is a unstable, hot war

which could lead to catastrophic outcomes.

Russia is in military staged
nuclear exercises on Wednesday

under the watchful eye
of President Vladimir Putin.

The drills included multiple
practice launches of ballistic missiles

in what Moscow says
was a simulated retaliation

for any nuclear attack on Russia.

I worry about
a cataclysm that comes about

that no one expected, no one wanted,

no one understands how it happened.

That we wake up in the morning
and the world is a peaceful place,

and by that evening,
for any number of contingent reasons,

accidents, miscalculation,
misunderstanding,

suddenly, we're facing the extinction
of billions of people.

And no one will know why it happened.

I first met Putin in Munich
in February 2007,

at the Munich Security Conference.

I'd been Secretary of Defense
for two months.

The setting was kind of interesting
because it was in this big hall.

And Putin was right across
the aisle from me.

And next to him,
was Chancellor Merkel of Germany.

And then next to her
was the president of Ukraine, Yushchenko,

who believed he had been poisoned
at Putin's request.

Putin is the next speaker, and he gets up.

He gives this extraordinary speech

in which he basically blames
the United States

for everything wrong in the world.

First and foremost,
the United States...

has overstepped its national borders
and imposes its policies in all fields.

In economy, in politics,
and in the humanitarian sphere.

Who would like it?

Who would like it?

Putin makes a big thing
about the fact

that NATO enlargement
was always hostile to Russia.

I think it is obvious
that NATO expansion

does not have any relation with
the modernization of the alliance itself

or with ensuring security in Europe.

On the contrary,
it represents a serious provocation

that reduces the level of mutual trust.

NATO has expanded over time.

The first round of NATO enlargement
in the 1990s was Poland and Hungary,

and the Czech Republic.

The second NATO enlargement, in 2004,

would include three countries that were
previously inside the Soviet Union.

Three Baltic States.

We have to ask,
against whom is this expansion intended?

And what happened to the assurances

our Western partners made after
the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact?

Where are those declarations now?

No one even remembers them.

The Munich speech is dark,

and it's really coming
right at Western power.

And for the first time,
that language about feeling threatened,

uh, in a sense,
by the encirclement and all of that.

We should not forget
that the fall of the Berlin Wall

was possible thanks to a historic choice,

one that was also made by our people,
the people of Russia.

A choice in favor of democracy, freedom,

openness, and a sincere partnership

with all the members
of the big European family.

And now they are trying to impose
new dividing lines and walls on us.

He was speaking as a tsar.

As an emperor.

Giving orders to European politicians
telling how to arrange things in Europe.

Putin spends
the entire speech staring right at me.

Like I'm kind of personally responsible
for all this.

Thank you for your attention.

And after he comes down
off the stage,

he's coming back to his seat,

he detours, comes straight to me,

extends his hand to shake hands,
and invites me to visit Russia.

So we'd had this anti-American panegyric,

and then he ends it
by coming over and smiling,

shaking my hand and, you know,
like nothing unusual had happened.

I think we saw it mainly as a rant.

But in retrospect,
it clearly was a harbinger,

because he clearly was articulating

the views of the West that he has put
into practice in the years since 2007.

This set the stage for a growing
authoritarianism in Russia,

as Putin tried to reassemble
authority in Moscow

and bring these countries back
under the influence of Moscow.

And that set the stage long-term
for aggression,

for a much more confrontational Russia.

As it was clear that places
that had been part of the Soviet Union

were now going to lean more West,

a different Putin started to emerge.

In 2008, Georgia and Ukraine
were planning to become members of NATO,

and were negotiating and were very active.

So Vladimir Putin felt
that he was losing them.

They're crucial neighbors
of Russian Federation,

and he knew that if he loses both of them,

then he loses this status
of supervisor and big brother

in a post-Soviet region.

The claim that this process
is not directed against Russia,

is not accepted.

European countries,
particularly Germany and France,

and other big players,
didn't want to have them brought in.

There was an assessment

that if Georgia and Ukraine
were given a membership action plan,

then it was highly likely that Russia
would react with military action.

So what happened at Bucharest

was that there was a last-minute
behind-the-scenes compromise.

Ukraine and Georgia were not offered
a membership action plan,

but they were told that, at some point,
they would get into NATO in the future.

This proved to be the worst of all worlds
because Georgians and Ukrainians

had no guarantees
or protections whatsoever.

Then, within a matter of months,

Russia invaded Georgia
on a flimsy pretext.

Columns of Russian tanks and troops

rolled into the American-backed
former Soviet Republic of Georgia today

after a nighttime barrage
of artillery fire and rockets.

When the army of one country
crosses the border of another,

in international law,

that is an act of aggression
and an act of war.

A few months after the war,

Russia continued to occupy
20% of the Georgian territory.

It still occupies these territories.

Georgia was the first occasion

when Russia used force openly
against a country in Europe

after the Second World War,

and it was given a pass.

Nobody stopped
buying Russian oil and gas

and nobody stopped,
through the oil and gas,

financing the Russian regime
and its police state.

And I think the lesson
that Putin took away from that was,

"I can do whatever I want
in the former Soviet territories,

and they're gonna still
do business with me as usual."

Russia invaded a sovereign country

and essentially got away with it
with a slap on the wrist.

And Putin has made it clear
since that point that, for him,

any kind of encroachment
of the United States, the West, NATO,

into what he sees is the territories
of the old Russian Empire,

the Soviet Union,

is an affront and something
that he's not going to allow to pass.

After Putin served
his first two terms in the presidency,

and in order to get around the ban
at that time

in the Russian constitution
of serving more than that,

he basically gave the role
to a placeholder,

to his longtime advisor
and confidant Dmitry Medvedev.

Dmitry Medvedev
is a little-known politician,

but supported by Vladimir Putin,

he's coasted to victory
in Russia's presidential election.

And so Medvedev
became the president of Russia.

Putin took the title prime minister.

The main thing
for the development of our country,

is continuing calm and stable development.

Something our country has been
deprived of during the 20th century.

When President Obama got into office,

he tried to engineer a reset of relations

between the United States and Russia.

Today in Geneva,
a meeting between Hillary Clinton

and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov,
their first big get-together.

She presented him a gift
which was supposed to be a reset button.

...represents what President Obama

and Vice President Biden and I
have been saying,

and that is,
we want to reset our relationship.

And so we will do it together.

Medvedev was charmed by Obama.

He wanted to be
the Russian Obama so badly.

He decided that his image should be more
pro-Western, more liberal than Putin's.

Medvedev presents
as a pro-Western liberal,

promising to cut taxes and red tape,

tackle corruption,

and reduce state involvement
in big business.

Barack Obama and his advisors
decided to invest in Medvedev.

Perhaps he really was
the more Western-oriented guy

they'd been looking for all along,

or maybe they thought he'd be
a better partner than Vladimir Putin.

Indeed, I firmly believe

that America's most significant
national security interests and priorities

could be advanced most effectively
through cooperation,

uh, not an adversarial relationship
with Russia.

Medvedev allowed
civil society to organize.

Alexei Navalny, his anti-corruption group
forms during this period.

Everyone should do
some simple things.

Show up and vote on election day,
send an SMS to your friends.

We started working with Navalny in 2010.

Many people were talking about corruption
at that time in Russia,

but, uh, he was probably the only one
who was doing something about it.

Now I will unite a group of people,

and we will file a complaint
with the prosecutor's office

and do everything we can to put a man
who stole a billion in prison.

In 2010,
I started working as an editor-in-chief

of Russia's only independent news
TV channel, called Dozhd.

Usually it's called in English "TV Rain."

I am especially pleased,
as a fan of new technologies,

with what you have here.

Medvedev was not the patron of TV Rain,

but he created the atmosphere
when it was possible.

We were investigating
the corruption cases.

Vladimir Melov,
Boris Nemtsov, and Vladimir Ryzhkov

filed a lawsuit against Vladimir Putin
for one million rubles...

People start believing
that Putin is a crook

and his gang is robbing the whole country.

Putin is not a nationalist or a patriot.

He's a simple financial criminal.

Most major Western banks
probably have some of that money.

Many buildings and villas and mansions
in the best locations in the world

are owned by Russians.

And this is most likely all illicit money.

Money that should have been
for the Russian people.

For their healthcare, for their education.

Instead, is in all these Western assets.

It has nothing to do with NATO
or some grand vision of Russian Empire.

It has to do with him understanding that
there's no way you can, in perpetuity,

steal this kind of money and not have
the people rise up against you.

2011 was a very interesting year
in Russian history

because that was the moment
when lots of people thought

that finally, the moment is coming
to get rid of Putin.

Medvedev was the president,
and lots of people's like,

"Well, we need a new generation."

And everybody immediately
took it as a sign

that maybe he's really getting serious

about his ambitions
as a new Russian leader.

And that made Putin so angry.

Putin still had some popularity,

and he immediately made it very clear
what he wanted to do.

In September 2011,

Putin and Medvedev
go to a party conference in Moscow.

Side by side,
Russia's most powerful men

entered the United Russia Congress
to a rock star's welcome.

Then, from the Russian president,

an end to months,
if not years, of speculation.

I believe it will be correct
if this Congress supports the candidacy

of the party chairman, Vladimir Putin,
for the post of president of the country.

They announced, "No, actually,
Putin will be coming back to power."

If Putin wins
next March's election,

he has a shot at ruling Russia
for 12 more years,

longer than any leader
since Joseph Stalin's 30-year tenure

as head of the Soviet Union's
Communist Party, ending in 1953.

It becomes clear to people

that this really means that Putin
will be the leader for life.

And in Moscow and St. Petersburg,

the more liberal,
wealthy parts of the country,

young people take to the streets.

Enormous protests
break out all across Russia.

Russia without Putin!
Russia without Putin!

The atmosphere here
on Chistoprudny Boulevard is jubilant.

Everyone is making noise,
they are chanting.

I can confirm
there really are a lot of people here.

Russia without Putin!
Russia without Putin!

Russia without Putin!
Russia without Putin!

Russia without Putin!

We had 100,000 people
in Moscow chanting,

"Russia without Putin,"
and, "Putin is a thief."

I think Putin was shocked by this.

It was a real blow to him.

What does Putin see there?

He sees the CIA.

And he blames President Obama.

He blamed Secretary Clinton.

And when I show up as ambassador
just a few weeks later,

he blames me
for fomenting revolution against him.

President Medvedev
called President Obama about it.

I was on the call, and he said,
"What are you guys doing?"

"Are you trying to foment protest
against our government?"

He's the kind of guy that used to do
these kinds of things in other countries.

Vladimir Putin!

Putin tonight declared victory
in Russia's presidential elections,

the third time the former KGB man
has held the Kremlin's top job.

Three of the four
other presidential candidates

were tired faces Putin had beaten before,

and the other was widely rumored

to be a Kremlin plant
to split the opposition vote.

Thank you to everybody
who said "yes" to a great Russia.

When he had
his big day in the Kremlin,

Putin sent anti-riot police to attack.

Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!

He wanted to show people

that he would not tolerate
any more protests.

Those protests
were brutally suppressed.

And from then on,
the government grew much more oppressive.

A court in Moscow
has jailed seven out of eight protesters

accused of rioting and attacking police
in a May 2012 demonstration

against President Vladimir Putin.

Putin felt that there is a danger,

and he could be toppled
by that pro-democracy crowd,

and that was the reason for him
to look for another audience.

And the only alternative
to that Democratic ideology

is the Imperial ideology,

and the possibility to bring
Russian Empire back.

He needs Russian hardliners to support him

because those people have nostalgia
for the Soviet Union.

And that was the moment
when he started Imperial propaganda.

You and I today, at this moment,

we are indeed
the defenders of our fatherland.

We remember the wonder,
heroes and warriors,

before they went
to fight the Battle of Moscow,

who swore their allegiance
to the fatherland,

and they dreamed of dying for it.

The battle for Russia continues.

Victory will be ours!

Thank you.

Putin has his own view
of what Russia is.

It's shared by his belief
that certain people are Russians.

Including Ukrainians.

A Ukraine that was controlled
by Russia like a puppet,

that would have been okay.

But an independent Ukraine, no.

And one that was leaning West, no.

Ukraine is a real democracy.

It's raucous.

It's flawed, like all democracies.

It was always an alternation
of pro-Russian leader, pro-Western leader.

President Putin tried to get
Viktor Yanukovych elected in 2004.

Viktor Yushchenko won,
scarred as he was.

Poisoned by dioxin, almost died.

But there was still a portion
of the Ukrainian population

that was still in favor of Yanukovych,

and he continued
to be a political candidate.

Viktor Yanukovych!

He became president in 2010.

Yanukovych! Yanukovych!

Our priorities
will include integration into the EU,

and cultivating friendly and constructive
relations with the Russian Federation.

And President Putin
supported Viktor Yanukovych.

By 2013,

the economic situation
in Ukraine was really bad.

Viktor Yanukovych
had been promising his people for months

that he was going to sign a trade
agreement with the European Union

that was going to improve
Ukraine's economic prospects.

It was a huge deal
for everybody here

because that meant
that Ukraine was committing

to be on the track
to join the EU at some point.

President Putin bribed
President Yanukovych $15 billion

and the promise of low gas prices,

if President Yanukovych would give up
this attempt to join the European Union.

Despite last-minute attempts
to get him to change his mind,

Ukraine's president Viktor Yanukovych
refused to sign up to the free trade deal.

Yanukovych backed out of it
at the 11th hour.

And understandably,
this made a lot of people angry.

So some students came out
onto the Maidan to protest.

Probably would have ended there,

except Yanukovych decided
to take a heavy-handed approach.

Sent the riot police down there
to beat these young students up.

And it had the opposite effect
of what Yanukovych had hoped for.

It caused the protests to double in size,
and then to double in size again.

Yanukovych pulled out all the stops

and set the stage
for a violent confrontation.

The protesters
had armed themselves

with sticks and shields and helmets
and Molotov cocktails.

And the riot police...

...suddenly started using live ammunition.

Snipers and police
started opening fire

into the crowds
and killing protesters where they stood.

Both sides are taking casualties.

And through
incredible bravery of the protesters

who were seeing their comrades
falling to the ground, lifeless,

they managed to push forward anyway
and overpower the police,

despite the fact that they didn't have
any firearms of their own.

I think it was at this stage

that Yanukovych realized
that his days were numbered in Ukraine.

He gathered up all his ill-gotten wealth
and fled to Russia.

Putin fundamentally
doesn't believe in democracy,

and that people
would protest for democracy.

He thinks people are cynical,
self-interested,

can always be bought off with money.
That's his view of us too, by the way.

And so when he sees
these mass demonstrations in Ukraine,

or against him...

...he believes that there's got to be
some covert operation behind that.

And remember,
he himself was a KGB officer.

When I was a US ambassador,

I used to face questions about the CIA
fomenting, you know,

regime change around the world.

And I would say, very openly,
"Has the CIA been involved in coups?"

The answer to that is yes, of course.

In 1953, in Iran against Mosaddegh.

There are lots of examples of that.

To the best of my knowledge,

the CIA was not doing that
in Ukraine in 2004,

or Russia in 2011.

Or in Ukraine in 2013 and '14.

But things became very tense
because the Russian government believed

that we had just overthrown
Putin's guy in Kyiv, Viktor Yanukovych,

who's now in Russia.

And we said we didn't control that,
that we were not plotting a coup,

but that is not the way
that Vladimir Putin perceived it.

I mean, he just can't believe
that this isn't some sinister plot.

I remember very vividly saying,

"There's going to be a response
from Moscow."

And sure enough, days later,
that's when he invaded Crimea.

The Crimean Peninsula
was long a favorite vacation spot

for the Soviet and the Russian elite.

It had been made part
of the Russian Empire

back in the 18th century.

Putin has reminded us of this
over and over again.

It also was a strategic location
in a modern-day sense

because there's this huge
Russian navy base there.

Vladimir Putin really wants
Ukraine back as part of,

you know, the glory days
of the Soviet Union.

But he very specifically
also wants Crimea.

In February 2014,

Ukraine was in disarray,
as you can imagine.

There was an interim president,

and there were reports of paramilitaries

without any country's insignia
taking over infrastructure,

administration buildings,
and military bases in Crimea,

where the Russian Black Sea Fleet
were headquartered.

It was very murky.
Nobody knew what was happening.

But the reporters on the ground
started to realize

that these were Russians
who had been sent in

to take control
of the territory for Russia.

Three airports,
two of them used by the military,

are said to be closed and possibly
under the control of Russian forces.

What we appear to be seeing
is the sort of beginnings

of a separatist rebellion
that is being fueled and facilitated

by the Russian government.

At the time, Russia was trying
to pretend that it wasn't involved

and that this was kind of
a people power movement in Crimea.

But a lot of the protests
were actually staged

by Russia and the Russian military,

and a lot of Russians were bussed in
to participate in those protests.

I address the people of Ukraine.

I would sincerely like you
to understand us.

By no means do we want to do you harm
or offend your sense of nationality.

But instead,
he annexed Crimea and made it

a constituent territory of Russia.

And then, shortly thereafter,

we saw town after town
falling to people who declared themselves

to be pro-Russia separatists
in the Eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.

Panic at Donetsk regional TV station.

Journalists flee to safety,
police take up positions

and repel an attack
by unidentified gunmen.

Given its continued
provocations in Ukraine,

today I have approved
a new set of sanctions

on some of Russia's largest companies
and financial institutions.

The US and other countries
issue some sanctions,

but there's very little
international outrage.

They didn't punish Putin.
They didn't isolate Putin.

They didn't stop
buying Putin's oil and gas.

Once again, we see Putin realizing
that if he's willing to fight,

then he can essentially
get away with what he wants,

and nobody's going to try to stop him.

After the annexation of Crimea,

the military became
much more active in cyber.

Top Russian general
Valery Gerasimov,

who has President Vladimir Putin's ear,

called for a new kind of warfare.

For many years,
Putin paid no attention to the Internet.

He was mostly obsessed with television.

He believed that television was a thing
which might get him control

of the Russian population.

By 2014, the time of the annexation
of Crimea, that changed.

Putin believes
that dividing the West,

both between countries and within them,

serves Russia's national interests.

If we're fighting amongst ourselves,
we're not fighting against him.

The modern Russian state

has learned how to use,
in particular, social media,

in order to create false narratives

and to make them spread
through Western countries,

and they do it in many languages
and in many countries.

Whatever seems divisive,

whatever seems likely
to cause social tension,

they promote that.

In Germany, they promote the far right.

In some countries,
they promoted the far left.

In the United States, they also promote
the far right and of course,

they promoted famously
the campaign of Donald Trump.

This idea to interfere
and to hack the US electoral process

took shape in the immediate aftermath
of the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Russia is a regional power

that is threatening
some of its immediate neighbors...

not out of strength, but out of weakness.

Obama referring to Putin
and to Russia of being a regional power,

and Russia being very weak,

Putin takes all of this onboard.

In a way, it kind of incites him.

It, you know, revs him up.

He feels that he's not just being
disrespected personally,

but Russia has been.

And he wants to teach
President Obama in particular,

but also then Hillary Clinton,
his Secretary of State

and the United States writ large,

he wants to give everyone... a lesson.

Putin had a particular animus
toward Hillary Clinton

that went back even before then
when she was a US Secretary of State.

He said that somehow she had orchestrated

huge protests in the streets
all across Russian cities.

So, even before Donald Trump
got into the race,

he had this rage toward the United States.

And then here comes
this Republican candidate,

who actually is a years-long
open admirer of Vladimir Putin.

If he says great things about me,
I'll say great things about him.

I've already said
he is really very much of a leader.

You can say,
"Isn't that a terrible thing?"

The man has very strong control
over a country.

It's a very different system,
and I don't happen to like the system,

but certainly in that system,

he's been a leader
far more than our president.

We have a divided country...

Through Facebook groups,

through Twitter and other popular
modes of expression of the modern era,

Putin, his intelligence service
and their willing minions, the trolls,

put out literally
tens of millions of falsehoods.

And engaged roughly a third
of the American citizenry.

The technological shift to
the world getting its information online

has made a huge difference in the ability
of disinformation to have an impact

on people's lives and on the way
they think about their governments

and government policies.

Information not only spreads more rapidly,

it spreads more credibly.

It often is forwarded to you
from a friend or a family member.

Washington says
there's mounting evidence

that Russia is supplying Wikileaks

with hacked emails
from the Clinton campaign.

We have never,
in the history of our country,

been in a situation where an adversary,
a foreign power,

is working so hard to influence
the outcome of the election.

The goal isn't always
even to get the subjects

of this kind of propaganda
to believe the misinformation,

but just to question the integrity
of their own political system.

Why do I have to get involved with Putin?

Nothing to do with Putin.
I've never spoken to him.

I don't know anything about him
other than he will respect me.

Russia, if you're listening,

I hope you're able to find
the 30,000 emails that are missing.

Does it even matter

who hacked this data from Mrs. Clinton's
election campaign office?

Is that important?

The important thing is the content,
uh, that was presented to the public.

In 2016,

the kind of political influence operation
that the Russians had launched

wasn't that different from what
they'd done during the Cold War,

but they'd succeeded beyond their
wildest dreams because of social media,

and because of our own
political polarization,

and they were pitting Americans
against each other.

You wanna talk about that?
Get the fuck back! Get the fuck back!

Donald Trump wins the presidency.

The business tycoon, a TV personality,

capping his improbable political journey

with an astounding upset victory.

Donald J. Trump
will become the 45th president...

There was no evidence

that the Russians had actually affected
the outcome of the election

in terms of affecting votes,

but they'd certainly affected
domestic politics and public opinion.

People had lost faith in the sanctity
and security of our elections

as a result of what the Russians had done.

They would prefer
that the West disintegrate by itself

so that they don't have
to fight it militarily.

It's all because they continue
to see the West and Western democracy

as their most important ideological enemy.

Putin doesn't hide his views.

He said multiple times
that liberal democracy is over,

that he intends to challenge it,
that he intends to undermine it.

Ukraine has become a kind of hinge.

Ukraine is the country where the contest
between Western liberal democracy

and Russian-style autocracy
are coming to a real military clash.

In 2019, the Ukrainians
elected President Zelenskyy.

He was this new guy in town
who was basically using Instagram,

Telegram, and so on
to speak, uh, to the audience.

I swung at our elites
and the President of Ukraine.

After that, I was declared a clown.

I am a clown. I am very proud,
but I am sure that I am not the only one.

He was a TV actor.
You know, he was a comedian.

The president's office
receives congratulations around the world.

This is some kind of,
you know, weird joke.

I feel like it's a practical joke.

Good evening, friends.

President Zelenskyy
had campaigned on a platform

of ending the war with Russia

that had been going on
for five years then, from 2014 to 2019.

Zelenskyy thought that he could
sit down with President Putin

and just work things out.

We have tried everything
so that we could, through dialogue,

without casualties,
end the occupation which started in 2014,

liberate the occupied territories,
and stop them from invading.

But they had already made their decision.

In the spring of 2021,

the US begins to be concerned
about military movements by Russia

along the Ukrainian border.

After months
of simmering conflict,

thousands of Russian troops
have massed on the border of Ukraine.

It is the largest buildup of troops since
Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The US military,
by the end of 2021,

realizes that Vladimir Putin
really does plan to invade Ukraine.

The Biden Administration
takes this really novel approach

of downgrading
and declassifying intelligence

and putting it out there
almost in real time,

something the US has never done before.

The US pretty clearly knew
more about the Russian invasion plans

than even many Russian commanders did.

We made huge efforts
to prevent President Putin

from implementing his plans
of invading Ukraine.

The Russia and North Atlantic
Treaty Organization Council

ended the meeting in Brussels
that lasted for four hours.

We had a very serious
and direct exchange

on the situation in and around Ukraine

and implications for European security.

What were
Russia's demands at that point?

They wanted NATO
to make it absolutely clear

that no new countries
could be members of, uh, NATO,

meaning of course that Ukraine
cannot be a member of NATO,

but neither could Finland or Sweden.

They wanted NATO to withdraw its troops,

forces from all NATO allies
that have joined after 1997.

We didn't agree with Russian demands.

We visited Ukraine
on February 23rd

together with Polish president
Andrzej Duda.

Until the last minute,
we believed that maybe somehow,

that peace will be preserved.

But it didn't happen.

One piece
of information was clear by now. In brief...

they would come.

What seemed unthinkable
in the 21st century is now underway.

A democratic country has been invaded
by its nuclear-armed neighbor

on multiple fronts.

February 24th,

in the very early hours,
I start hearing explosions in the sky.

I've never, of course, before heard
the sound of incoming missiles,

and that was really,
uh, scary and strange.

And for all I knew, that was it.
Like, I was gonna be killed.

And then,
the air raid alerts start.

It was obvious immediately
that Kyiv was target number one.

I am president,
but a part of me is also a father.

And that's why on that night,
or rather in the small hours,

I asked my wife to tell the children

very quickly, it was the war.

She had to get them up, get things ready.

I had a minute
or two-minute talk with her.

I told her to tell them
the truth of what's happening,

that they would have to get ready fast.

Because of the risks,
we were in a state residence.

Columns
of Russian tanks and armored vehicles

reported to be pouring across
the Ukrainian border tonight.

Swarms of helicopters
flying in low over the countryside,

creating panic and terror
for the people living there.

Europe hasn't seen an invasion
of this size since World War II.

US military sources say they believe
the Russians are driving on Kyiv

to surround and "decapitate"
the government there.

President Zelenskyy,
the Ukrainian president,

had been strongly advised
by the White House

to leave Kyiv for his own safety.

There was real concern
in the US government

and Western intelligence services

that the Russians would try
to come after and assassinate Zelenskyy.

We already had
official documentation

of a threat on the president's life.

I happened to be
the president at that moment,

and I would simply
have to fulfill my duties.

This was not the first time in history

that we were at risk
of losing our statehood.

And I understood that this was it.
The moment has come.

This was the war for independence,
the war for Ukraine.

Instead of fleeing or evacuating,

he surprised everyone,
probably including the Russians,

by becoming this incredible inspiration
to rally his country.

Good evening, everyone.
The leader of the party is here.

The head of the presidential cabinet
is here.

Prime Minister Shmyhal is here.

Chief Advisor Podolyak is here.

The president is here.

We are all here.

Our soldiers are here.

The citizens are here, and we are here.

We are defending
the independence of our state.

We will not stop.

Glory to Ukraine!

Glory to the heroes!

- Glory to the nation!
- Death to the enemies!

We all came together.
Our people came together.

We started fighting back.

The first two days
have not gone as well

as the Russians expected.

Northwest of Kyiv,
this bridge reportedly destroyed

to slow Russia's advance from the north.

They dreamed
of taking Kyiv in three days.

But their plans were thwarted,
because we were ready for them.

This was supposed
to be just another town

on the way to the capital, Kyiv.

Instead, their armored columns
were incinerated from the sky.

The biggest surprise was just
how poorly the Russian military fought.

Supply lines are cut off,
equipment is breaking down,

and soldiers are reportedly going hungry.

Some soldiers have resorted
to looting from grocery stores.

They were running out of supplies.

You saw Russian forces basically
abandoning tanks when they ran out of gas.

Are you guys broken down?

Out of fuel.

Russia thought
it would capture most of Ukraine intact.

It became clear
that that was not going to happen,

and they began to shift their tactics.

You saw this incredible
brutality come out.

New Russian attacks
on civilians tonight,

just one day after those missiles
struck a central city,

killing at least 23 people,
including three children.

The town of Borodyanka

has been hollowed out
by Russian missiles and artillery.

There have been
dozens of such cases in peaceful cities.

Entire cities were erased.

We know of thousands of people
killed and tortured

with severed limbs, raped women,
murdered children.

This is more than just...

This is definitely genocide.

What is the root of all this barbarity?

He feels no pity towards people

or to anything living.

Because he views all this as whether it is
of political advantage for him or not.

Yeah, this is the place.

What happened here?

This place was where they executed,
you know, local men.

Actual or potential resistance fighters.

Yeah.

Pictures released
by the Ukrainian military

show what appears to be a torture chamber

in another basement where people
were handcuffed and shot

while on their knees.

It's like it's something that...

...Nazi death squads
would do in the movies.

But it's happening to our time, to here.

To our place.

It's... That was the year 2022, you know.

We were supposed to be flying to Mars,

not seeing them
executing people Nazi-style.

This is how, you know, the world works.

The brutal world works.

Yeah.

It will be all right.

It will be all right.

God has already saved you. You're here.

Your husband and your child will come now.

They were shooting...

I'm very scared.

I've never been so scared in my life.

You'll be treated. God will help you.

Don't be afraid.

That's our artillery.

They defend us. It's not an attack.

- Don't be afraid.
- They bombed my house.

They fired... killed my cat.

They almost killed my daughter.

May God protect you.
It will be fine. Don't be afraid.

I will pray for you.

The Ukrainian national anthem

famously starts with the words

that can be translated as,
"Ukraine is not dead yet."

You can't think of a better anthem
to fit the moment.

We are not dead yet,
and we will keep fighting.

Putin and his lieutenants
explicitly, since the invasion of Ukraine,

have repeatedly threatened
nuclear weapons use.

Anyone who tries to stand in our way,

or threatens our country
or our people, should know

that Russia will respond immediately,

and the consequences will be such,

as you have never seen
in your entire history.

This is
a concern we have to take serious.

President Putin's
nuclear rhetoric is reckless.

It's dangerous.

A nuclear war cannot be won
and must never be fought,

and this is a message
that we have conveyed clearly to Russia.

President Putin
made a big strategic mistake

when he invaded Ukraine.

He totally underestimated the strength,

the courage, the determination
of the Ukrainian people,

the Ukrainian armed forces,

and also the Ukrainian
political leadership.

And he underestimated the strength
of NATO and NATO allies.

The unity, our commitment
to support Ukraine.

We just learned
the US and G7 allies

agreed to send
F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Germany has finally agreed to allow
Leopard 2 tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

Today, the department is announcing
approximately $400 million

in additional security assistance
for Ukraine.

Estonia has been
one of the largest supporters of Ukraine.

Last week, we achieved 1% of lethal aid,

that amounts for 400 million US dollars
in Estonian terms.

We are a small country.

We can only give military aid
as much as we can give.

Prime Minister
of the Republic of Estonia.

But when Ukrainians decided
that they're gonna defend their country,

we have to do everything, uh, for them
to let them defend their home.

We saw the history repeating itself.

The same playbook
that we saw during our occupation.

The same sufferings
that our people went through,

our grandmothers, our grandfathers.

We saw the same happening in Ukraine.

President Putin invaded
Ukraine because he wanted less NATO.

He's getting more NATO.

NATO is increasing
its rapid response force

more than sevenfold,

and bolstering
troop numbers in the Baltics.

He's also getting more NATO members.

The situation in Ukraine reminds us
of the darkest days of European history.

Yesterday, Sweden and Finland submitted
our formal requests to join NATO.

Ukrainians need a lot of support.

They're fighting for the future of Europe
and for the future of the world,

because at stake are the foundations
of democracy, of freedom.

Ukrainians today are prepared
to die for those values.

I think
the Cold War is not over.

There are still the mentality
of some authoritarian leaders

that they can bring the happiness
to neighboring countries

by occupying them

and stealing the natural right,

sovereign right of every country
to decide what to do.

Right now, all sides are so locked in,

I don't think there is going to be
a good outcome for anybody.

And looking at this in very
black-and-white simple terms,

we forget, really,
some of the essential things.

We like to say we want
a rules-based, uh, international society.

And yes, we should have one.

But we're not going to get one
if the United States sets examples

in violating these rules,
which we have done.

Of course, it was a huge error for Putin
to invade Ukraine to begin with.

But I think we shouldn't forget
we gave him a precedent.

After all, George W. Bush invaded Iraq.

Which was not a neighboring country
which possibly threatened us.

And we did it
lying about having weapons there.

What Putin has done is a war crime.

But I think we have to recognize

that our country
has not been free of war crimes.

And we've not yet had a president
who would correctly, I think,

admit it and deal with it.

Isolationism is not an option
for the United States.

It never was, and it certainly isn't today
with our economy as integrated

into the rest of the world as it is.

The United States, I think,

has to continue to exercise
global leadership,

but we don't have to be
the world's policemen.

Because of the overuse of the military
since the end of the Cold War,

most Americans conflate global leadership

with being willing to send
our sons and daughters

everywhere in the world
to solve other people's problems

or to impose democracy.

The Cold War
was the crucible that shaped America.

It shaped the American military,

which spent trillions of dollars
on weapons to fight World War III

against the Soviets.

It shaped American diplomacy.

It shaped American intelligence.

It shaped American popular culture.

What a country!

♪ I've been looking for freedom... ♪

And it shaped the collective
consciousness of the American people.

And its effects will linger
as long as there is a person

who remembers what happened

and why.

The Cold War inevitably left
a very deep legacy of suspicion

and indeed hostility
in the generations that fought it.

Russia is a diminished place.

And now it's gonna become
more and more isolated,

poorer, more resentful, more xenophobic.

It's not re-establishing
Russian greatness.

It's an immense humiliation.

Putin set out
to do something which never can succeed.

You cannot restore the past.
You cannot restore the empire.

The question is, how many lives he takes,

and his system takes with it.

Empires
don't just collapse in a day.

Empires take a while to collapse.

It's messy, there's a lot of violence
around where the borders are going to end.

So I think what we're seeing
is still that story playing out.

But what we are now
going to have again is,

we are going to have this nuclear standoff
between Moscow and Washington,

which basically threatens
civilization as we know it.

How do we stand up to what Putin is doing
and defend our values,

despite the risk of losing it all
through nuclear catastrophe?

That is an immense challenge.

Fortunately, we have the history
of the Cold War to help us, to guide us.

Because we're gonna need what we
learned during the Cold War again.

So we need to find a way,

even in full consciousness
of the risk of nuclear escalation,

to stand up for our values,

stand up for what is right
in the face of evil.

One of the long-term
historic lessons for me

is that man aspires to personal freedom

and to a life that allows dreams.

The collapse of the wall.

We did not think about it on
the 9th of October, but we dreamt of it.

And dreaming is always good.

Dreaming of unreachable goals.
I still do it today.

I did not know
what would happen to me, and I was afraid.

But then I also felt safe together
with all the other people.

The main thing we should understand

is that the secret to freedom is courage.

We have to be courageous.

And this is what they fear most.

They want to threaten everyone
and implement their interests.

And we have to be unafraid of them,

and we have to fight back.

In '83,
the deployment of nuclear missiles

on both sides
was a very dangerous situation.

Nevertheless,
we met to talk to one another,

and we overcame the situation.

The world, in many ways,

faces a much more fraught
nuclear landscape today

than it has at any time since the 1980s.

The United States
spent about $10 trillion

on its nuclear forces

since nuclear weapons
were developed in 1945.

The United States is planning to spend
another trillion over the next 30 years

to modernize and replace
the existing arsenal that it has today,

but without ever taking the time to say,

"Let's actually think about
what part of this do we need."

Is a nuclear war low probability?
Sure, but...

If we keep the weapons around,
we're gonna have one.

When I was younger
and the Cold War was still in full swing,

I accepted the orthodoxy
that we needed a strong nuclear deterrent

to keep the peace with the Soviet Union.

But once the Cold War was over,

I came to the conclusion
that we have to get rid of them,

and we really have to forswear
ever using them.

We've lost a sense of the horror

of thermonuclear weapons,
and atomic weapons,

of the sense of the scale
of their destruction.

Silent prayer.

I went to Hiroshima and Nagasaki

to commemorate the 70th anniversary
of the detonations in those two cities.

The names of 4,978 people

have been added to the register
of atomic bomb victims.

Together, with those who have passed
prior to this year,

the total number of victims
is 333,907 people.

The Japanese
commemorate them every single year

with the remaining survivors,
who are now very few, present.

May I have your attention, please?

We will now hold the ceremony...

For me,
it was an emotional experience.

It's a very solemn occasion.

There are still so many questions.

Why, why, why was this done?

The tragedy of that day,
77 years ago,

must never be repeated.

Now is the time when the threat
of nuclear weapons,

and even the use of nuclear weapons,
has become a real problem,

when the momentum for a world without
nuclear weapons is said to be receding,

and it is precisely at this time
that I, with the power of Hiroshima,

appeal loudly to the people of the world,

that the horrors of the use
of nuclear weapons must not be repeated.

Ridding ourselves
of nuclear weapons

is an absolute necessity for the world

to achieve everlasting peace.

I want to ask,
how did we let things get this bad?

How do we find ourselves in such a bind?

Who allowed this to happen?

If you use them,
or if a nuclear war breaks out,

it could lead to the extinction
of the human race, right?

You must have someone
that you love at least a little bit?

How would you feel if those people
had to face a nuclear weapon?

This bomb go off,
you just don't destroy and kill people,

you destroy the city and culture.

It's something
that should have never happened,

and I hope to God
that it never happens again.