Fmr. Amb. to Ukraine: Ukraine's Counteroffensive Won't End the War Yet - Amanpour and Company

[Rhiannon12866]

We dig a little deeper into the war in Ukraine and the possibility of peace. Marie Yovanovitch served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine after Moscow invaded Crimea. Removed from the post by President Trump, Yovanovitch later testified in his first impeachment trial about the withholding of U.S. aid from Ukraine. She joins Walter Isaacson to discuss how this war can end and why the West must not repeat the mistakes of Crimea. Originally aired on May 18, 2023.

[KS Toronado]

1. I see this war going on another year

unless there's an anti-Putin push in Russia.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I visited Russia back in the late '80s with my grandmother who joined a local peace group

And there was such hope there at that time, under Gorbachev, who had instituted his policies of perestroika and glasnost, openness and transparency. Not to mention, there were peace groups there who were vehemently anti-war - there were statues everywhere honoring those they lost in WWII which devastated the country, fought on their own land. After what I witnessed back then, I cannot imagine anyone there supporting a return to the repressive policies of the USSR or supporting an unprovoked war.

[KS Toronado]

3. Putler probably has a Russian version of MAGAts

but I suspect they are a very very small minority of brainwashed people.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. As you can imagine, growing up when I did, I thought my grandmother was insane to visit the USSR

I grew up knowing that the Russians wanted to kill us. I agreed to go because it was my Nana, but I was so anxious that I had panic attacks on the plane. And back then Soviet planes weren't allowed to land in this country, so we flew from JFK to Helsinki and then to Moscow from there. This extremely nice Finnish flight attendant who sat with me tried to convince me to stay in Finland.

But I couldn't have been more wrong. The Russian people we met couldn't have been more welcoming, and not just fellow peace groups, but ordinary Russians we met on the street, they were very pleased to meet Americans. Things are likely to have changed under Putin, but knowing how they felt about war - and after their recent devastating losses - I can't imagine anyone but Putin's inner circle supporting this horrific war - and likely not too many of them.