Bronwen Maddox
Good morning, everyone, a very warm welcome to Chatham House. I’m Bronwen Maddox, the Director, and I’m delighted that we have here this morning the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, also Former Commander of Ukrainian’s Armed Forces. We are [audio cuts out – 01:32-01:41] the avoidance of doubt, we are very much on the record and it is being livestreamed. The Ambassador is going to give a short speech first, in English, and then, we will have a short conversation, and I will come to the many questions that I’m sure are going to follow.
Ambassador, welcome to Chatham House.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Okay.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay, sorry.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Pause] Good morning. I am glad to welcome everyone and thanks for inviting me to such a – this wonderful – it’s wonderful – this wonderful place. It’s fourth time for me. It’s a great honour for me not only to be here, but to be here with you very intelligent and fair nosed people.
First of all, traditionally, I start and end my every meeting with my friends and partners with word of graduate for support. I’m thankful that we referred, I am grateful that we can continue to fight. I hope we will continue the fight and get the victory, not only for Ukraine, but for all civilised world. I am talking about the victory out of the black of this century. And so that we understand each other exactly, I ask our interpreter to help in our future conversation.
[Mother tongue – 04:02-25:34] [pause – 25:35-25:47].
Bronwen Maddox
Ambassador General, thank you very much, indeed, for setting out what is on your mind at this point, and we’re very, very grateful to have that. Let me just…
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Yeah.
Bronwen Maddox
Is it okay?
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Yes, thank you, Bronwen, thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Fantastic.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Sorry.
Bronwen Maddox
No, no, our – normally, our technology and our people do not let anyone down, but it can happen. I’m going to ask a few questions and then, I’ll come to the questions that I know are in the hall and indeed, online. Let me start by asking you about the state of the war right now. Ukraine has made, this year, incursion into Kursk territory in Russia, but Russia has been making advances in the Donbas. Where are we now?
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Pause] [mother tongue – 26:51-27:28] how much money spent Mr Putin to war and how much money Ukraine get [mother tongue – 27:42- 32:54].
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm. So, thank you for that. You’ve put in your speech a lot of emphasis on NATO, though you’ve also said that there may be questions about NATO’s capacity. Do you think Ukrainian membership of NATO is likely and could NATO guarantee the security of Ukraine if it chose to do so?
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue – 33:29-35:53].
Bronwen Maddox
That is a very interesting point about how NATO needs to rebuild its capacity itself. Let me ask you a different one, though. We are coming up to the American election and we have candidates who say very different things about NATO and about Ukraine. How concerned are you about the US election and can Ukraine win without the US?
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue – 36:25- 38:58].
Bronwen Maddox
Well, thank you for that. Excuse me. We’re all waiting to see the outcome. I was very interested in the way you defined ‘victory’ at the end of your speech, and you talked about three basic sensations, feeling of our own security, possibilities of development, Ukrainians living in their own houses. I wanted to ask you whether there is any definition of victory for Ukraine that doesn’t mean getting back all the land.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue – 39:42-39:57].
Bronwen Maddox
Well, you know, you didn’t.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue – 39:59-40:40].
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm, thank you. Let’s go to questions more generally.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Yeah.
Bronwen Maddox
I have lots more, but there are going to be lots here and thank you for the ones coming online, as well, but let’s start over here. There’s a hand up right there. Yes, please could you say who you are?
Nina Kuryata
Yeah, thank you. Nina Kuryata, Tortoise Media. I will use my privilege of knowing Ukrainian and speaking to His Excellency in our native language [mother tongue – 41:17-42:00].
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue – 42:01-50:08].
Bronwen Maddox
[Pause] Thanks very much, indeed, for that, and the Santayana saying, obviously, being the one about, “If you don’t remember history, you are doomed to repeat it.” Let’s – there’s all kinds of hands up. Let me go here to the second row. Can you keep questions short, please? I’m trying to get quite a few. Yeah.
John Wilson
Mine’s a very short question. John Wilson, I’m a member of Chatham House and a Journalist. When is Ukraine going to conscript its women to fill the gaps in its armed forces? During the Second World War [audio cuts out – 50:55] conscripted half a million women.
Bronwen Maddox
That is a really interesting question about conscription which we are planning a…
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue].
Bronwen Maddox
…podcast on. Please answer.
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue – 51:04-51:34].
Bronwen Maddox
Okay, at the back on the aisle. I mean, you – yes, you.
Francis Farrell
Ah, yes.
Bronwen Maddox
But could you wait for the microphone, please?
Francis Farrell
Of course.
Bronwen Maddox
Great.
Francis Farrell
Francis Farrell from the Kyiv Independence from Kyiv [mother tongue] Ukrainian Square [mother tongue – 51:52-52:33].
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue].
Francis Farrell
[Mother tongue].
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Mother tongue – 52:43-57:22].
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you for that. On the aisle towards the back, please.
Oleksandr
Good morning, Colonel Oleksandr [inaudible – 57:35], National Guard of Ukraine from Royal College of Defence Studies, and actually, no history of coerce under your command. Your Excellency, my question is, how has your experience as the Commander-of-Chief Armed Forces of Ukraine informed your current role as the Ambassador to the United Kingdom, particularly in securing ongoing British support for military assistance? Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you and the question was, how does your experience as Commander-in-Chief inform your new role as Ambassador to the UK and what, in particular, do you want the UK to do?
HE General (Retd) Valerii Zaluzhnyi
[Pause] [mother tongue – 58:18-62:02].
Bronwen Maddox
With that, we are going to have to stop, I’m so sorry. There are so many hands up here and terrific questions online. We’ve addressed aspects of them, but I’m sorry I couldn’t come head-on to any of the questions online. There are a lot of interesting ones about aid and the – how aid is best used in Ukraine, and that’s something I know our team will pick up. But we’ve kept the discussion very much, given the Ambassador’s background, on the current state of conflict and of international relations. So, with that, thank you for coming. Thank you for your questions. Please join me in thanking Ambassador Zaluzhnyi.
