Ex-US ambassador: Putin rejects Ukraine’s sovereignty

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00:00You're quoted as having said that you didn't think peace in Ukraine was likely by the end of the year,

00:06but you didn't rule out the possibility of a ceasefire.

00:08Do correct me if we're misquoting you.

00:10But if that is correct, has your position changed at all?

00:13No, I still hold by that position.

00:17Let's start with the idea of peace.

00:19Vladimir Putin has made clear that he does not believe Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state

00:25and that it is not a separate national identity.

00:28He believes Ukrainians are actually Russians.

00:30And so with that, there is no compromise.

00:33There's no possibility of peace.

00:35His goal was to eliminate Ukraine as a state and as a national identity.

00:40So I don't think we'll ever have a peace agreement.

00:43That being said, I think it is possible to get a ceasefire.

00:46I think you can convince both Putin and the Ukrainians much easier, but you can convince Putin.

00:53It is too costly to him and to Russia to try to continue this war.

00:57And so he could be compelled, really, to accept a ceasefire.

01:03If that's the case, and I think that could be, then we can all build on that ceasefire to build a more stable, lasting, but very tense standoff.

01:13What would cause Putin to come to that conclusion?

01:16I think the most important thing that he's going to be confronting is the finances of the state of Russia.

01:21They are low on foreign exchange reserves.

01:26They do not have a lot of money coming in from oil and gas sales.

01:30And that may be going down, especially if secondary sanctions are applied.

01:34They do not have a lot of house weapons coming in from oil and gas charges.

01:52They do not go out for a lot of energy there.