Bulwark Takes - Why Russia Is Bombing Ukraine Again — and What Trump Has to Do With It

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Russia launches devastating missile attacks on Ukraine, emboldened by Trump's pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reporter Caolan Robertson reveals the scary reality on the ground, explains why Putin feels rewarded by Trump’s policies, and warns of a dangerous escalation as Trump sides openly with Russia.  Caolan Robertson YouTube

Hey everybody, it's Tim Miller from The Bulwark. I am here with our unofficial quasi-Ukraine correspondent, Kalen Robertson. For folks who saw our last conversation, he is an Irish journalist who has been in Ukraine for quite a while. And he's coming at us today from Odessa. How are you doing? Thanks for doing it again. I'm good, I'm good. Thanks for having me back on again. So a lot was happening last night, which is why I messaged you. I wanted to talk about it. Obviously, on the political side, you know, President Trump is trying to pressure Zelensky into cutting a BS deal with the Russians. Simultaneously to that, Russia engaged in maybe the largest attack of the whole war on Kiev, as well as attacks in other parts of the country.

As I mentioned, you're in Odessa right now. So talk to us a little bit about what happened last night and if that's a kind of accurate summary of the state of play. Yeah, it's accurate. I mean, what happened last night was something I expected because Trump has been basically doing the PR work for the Kremlin since he took office. He's been repeating all of Putin's lines, all of Russia's lines since he set foot into the White House. And he's been doing their work for them. And Russia feels emboldened because of this. You know, Trump has basically, in the last few days, said that Crimea, which is literally just over here, should be given to Russia, reward Russia for stealing it, reward Russia as well for by freezing all of the front

lines right now, and giving Putin everything that he's stolen, not just Crimea, but all of the Donbass area, Kherson, Zaporizhia, and parts of Kharkiv. And the Kremlin feel emboldened. So they thought that they would put massive amounts of ballistic missiles, all fired from the Black Sea Fleet, again, just behind me. They were all fired from this giant sea into major cities all across Ukraine, and multiple people were killed. There was over 100 casualties in Kyiv. And it was terrifying. So many of my friends, my colleagues were hiding in their bathrooms last night. And this is only going to get worse. This is just the beginning, because Russia feels rewarded, not just emboldened, I would say rewarded by the United States, because Trump is basically giving them everything they want. And Trump used to pretend that this was

about money. He used to say, we're not giving any more money to Ukraine. Ukraine is wasting all of our money. And then Ukraine turns around and says, okay, well, we'll give you $50 billion to buy air defense, and then you get your money. And Trump says, nope, I'm not even going to do that. So it's not about money. It's about giving in to Russia. That is specifically what's happening right now. Again, these aren't missiles to be bought to be fired into Russia. These are air defense systems to keep civilians safe in Kiev. And America is refusing to give this country that too. So this isn't surprising last night. And

Russia likes to do things on anniversaries. They did this Easter, they do this at New Year's, they do this at Christmas. And they did it last night because it's a way of laughing and putting a middle finger up at Ukraine to say, now we have the upper hand because we have the United States on our side. That's why they, that great deal in Saudi Arabia that they were working on, there was a naval ceasefire, you know, that involved, I guess, the Black Sea fleet, right? So that's over, like, what is exactly happening as far as, like, the Russian incursion here in the south where you are? Well, it's getting much worse. Kherson, which is a two-hour drive from here,

there are amphibious assaults all the time, every single day that the Russians are attempting to do because the Russians know that at some point the front lines might be frozen if Trump gets his way, if Putin gets his way. And so they're trying to take as much land as possible, as fast as possible. And that means trying to retake the city of Kherson,

the city that was liberated in late 2022, back again. And this is why they're throwing so many men and women at the front to try and capture as much land and steal as much land as possible before the front line might be frozen. So it's a really difficult situation. I was near Hursan yesterday, and I'll be doing some reporting from that region in the next few days. And it's extremely worrying. These are cities filled with civilians where the Russians are practicing their most lethal, deadly, and horrendous weapons on innocent civilian populations. And, you know, Putin talked about this ceasefire over the Easter weekend. And any of the mainstream media that repeated about this ceasefire are basically repeating Kremlin lies, because Russia has broken every single ceasefire they have ever committed to.

Actually, the ceasefire that Putin promised on Saturday to pretend that he's a good Christian, that was broken in 40 minutes, which might be the longest ceasefire Russia has ever had. So congratulations to them for that, for holding on for that long. Yeah, it's crazy. It's that and, you know, back to the Black Sea ceasefire. And that's what this is what like Marco and Steve Witkoff, like this is what they were talking about, right? Like they wanted free passage through the Black Sea. You know, they were going to, you know, stop. And like here they are launching this attack from there. I mean, it really it's a

like, if you took seriously the notion that the Americans actually did want peace, and we're not just doing Putin's bidding, like this would be a total slap in the face to like the people that were negotiating with them. Yeah, completely. But Putin knows that it's working because America, American media, right wing media, MAGA media are repeating every single one of Putin's lies. And literally by writing an article, and there's been so many written and video news pieces saying, Putin promises a ceasefire, Russia finally has a ceasefire. And they're framing it as if all the soldiers are dropping all their weapons and hugging on the battlefield. And this is literally just Kremlin propaganda. I mean, none of it is happening.

Russia launched from the sea into Kherson within an hour of announcing the ceasefire. Cruise missiles that hit apartment buildings and killed civilians did the same in Kharkiv and Sumy on the same day. This is all reported and it's all verified and it just shows that every single time Russia makes its promise, it's a lie. But for the first time, America is now believing and repeating these lies. And that's what's so, so scary at the moment. And that's also why Russia are doing this now, because they can get away with it. And they know that they can lie the next day. And Trump will probably promise and tweet and say, well, Russia made a mistake. This is what Trump said last time Russia made an attack like this. Oh, it was just a mistake. They slipped and accidentally pressed a button that

fired 20 cruise missiles into a city. Oops. You know, this is a mistake we all make every now and then, right? So it's just so, so, so depressing. What is you were talking before you got on, you were just getting a little

juice tea thing there. When you're talking to folks, obviously stores are still open. Lives are still having to go on. What's the mood? Well, it depends where you are in Ukraine. I was near Kherson yesterday, and it was extremely miserable and depressing because people can't leave their houses anymore. In Kiev, all of my friends were hiding

in their bathrooms last night. Here in Odessa, Odessa has been used to bombardment. This city gets hit every single night. It doesn't have the same kind of air defense as Kiev. But there's a beautiful vibe here. I mean, it's stunning. There's always a beautiful sunset. There's a kind of a fairground going on right there at the base,

all powered by generators, because Russia has hit the energy infrastructure in this region and in the Kherson region next to it consistently in the last few weeks. And it just means that people power up the generators and they carry on trying to have a nice time. I mean, people have been walking down the promenade here all evening. And this is kind of like the Blackpool of Ukraine. But people in this city, and I know Odessa because I used to live here,

know what Russia is. They're used to Russian fascism and they just carry on life. I mean, I remember when this city was hit with a massive amount of ballistic missiles when I first moved here, the gym that I was a member of decided to take their spin class, put it outside and have it right here, literally on the beach and blast music and fire water guns at everyone as an FU to Russia to say that they won't be defeated here. And that is the spirit of Odessa. That's what this place is.

It's captivating. It's addictive. It's beautiful. But it's insane because Crimea is just here, and everyone who lived here has been to Crimea at some point before 2014 when it was stolen. And the fact that the place that so many people here spent their childhoods is now the place where missiles are being launched from to kill their relatives is utterly shocking. But it still lives on as just a beautiful place. I mean, it's kind of indescribable. Crimea, as you mentioned, is like

such in the center of this, because this is what what Trump was bleeding about Zelensky, chastising Zelensky for not just saying that we're just going to give Crimea over to Russia. Explain the arguments about the language and are they speaking Russian or Ukrainian? What are the contours of the Crimea dispute? Well, what you're saying is right. It's seen as something that's quite complicated because Russian disinformation has murkied the waters, but it's actually very, very simple. Crimea is Ukraine, and it would be like if Mexico

or if a foreign state took over, say, Florida, right? This is a beautiful part of the United States. Well, we've got some issues with Florida right now. Well, a part of the U.S. Let me pick a different example. Well, okay, somewhere in the U.S. where you spent your childhood, right, where you where you went on summer vacations, and where you enjoyed your family memories, it would be like if a foreign hostile state stole that land without any notice, and then tried to convince the media

that it was always part of that land. I mean, Crimea has always been Ukraine, Russia in 2014, during the chaos of the, during the chaos of the revolution, during the chaos of the revolution of dignity, decided to swoop in and take that land by force. And I have so many friends that live in this country that live in this city as well, that had houses there, apartments there. Crimea is so deeply tied to Ukraine. I mean, everyone has some sort of either childhood memory there, or an apartment or something there. And it was stolen from them. And whenever I ask Ukrainians how it feels to think about Crimea, they say that it feels like someone has reached into my childhood dreams or my dreams and stolen my memories. And

that is what Russia did. And there were a lot of Russian speaking people in Crimea because it was a tourist hotspot for Russians. And what Russians do is they go to a place and they colonize it. This is what Putin's tactic has been. He did this in Georgia. He did this in Moldova. And then tried to claim that just because there's lots of people that speak Russian in that area, it means that it belongs to them. This is what the English said before the Irish rebellion. They said, well, they speak English in Ireland. So actually, Ireland is English. Well, that has nothing to do with the fact that it was always independent.

That's what Crimea is. And also, it's a key part of this. And the fact that Trump is basically agreeing with Putin, that Russia can keep what they stole in Crimea, sends a message not just to Ukraine and Europe, but the whole world. That's if you're a dictator, if you're an autocrat, and you want to steal land by force, you have our approval. You can do whatever you like. And it's a dangerous message put out by the United States and the rest of the democratic world, because it's not democratic to steal land. And those on the left as well, who are against, you know, English imperialism and what

the British Empire did by arbitrarily, you know, drawing up borders in India and Africa and colonizing half of the world should be against this very concept, because this is the 21st century version of what the British did when they tried to colonize those regions. This is happening today, now. It's happening there, today. And it's significant. And Crimea is a significant place. And there are billions of dollars of resources that exist underneath Crimea as well, in natural resources that are being looted by Russia, that belong to Ukraine. And it sends a terrible message. And the fact that Trump is basically saying, yep, you can keep what you've stolen,

tells every other dictator on the planet that they can do whatever they want to. And it sets a terrible precedent. Yeah. Is there anything else happening on the ground that people over here across the world might not be familiar with? Anything else worth sharing I haven't asked you about?

I mean, things are just deteriorating, really. I mean, the Ukrainian spirit still carries on. I made a frontline report three weeks ago in a dugout with a drone unit in Kupyansk, which is in eastern Ukraine, three kilometers from the Russians. And I asked them what they thought about the ceasefire proposal, what Trump was doing. And I just spent two weeks in the Carpathian Mountains. And I've been asking Ukrainians what they think about what is happening right now. And what they basically say is we have fought Russian aggression for centuries. Russian has tried to take this place and colonize this place and other countries around it for centuries. And they're going to keep fighting with or without the United States. And that's basically what's happening now.

Yeah. All right. We've got a lot of moms that watch this YouTube feed. They're going to be worried about you. I know that. So, you know, you're keeping safe over there. You're not, you know, should you be, you're not giving away your location or anything.

The Russians aren't going to be coming for you because people are going to be worried about you. They, the Russians have, yeah. I mean, since I went to Kursk, there's a a i'm on the international wanted list and there's a bounty and things like this but i'm pretty careful and as careful as i can be within the limits of being able to still report on what's going on um but how long is a piece of string it's hard to tell well we appreciate you we appreciate your courage cait Kalen. And you do your best to stay safe. And thank you for keeping us posted.

And unfortunately, I think that there's going to be more bad news ahead that you guys are going to have to keep us informed about. So let's do it again soon. No, me too. Thanks for having me on. All right. Thanks, brother. We'll see you soon.