The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Amb. Sergiy Kyslytsya - The Global Impacts of Putin’s War in Ukraine

Episode Date: June 6, 2022

 “It’s not just about Ukraine. It’s about the entire collective democratic community of nations.” Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya discusses why supporting Ukraine to a victory over Putin is vital for the security of the globe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Please welcome, Ambassador Sergei Kiseltzia. Ambassador, Welcome. Welcome. Ambassador, welcome to the Daily Show. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. You have a really interesting position and a difficult undertaking right now because you are representing Ukraine at the UN and Ukraine is in one of the most precarious positions right now. Before we get into where we are, let's maybe clear up the beginning.

How did this start and what is the cause of what we're seeing in Ukraine? Well, do you want a long story or you want a short version? I guess we're on TV. So the short one is like 300, 300 years. But the long, the short one is Putin came to power and he probably promised himself that he would restore the Soviet Empire and ever since we are in the state of war and now we are in the state of hot war. I mean, actually the war started not on the 24th of February, it started back in 2014.

And you're in a position now where, as you said, I like that you call it a hot war because it's a war that people can see very clearly. There are many people who are being killed, there are tanks rolling in. It's a different type of war, though, because everybody agrees that Ukraine is in the right. Everybody agrees that Russia is doing something wrong, and yet because of Russia being Russia, it seems like the United Nations and many other countries are scared to overact for fear of causing a world war. How do you then ask for help and what do you hope will be achieved if countries have to balance this precarious position? Well I think that as a matter of fact, for me, we are already in the third world war, which

may be kind of crazy to say, but the 21st century is not the 20th century where we have the wars with tanks crossing the 21st century is not the 20th century where we had the standard wars with tanks crossing the borders. We are in a hybrid world and you don't really need to cross the border to attack the United States. You can do that in the cyberspace, you know, or you can do like a terrorism or financial terrorism. So basically, we are there in the United Nations. And the United Nations is a product of three thaaaa, tha, tha, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the thi, thi, thi, their, thi, thi, is a thi, their, their, is a the United Nations is a product of three old gentlemen

among which were Joseph Stalin, so it's not perfect. And we still, in the hundreds of days of the war, we still have Russia sitting in front of us and we still pretend that we have to respect it. And the only reason we respect Russian Federation is because I do not respect, but they have to respect. That's a very important correction. Because they possess the nuclear arsenal and they are really paranoid that Russia may use nukes against them.

So is your argument then that Russia shouldn't be sitting as one of those permanent members of the UN? Oh, first of all, Russia is not a permanent member, if you ask me. I mean, Russia occupied the seat of the Soviet Union back in 1991. The same way Russia occupied the Russia occupied Georgia, the same way Russia occupied Transnistria in Moldova, the same way Russia invaded Syria. So Russia occupies, occupies, and we are all complacent with that. I mean, we were complacent with that until the night of the 23rd. And all of a sudden, we sudden sudden sudden sudden sudden sudden sudden sudden sudden, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we were th, we were th, we were the th, we were th, we were the the the the the th, we were the the th, th, th, th, the the the the the the the the the the sea the sea the sea, the sea, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th, th, th, thea, theeeeeeeeeea, theeaugheateateateateateateateateateateateateateateat, the seat, the the the the the the the the the that. I mean, we were complacent with that until the night of the 23rd. And all of a sudden, we were surprised that it happened, I mean, which was imminent for 30 years. But do you think that maybe this has been, you know, everything in hindsight is 2020. You know, and I've read, you know, some historians who would argue that, you know,

they could have been a way for the world to bring Russia into the fold from the very beginning. Some say the problem was the fact that Russia was pushed out. Russia felt like they were being isolated. It felt like NATO was encroaching on their territory. If Putin was brought into the fold, he would have had a vested interest in being part of the world. Do you see any credence in that argument? many criminal knowledgeists, the Sovietologists, as they are called often, and they are tunneled

with their vision of the world, the same way like Germany was tunnel with North Stream, you know, they saw the world through the tunnel of North Stream. And we were, all of us, we were guilty of letting Putin grow as a dictator of an unprecedented scale in Europe, probably Hitler, only the one who can compare him with. No, I don't believe in appeasement. I believe in the need to fight the virus. And Russian Putinism is the same as COVID, but it's only the international politics COVID, you know.

Right, right. And it is taking its toll as well. Your country's in a position now where every day we read about how Russia is changing its tactics. You know, it's slowly becoming a war of attrition as opposed to a direct assault. You know, Ukraine has inspired the world in how you're fighting back, you know, your president has been there staying in the country, you know, despite what everyone thought he would do. When you get to the point though where it feels like European nations are almost encouraging Ukraine to in some way, you know, give up a piece of territory,

you see many European nations saying, Ukraine, maybe you should just give them the Donbass region, just give them that part that has already expressed some sort of interest in becoming part of Russia. You have said that that is a complete non non non non non non non non non non non non, thionionionionnue, thiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thithem that part that has already expressed some sort of interest in becoming part of Russia. You have said that that is a complete non-starter. Why? Yeah, it's absolutely. I mean, no, unless everybody's amnesiac, you know, let me remind it what happened in 1938 when Hitler signed a Munich agreement with Chamberlain. The New York Times literally, literally, article, and I can quote from it, the world has never been pregnant with hope as it is now. And then what happened? Chicaslovacia lost one-fifth of his territory. The Nazi troops moved in.

And then in less than 12 months, the Second World War started. And the whole Czechoslovakia was invaded. So basically, if people are not very cognizant of the history lessons, they have to go back to schools I think. And it's a duty of all of us to make them study the history. Are you worried that European countries may at some point say this is too much for us and we don't know if we're going to back Ukraine through this because we've seen, again, through history, Russia is not afraid to fight long, painful wars. You know, it seems like Vladimir Putin's not afraid to send his troops out onto the front lines and have them perish because he doesn't have to worry about an election that he's losing. You know, approval is not his approval where you have your people who may get demoralized,

you know, you have a nation that is constantly bombarded, you know, obviously the US is helping you. But what would you hope the next steps would be then? Where do you see the world moving towards, to help Ukraine? Well, Trevor, you just came from Europe, aren't you? Yeah, you see? So it was your own eyes that Europe is not really homogeneous. It's so diverse. It's like a bouquet of nations. Right. So it would be kind of over-generalization to say that Europe believes Europe says, I mean,

we have wonderful, wonderful nations, like Poland, like the UK, like Portugal, like Portugal, I just talked to the portughazia like uh... boltecestates they will fight hard until the very end to defeat the russian despotism you know we have some countries that got used to leave in comfort for so long that they are out of context altogether

but the thing is that if we do not defeat that if we do not defeat Putinism today, right, if we will be satisfied with just a military defeat of Russia in Ukraine, and we will let this dictator to regrow his chopped back clause, they will hit all of you again, like in five or seven years from now, and then we all pay triple price for it. So even from the point of view of investing money in Ukrainian victory, investing money in your own security, and you should be all grateful that it is the Ukrainian soldiers, not the

British soldiers, now the American soldiers, who are dying in the front, defending the collective democratic world, you know. So I have to remind about that to all of our viewers, and to all people in Europe, in North America, and not only there. I have to remind all Africans who will suffer from the food shortages in two months from now. A lot of people don't know about that.

I saw many people complaining about food prices going up. Many people in the Middle East and Africa struggling with a shortage of wheat and bread is one of the most important food sources. Many people don't know how much of that grain is coming from Ukraine for the entire world. There are countries, there are countries that are 70% dependent on Ukrainian grain. And those countries are devastated with civil wars or with droughts or with climate calamities. They have no way to go on the market and buy grain from somewhere else. So, I mean, for them, it is a matter of survival. And the fact is that we have 21 million tones of grain sitting to be exported. And we can't do that we have 21 million tons of grains sitting to be exported. And we can't do that because one crazy little person in Kremlin does not really allow us to

do that. You know, and that's amazing. That's amazing. And one of the jobs we have to do, one of the things we are doing currently in the United Nations. We are desperately seeking the way how to save millions of people who are literally under the threat of dying of starvation, 10,000 miles away from Ukraine. And that is why this conflict has so many implications that unlike in 2014, where we when

we were all happy to have 100 nations voting in favor of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, we now have an overwhelming majority, we have 141 nations that voted on the 2nd of March and that identify Russia as an aggressive state. You know, there were only four countries, such wonderful countries as North Korea and Syria who voted in support of Russia. And it's very important, it's very important because the world finally understood that it's not just about Ukraine. It's about the entire collective democratic community of nations.

Thank you so much for joining us, Ambassador. Thank you for inviting. I appreciate the time. Hopefully we'll see you again. democratic community of nations. Thank you so much for joining us in Bethes. Thank you for you. I appreciate the time. Hopefully we'll see you again. Watch the Daily Show, Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.