I consider this process. I think it is very important for him not to give Ukraine independence.

To prevent Ukraine from developing as an independent country, for him, influence, influence on Ukraine cannot be lost. And for him, it is, you know, like, I think for him, This is such a goal in this last mile, and certainly for him, the last mile, and of

his. of his political life. And I think that

this is the goal for him. The second story, I do not want to talk about these banalities that he wants to return all the territories of the Soviet Union, influence over them. He does this little by little. I just don't want to, people need to know details. For example, Georgia, which was headed towards the EU and NATO, completely turns towards Russia, regardless of the fact that they have frozen conflicts. They have in Abkhazia what we have with Donbass, which is controlled by militant rebels. Abkhazia is not developing. It's just a part, a very beautiful part of Georgia that has died. And if you have the opportunity, then go there someday. You will understand it simply died because Putin wanted to. He wanted not to allow them to develop because a frozen conflict means that you will not be accepted in the EU and certainly will not be accepted into NATO because right now, yes, they do not take you because of a frozen conflict. And

this is

what Putin did. It's very important for him not to lose this influence. That is, he turned back Georgia, young people, students, everyone leaves. And this is a fact. Georgia is quite small. And they will leave. They want to live in Europe. They want to develop. Somebody in the United States, somebody in Europe, somebody in the EU, somebody in Britain. He will now fight for the Moldovan parliament. This is his second step. You will see in April what happens. You will see, oh, he will start turning Moldova away from Europe. Although they want to go there, he does not care. There will be a pro-Russian party and they will do something with the current president because she has won the elections. She is pro-European, but he will turn this back. The next steps are completely clear. He will do everything wherever he has lost influence, where there was influence, influence of the Soviet Union. He'll turn it back as much as possible. And we understand at what price. You have seen Syria. You saw these tortures, what we saw in Bucha, what we saw everywhere we came and where our territories were occupied. In Syria, the same happened. There were a thousand people there and you have seen it. Scientists were found. Doctors were found. It is clear that any people are capable of generating their own opinion, show their skills, develop society. Everyone who can express an opinion, everyone who can shape the independence and maturity of society, such people are not needed. And he wants this in Ukraine. And therefore, everyone

should understand that Ukraine is like a large wall. From that, Europe, and if,

God willing, President Trump does not withdraw from NATO. Because again, I believe that this is the biggest risk. I think two steps.

Two steps that Putin would like to see is a weak NATO. And this without Trump and

a weak Ukraine, which cannot survive on the battlefield, simply cannot survive and prevent me from building a strong relationship with Trump. I think these two steps, leaving NATO and Ukraine's weakness, will lead to a large-scale war, which Putin will wage on all the territories of that Europe, post-Soviet Europe. I mean, Soviet Europe, not post-Soviet, but post-World War II period. That is Soviet Europe, Soviet- Europe, in order to completely control everything there. This is what he will do. And besides this, this will happen in any case, even if the US is thinking about leaving NATO. This war will affect the United States because North Korea is the first sign. North Korean skills, North Korean knowledge, which they are now gaining from this war. These include mastering new technologies, large scale drones, missiles, how it works, the kind of technological war we have today, cyber war, etc. All these skills Korea will bring home and scale up in that region. And this will be a risk for the Pacific region. Security first and foremost. For Japan and for South Korea, they will face these risks 100% and it will be clear that Taiwan will also have to face them. Without

this, it is impossible. This is already This is already happening. Therefore,

I think that President Trump has all power to stop Putin and give Ukraine strong security guarantees.

We've been talking for two hours at the pause. You want to take the break? Yeah, we will

make a pause. can have coffee, right? Coffee? Let's do it. Yeah. And give the interpreter. Yeah. He's struggling.

Some water. We

keep switching languages. Like

a dragon, you know? Three heads, three translators. So

one of the

difficult decisions you had to make when the war began is to enact martial law. So when you won the presidency, you were the warrior for freedom. In fact, this war is for freedom, for freedom of the individual, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom. But a lot of freedoms had to be curtailed, sacrificed in this fight because there's so much focus on the war. Do you see the tension? Do you feel the tension of that, the sacrifice that had to be made in democracy, freedom, in fighting this war.

In any case, this war is for our freedom. Generally speaking, to be honest, when you understand over time, when the war passes, you understand that your main values are at home. This is your home, your children, your love. God willing, parents are alive. And if, and if not alive, then their memory, visiting their grave. Choosing how to work, how much, preferably choosing where to work. All this is freedom. Freedoms are not just a desire. They are an opportunity. In any case, you are right because war is a limitation of opportunities. In any case, you fight for these opportunities. Your parents, your parents and God gave you life, right? You fight for your life, your life. But we need to understand that first there is a war and then martial law is introduced. Martial law is not introduced because someone wanted to. You say, this is not Pinochet. This is not Pinochet and so on. This is a completely different story. An aggressor came. And according to your legislation, if the border is violated, if there is armed aggression, you have all this written down, long ago written out in legislation. You introduce martial law and the introduction of martial law everywhere at all times means in any case a restriction of opportunities. If opportunities are limited, rights and freedoms are restricted. Therefore, the war itself restricts rights and freedoms. Yes, and you can't do anything about it. We try honestly to balance as much as possible. I believe that the business sector works despite the difficulties of the war. And we do everything somewhere, you know, there somewhere to reduce some load. Unfortunately, we cannot reduce taxes. On the contrary, a military tax is used for war. You need to take money somewhere. This, by the way, is about the fact that the US gave us a lot and Europe too. But compared to how much we needed for the war, this is not all. As for military salaries, you know that we could not pay the salaries of a million strong army. We could not pay it using the money from our partners. These are all expenses. This is all the money that the country and people have accumulated. You can't do anything. I really want to reduce taxes. I will tell you frankly, I really want to. Well, I think that the whole new tax system, new deregulation, new steps, new reforms, all this will be after the war. Although there is something to brag about, this is proof. And this is a document, because if you want to get a candidacy for European Union, you must implement the appropriate number of reforms. We do everything. During the war, we voted for many reforms, including anti-corruption, banking reforms, land reforms, major reforms. We started a large privatization and the war did not stop us. Yes, it slowed down, but we went through a lot. When

do you think you will hold elections? Because for people who don't know, part of the martial law elections were suspended and they were delayed and delayed and delayed. And I think the next sort of plan is in February of 2025. But when do you think there will be presidential elections in Ukraine? Elections

were postponed once. They were not delayed, to be clear. Elections did not take place in 2024. That year, first of all, we need to understand the Constitution. They were scheduled to be held

in the spring of 2024. Due to martial law, under the Constitution, you cannot do this. These are

the presidential elections. The parliamentary elections did not take place in the fall of 2024, according to the Constitution. Yes, there are security things. There is the Constitution, but there are security things. That is, everyone in Ukraine understands that this cannot be done until the war is over, or legislation needs to be changed. I believe that elections will take place immediately after the end of martial law. This is according to the law, or members of the parliament need to get together and change legislation, which will be very difficult to do because society is against it. Why is society against it? It is understandable why, because we want elections

that we want to trust. 8.5 million people went abroad. The infrastructure needs to be created

for these millions of people to vote. Millions of people in the occupied territories. I'm not even talking about the occupation of 2014. I'm

talking about the occupation right now. What to do with these people? This is a difficult question. And one of the most unfair ones is how to vote without having a million soldiers. That is, it is impossible.

We need to think about how to change the system if the elections are held in times of war. Change the legislation, which should include changes to the voting system. To

think about online voting. Everyone is afraid because of certain attacks, like cyber attacks and so on.

But we need to think about it. I really think that it's possible that we can end the war in 2025. In

January. We've already agreed on it.

I would very much like to. I would very much like to.

After the war? And

immediately. Yes, immediately. In the year of the end of the war. It's a fact. Why? Because when martial law ends, you can immediately vote in parliament to hold elections. And then everyone, everyone will vote. Because there are no restrictive measures. And after they vote, I think elections can be held in 90 days, something, something like that. Yes. And this means that immediately after the end of the war, elections may take place in 90 days. Are

you running for re-election?

Even I don't know, really. I don't know. I don't know. It

is a very difficult question. It depends on how this war will finish. It depends on what people will want. Mostly it depends on people. First of all, and of course, my family. We

had no time to speak about it with my family. And of course, didn't have a chance because we don't think about it now. I mean, it's something, you know, there are a lot of, some, not a lot of, but enough voices in Ukraine from politicians, opposition and etc. about this, I guess. But we don't think really seriously, didn't think seriously with my family about it. So this is war. I mean, how to think about what will be after? It's very difficult, really very difficult.

If we look at the field of candidates, maybe you can give your opinion about the set of ideas you see out there, including own, about the future of Ukraine. As I understand, the candidates include Poroshenko, Zaluzhny, Ayistovic, Podanov, Klitschko, and many others. This is the internet speaking to me. What do you think of the space of ideas that these candidates represent? You know, I think it can be, there

can be even a bigger

number

of candidates. Yeah, I don't really know what will be. They have rights to participate if they want to. Yes, if they really want to and can, they can go and do what they want, honestly. Most important is what are they doing now? I think that all these people are the famous Ukrainian people. And it's important for them to do everything they can today, not begin any election campaign. I think this, what can divide our people to have the elections, you know, during the war. I mean, this make steps, speak about elections a lot, you know, make a big mess about it. I think this is not right. That's why I'm not agreeing with some of these people. But they can and I think that they can and maybe some of them will. And it's okay. It's normal. It's very normal. Our system differs from the system in the United States. You have two parties, and the parties decide who will be the leader. And in Ukraine, everybody can participate. Let them. You

think you're going to win the debate? You versus Zaluzhny, Perashenko, Oristovic, and you decide to run. Do you think you're

going to win the debate? Or you're again focused on the war? Oh, I'm really focusing on the war. I understand. I think the most difficult debate is what will be brought to the table, and we spoke about it. It will be during the war. How to finish the war. I think that is my goal because it will be one of my most complicated debates. And for any president who is in a war, of course, but I think this is my goal to win those debates. And the other things are not for today.

As I said, the dream I have is, it's a historic opportunity to make peace, to make lasting peace soon. So I'm glad you're focused on that. Let me ask a question about, that a lot of people in the United States think about, and I care a lot about the future of Ukraine, is corruption. This is something you have cared a lot about for a long time. You won the presidency in 2019 in big part, your message of fighting corruption. But there's a lot of accusations that during war, I mentioned $9 trillion in the United States. War breeds corruption. So can you speak to that, how you have been fighting corruption, and can you respond to the accusations that has been corruption in Ukraine? You

know, it's very simple. First of all, we really have a very sophisticated anti-corruption system. Sophisticated not in the sense that it's difficult to understand, but in that it really consists of many elements. It's the most sophisticated in all of Europe. This is another requirement of the European Union. It was a requirement for Ukraine. And for many years, Ukraine was not trusted. I want to tell you that under me, we all voted for bills, all the anti-corruption reforms, all, well, almost all reforms, and all anti-corruption bodies today are independent. They work as requested. I still believe that they are not perfect yet. There are many issues. There is a judicial system, but also a judicial reform that our partners, the United States plus the EU, demanded from us. This is all written out. This is written out in specific laws, in specific decrees, in specific decisions. We did this. We've done 99% of this. If something has not been done, it means that it is on the way. But in principle, all this exists. And there is no such system as we have in Europe. To say that we do not have corruption would be lying. We just talk about it openly. We are genuinely fighting against it. Look, we have sitting in our prison, Ihor Kolomoisky, who is the most influential Ukrainian oligarch since independence. And no one could do anything about him. The United States of America wanted to have Kolomoisky, and they went to great lengths because of money laundering, etc. There are criminal cases in the United States, I think in Delaware, something like that. Neither Europe could do anything about it. That is, we did a lot with oligarchs. Russian oligarchs, sanctions were imposed. They were thrown out. Some of them fled the state, but they are all under sanctions. We exchanged some of them for our soldiers, such as Medvedchuk, to whose daughter Putin is godfather. That is, we fought against the strongest influential oligarchs, which

are and

were in Ukraine, and we eliminated a lot of corruption. Of course, corruption exists in everyday life. It exists, but institutionally, I am sure that Ukraine will overcome all this. This takes a little time. I would say honestly that,

listen,

what we call corruption, and in some state of the world is called lobbyism, But this does not mean that there is no corruption there.

Let's

take the aid you mentioned during the war. First of all, we have no money. We have no money except for the war. We received weapons from the United States of America, from Europe. If we take, for example, money from the United States of America, during all this time of the war, around 177 billion have been voted for or decided upon. 177 billion. Let's be honest. We have not received half of this money.

The second point, which is very important just as an example, is it corruption? The first question, whose corruption? This is the second. Here is just one small example for you. When

the United States began to transfer

us weapons, it was American money, but American weapons. Money for these weapons. I had,

as a president, I had cargo jets. Not in Ukraine because of the war. We moved them very quickly to Europe. We had cargo.

We have good cargo fleet. Very good. Because of Antonov. So I asked American side to grant me the opportunity because our jets are at another, yeah, airfield.

And I asked America to give me the opportunity to use our jets for transfer, not to pay a lot. To whom? To your companies. To American companies. No, I didn't get this opportunity. My jets stayed put. And the United States jets, cargo jets, move these weapons. But everywhere you have to spend money. So

we could get more weapons, but we have to pay for this very expensive fleet. My question, is this corruption or not? Or lobbyism? What is it? You mean corruption on the part of the U.S.

companies?

Yes, making such decisions. Yes, I got it. The lobbying for such decisions involves some companies that make these decisions. But I can't be open about it, and I couldn't speak loudly about it. I didn't want, nor did I intend to cause any scandals to arise, because otherwise, you can freeze the support, and that's it.. And that's why when we talk about corruption, we must ask who is involved. If we had 177 and if we get the half, where is the half?

If you will find the second half, you will find corruption. There is a perception of corruption.

People like Donald Trump and Elon Musk really care about fighting corruption. What can you say to them to gain their trust that the money is going towards this fight for freedom, towards the war effort? In

most cases, we did not receive money. We received weapons. And where we saw risks that something could be a weapon, we would slap everyone on the wrist. And believe me, this is not only about Ukraine. On the supply chain, everywhere, there are some or other people and companies who want to make money because everyone makes money on the war. We did not profit from the war. If we found someone, believe me, we slapped everyone on the wrist. And we did that. We did that. And we will continue to do so because to this day, when someone says that Ukraine was selling weapons, and by the way, Russia was the one pushing this narrative, we always responded, our soldiers would kill such people with their own hands without any trial. Do you honestly think anyone could steal weapons by the truckload when we ourselves don't have enough on the front lines? And yet we have to provide proof to defend ourselves. Because when there's an abundance of such misinformation, distrust starts to grow. And you're right, people listen to various media outlets, see this, and lose faith

in you.