'Huge shift in awareness' in Europe about Ukraine's need for weapons, MP says

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00:00We're turning now to the war in Ukraine, where a fresh Russian assault has killed 24 people

00:05who had been reportedly waiting for pension payments in Yarova in the Donetsk region.

00:11A video posted by President Ronald Zelensky showed several corpses strewn on the ground.

00:17The Interior Ministry is reporting that Moscow had used a glide bomb in the attack.

00:22The weapon has wings that help it fly dozens of kilometers.

00:26Well, it comes as Moscow continues to claim the industrial region as part of Russia,

00:31despite not having full control over it.

00:34Charlotte Lam has more on this latest attack.

00:39In the village of Yarova, a military officer describes the scene.

00:45Dozens were killed Tuesday when a brutal Russian glide bomb hit.

00:48The victims queuing for their pensions.

00:51President Volodymyr Zelensky says it's the latest Russian attack to target civilians

00:57and a stark reminder that three years into the war, those are who remain on the front line.

01:03Russian missiles hailed down on several Ukrainian regions overnight.

01:08In Zaporizhia, strikes caused fires damaging homes.

01:11There's nothing left, just bare floors and bare walls.

01:19Everything burned down completely.

01:21It's a nightmare.

01:23So much money was invested here and now there's nowhere left to live.

01:30Herson's central district was also shelled.

01:33Sparking blazes that tore through trade kiosks.

01:36Destroying small businesses and livelihoods, but thankfully no reported injuries.

01:43In Russian-controlled Makivka, residents salvage what they can.

01:49The Moscow-installed head of occupied parts of Ukraine says the city was one of two targeted by Kyiv

01:55with heavy drones and missile attacks.

01:58Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on the strikes.

02:01What is clear is that as casualties rise and towns are reduced to rubble, peace still feels no closer.

02:09Well, this latest attack comes just days after Ukraine's main government building was hit in Kyiv.

02:16On Sunday, the building which houses the offices of the country's main ministers was left damaged

02:21as Russia launched its largest wave of drones and missiles on Ukraine since the start of the war.

02:26Well, Ukrainian MP and head of inter-parliamentary relations, Lisa Yaskov, joins me in the studio now.

02:33Lisa, thanks so much for coming in and coming to speak to us about the situation in Ukraine at the moment.

02:40I spoke there about that cabinet office that was hit.

02:44How do you feel knowing that buildings where you could well work and your colleagues are working is being hit by Russia?

02:51We have attacks every day.

02:54If we don't have attacks, that's something surreal and unusual that actually is very suspicious

03:01because usually when there are a couple of days when there are no attacks, it means that a huge attack will come.

03:07When this hit happened on the governmental building, that's very serious

03:13because we did have some drones targeting governmental area, but there was no ballistic missiles so far that reached so massively.

03:26And the parliament is only 100 metres away from that place.

03:32My office is there.

03:34That's very scary.

03:36But I want to stress that that's not something very unusual.

03:41We live like this 24-7 for more than three years.

03:45This is now the fourth summer of war in Ukraine, and we've seen plenty of heavy fighting going on, bloody fighting.

03:52How is the country now going to approach autumn and winter, especially in the east,

03:57where there has been the heaviest fighting in the conflict so far?

04:02I wouldn't say that the east has the heaviest because Kyiv also have a lot of heavy attacks.

04:08Yes, in the east, maybe there are numbers that are higher, but that's not like something that we don't know war in Kyiv.

04:20Life in Kyiv is very hard.

04:23Yes, people were having some hope around August time when there were these talks in Alaska and Washington

04:31that there could be some light in the tunnel, but it doesn't feel as it is the case anymore now.

04:41And for me personally, I can tell you that I was very skeptical, but still, as a human, I had some hope.

04:50And now when we reach September and all attacks are back massively and so badly,

04:58I feel terrible that we're entering new autumn, new winter, that there is no clarity,

05:05that geopolitical situation looks also very vague.

05:08I feel very bad about this.

05:10Well, amid all this diplomatic flurry and these stalled talks,

05:14President Zelensky is still calling for weapons, especially as Russia is now stepping up its aerial attacks.

05:21How do you think he'll go about convincing allies to give him more resources?

05:27I think we do have a lot of progress on this question.

05:30And actually, thanks to France, to Europe, to many European leaders,

05:34there is a huge shift in awareness in the European capitals on how much weapons production are important,

05:44not because you just send them somewhere, but because it's important for your own security,

05:50for security of Europe and for experience in building security.

05:54And we managed to produce our weapons as well and new technologies.

06:03This is the process that needs technological advancement every day.

06:09That's not something as you design one weapon and you can use it without any change.

06:14You have to be technologically very progressive and we have to continue doing it,

06:20even if some magic will happen and tomorrow the war will end,

06:25which unfortunately is not going to happen this way.

06:28We have to be prepared that we have enough weapon to defend ourselves because there are no illusions anymore.

06:35Well, I do want to get your reaction on some of the events that we saw last week with the Coalition of the Willing,

06:41that summit between President Emmanuel Macron and President Zelensky,

06:46as well as other members of this coalition.

06:49They pledged security guarantees in the event that the war ends.

06:54It could include boots on the ground from several countries and other pledges.

06:58How are you feeling? Do you feel reassured by those pledges?

07:01Yes, I do. Because for the first time in all these years, I see not only solidarity, but real actions.

07:12And I would personally prefer, of course, that this coalition wouldn't be called a willing coalition,

07:19but rather than, I don't know, actions or leadership coalition.

07:23But we do know that these security guarantees are discussed widely

07:31and European leaders are taking very important position in this leadership position.

07:37And only with this position, we can actually convince United States to stay on board with all of us

07:44because we need them for the future of our security.

07:49And I'm happy that we're not alone in this and that we're serious about security.

07:57I always, you know, when I'm speaking about economy, about any other questions,

08:03I always say whether we like it or not.

08:05We cannot be talking about business or private sector or energy, whatever,

08:09if we don't talk about security.

08:11Because security will be the one that will be providing all stability for all other sectors

08:17if we want to have them.

08:18Well, some of the members in the coalition of the willing have said that they won't move forward

08:23with the pledges without that security guarantee from the US, the US backstop.

08:28What's your message to President Donald Trump?

08:31How do you want him to act now and intervene in what could be the future of Ukraine?

08:38My message is very simple, that all promises he gave and all prolongation and postponement of different decisions

08:48that he was given, all of that is already exhausted.

08:52So now is the time for real actions, economic sanctions, including usage of frozen Russian assets,

09:02putting more creative measures on Russian economy.

09:07For instance, having sanctions on those countries who continue trade with Russia,

09:12making everything possible, that energy diversification happens and countries are not dependent on Russia.

09:21We have to do a lot about the Russian oil.

09:24And this is all possible, but it has to come from the leadership of the United States.

09:31Only this will make Putin to consider it very rationally that having war is not in his favor anymore.

09:41While now he's enjoying it ideologically, he's winning a lot of narratives,

09:48he likes to show that he's very imperialistic and he likes humiliating the West.

09:55Unfortunately, he has some success.

09:57But now is the time for Trump and other leaders in the West to make sure that this humiliation doesn't happen anymore.

10:05Lisa, thank you so much for joining us on the program.

10:08It was really good to talk to you and best of luck in the war.

10:12Thank you so much for joining us.

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