00:00The outlook is still bleak on the weapons front for Kyiv.
00:04Stockpiles are thinning fast and Europe can't replenish them on time.
00:08The United States deliveries have also remained frozen.
00:11Production lines across the continent are running at full tilt,
00:14but officials admit they're still months away from meeting Ukraine's battlefield needs.
00:18August Hackinson reports.
00:21It's far from Europe's proudest moment.
00:24According to the independent research institute and think tank Kiel Institute,
00:30European nations are no longer able to make up for the U.S. aid to Ukraine,
00:35halted at the start of the year.
00:37While annual allocations averaged roughly 41.6 billion euros in 2022 to 2024,
00:44including Europe, the United States and other donors,
00:47only 32.5 billion euros has been allocated so far in 2025.
00:52To reach previous levels, an additional 9.1 billion euros would be needed to be allocated by year end.
01:00Requiring a monthly allocation rate more than twice as high as in recent months.
01:07While overall support is falling, the trend varies sharply across Europe.
01:12France, Germany and the UK have doubled, even tripled their contributions this year.
01:18Italy, meanwhile, has cut its support by 15 percent compared to the 2022 to 2024 average.
01:26Spain has stopped its military aid altogether.
01:29The European Commission now wants to tap roughly 200 billion euros in Russian assets
01:35frozen inside the EU to finance a major loan package for Ukraine.
01:40The goal is to release an initial 90 billion euros at a summit on December 18th in Brussels.
01:47But the plan faces resistance, especially from Belgium,
01:51which warns it could provoke retaliation from Moscow.
01:55We now have the opportunity to discuss the state of play with Ukrainian Member of Parliament Lisa Yasko.
02:02Lisa is a member of Volodymyr Zelensky's party, Servant of the People.
02:06Thanks so much for joining us here on France 24.
02:08You have been on the show before, Lisa, and recently you've been heavily critical of Donald Trump
02:14and trying to at least manufacture this 20-point peace plan.
02:18And in terms of what Zelensky is taking to Washington today, what are the non-negotiables?
02:26You know, it's not only about being critical.
02:30This is a very existential position for Ukrainians.
02:34We cannot surrender.
02:36We cannot forget who aggressor is.
02:39We cannot pretend that aggressor suddenly became non-aggressor.
02:43And everything that Trump is saying now and his team is actually trying to press us
02:51to acknowledge that maybe actually Putin is not a war criminal.
02:58No one in Ukraine will sign that.
03:01No one will agree that injustice that happened to our people suddenly became normal.
03:08It's not going to happen.
03:10And every day we hear more and more statements from Russia, actually.
03:15Then, unfortunately, Americans are also repeating some of the statements that to us sound very pro-Russian.
03:22We don't understand why.
03:23And this is very painful to us.
03:27As one of those statements, Donald Trump calling for elections.
03:29And is that why your leader has now decided to change the tune so dramatically yesterday?
03:35Well, in fact, after Trump said that Zelensky is holding power and is not holding elections,
03:42Zelensky said very honestly, okay, let's be very honest.
03:47I'm ready to have elections.
03:49If someone is going to guarantee me security,
03:52whether international observers would be able to come,
03:55whether we'll be able to provide the votes that they will be protected
04:01and that Russia will not be shelling, what about the veterans?
04:04What about the people who are in occupied territories?
04:07What about the people who are under the attack every day?
04:13What about people abroad?
04:14We don't know exact numbers, but there are millions of displaced people inside Ukraine
04:20and millions of people abroad.
04:22Can we, after that, call, if we have elections very soon, these elections as democratic?
04:29Will you recognise that as international partners?
04:34There are many questions that come with that.
04:36And it takes very responsible position.
04:39Well, I don't suppose you're on that member of the litigation panel,
04:42which is trying to make sure that these elections can take place under martial law.
04:45It sounds like an almost impossible task.
04:48And in fact, critics will point to the fact that it is impossible.
04:51So it is just posturing from Zelensky and almost to show the United States president
04:56that it really can't be done, even though Kiev is willing to come to the table.
05:01We can have elections if it's something that will help to end war.
05:06There is no problem with that.
05:08But we also need to make sure why, and we have to be very honest,
05:14why someone is pressing us to the topic of elections
05:18when every day people are dying from the Russian attacks.
05:22This is insanity.
05:23This is an absolute inhuman position, actually, to talk about elections.
05:30Don't forget that also elections take money and finances and budgets.
05:35And for us, every day we spend so much for defence and for energy recovery.
05:40You know how many hours of electricity we currently have in Kiev?
05:44Two or three hours of electricity per day.
05:46This is our life now.
05:48How are we going to have elections?
05:50How the people will be counting the votes without light?
05:55I'm not joking.
05:56This is very simple things.
05:58But if we have more drones coming, more missiles coming,
06:02this is not going to help us.
06:05And what will happen to Ukrainian society?
06:07Ukrainian society will just say that this is crazy.
06:11People are dying.
06:12Why are we talking politics now?
06:14But then why would Zelensky make those comments?
06:16Because Zelensky is a very honest person.
06:19And he said, like, don't accuse me.
06:21I'm ready.
06:23Like, the power was never my goal.
06:26I can leave that and go to elections.
06:29But I believe that the question of ending the war and current negotiations is number one priority.
06:38You recently said in American media you would love to bring Donald Trump to the front lines
06:43to actually see what is happening there.
06:45And then it might change his position.
06:48What would you see if he came there with you?
06:51You know, in fact, this is not only about the front line.
06:54It is enough to come to Kiev or to some places, cities, and just look at the buildings.
07:01Look at how people look to talk to people in hospitals.
07:05You will see a lot of wounded people who lost parts of the body, who lost relatives.
07:12And it happens every week.
07:14A friend of my father recently, two days ago, lost his son.
07:18And this is reality we live in.
07:20And every day someone calls me or someone else and says that the friend or relative is no longer alive.
07:28Or we see that someone lost the house, that the house is no longer, even there are no pieces of house available
07:37just because the ballistic or drone reached that area.
07:42So I think after you see the reality and you see that people are still fighting and are resilient and not giving up,
07:52this is something that Donald Trump actually finally, hopefully, can start respecting.
07:57Because I believe that he is a man who likes strong people, but he doesn't fully understand Ukrainians.
08:05He believes that this is just, well, he believes Russian narratives and he believes in economic terms.
08:12But this is not about the economy.
08:14This is about human lives.
08:15How can you convince him, though?
08:17Because he continues to push this idea that Ukraine doesn't hold any cards.
08:22And he's recently, again, expressed his displeasure at Zelensky for not having even read the peace agreement.
08:28How do you go and convince a transactional president like that at this stage, given the state of the nation?
08:37I have very, maybe naive answer, but very honest answer.
08:42I still believe in people's hearts and especially in the world of politics.
08:48There is so much dishonesty.
08:50You believe in Donald Trump's heart?
08:52I believe that there could be things that can touch his heart if he goes out of his bubble.
08:59But I don't think he will, because for him, being in that bubble, this is his life now.
09:04He wants to have that victory for internal audience.
09:07And also he wants to be good to Russians.
09:09And this is a big problem, because he believes that the trade is possible with aggressor.
09:14And unfortunately, the history will show him that he was wrong.
09:18And this is also as that national security strategy has just been released by the United States,
09:22which paints Europe as weak and actually shows that closer ties with Moscow are very much within Washington's remit.
09:30So where do you go from here, knowing that the United States actually wants to get closer to Moscow as a precondition?
09:37Situation in the United States is very complex and very hard, because this is not only about Trump convictions.
09:43This is also convictions within certain surrounding around him that believe that they shouldn't be spreading the so-called Western American values of democracy around the world.
09:54They shouldn't support any civil society organizations around the globe that promote peace and democracy.
10:01They should focus on completely different things, on economy, on prosperity, on money, on making deals.
10:08And this is something that scares me.
10:11But in the same time, I see that this is a trend that is in a way like you just cannot avoid.
10:17It will happen.
10:18This is an organic process.
10:20But I think that the political leadership from other politicians in the United States, in other countries should come up and we should just continue fighting for our values and our position.
10:33But is Europe doing enough to push those values and stand alone and really help Ukraine?
10:38Are you convinced by the coalition of the willing?
10:41If there is anything I'm optimistic about, that is about Europe.
10:45I'm not saying that Europe is at the strongest position now.
10:50No, but I know that there is a huge shift that Europe managed to cross from a moment two, three, four years ago to where Europe now, in terms of awareness for what kind of actions are needed for defense, for cooperation, for protecting democracies inside the countries.
11:10And I know it changed a lot.
11:14The problem is that Europe was always thinking that the United States will be on board.
11:18And now, because strategic partner may not be on board anymore, this makes Europe to rethink own worth, value, narrative, idea.
11:31And I believe that, and I believe that it will happen in the future, but just hopefully that there will be enough wisdom to protect democracy from the inside and not to allow populists and those who actually are supported by Russia.
11:44Russia is never sleeping.
11:45Russia is always supporting weaknesses in different countries.
11:49We shouldn't allow them to win in France, in Germany, or in another country.
11:56We should always take care of our freedoms.
11:59Lisa Jasko, unfortunately, that is where we have to end it.
12:02As always, thank you for just providing your thoughts and analysis here on France 24.
12:06Lisa Jasko, a member of the Servant of the People Party, that is, of course, Vladimir Zelensky's party, with the tensions continuing to rise on the front lines.
Be the first to comment