The French Monarchy, the Russian Monarchy and Nazi Germany all conducted mass public executions in their dying days.
They all ended up suffering the same fate.
๐บ๐ฆ๐บ๐ธ Zelensky: It would cost the U.S. nothing, absolutely nothing, to help Ukraine.
And I said openly: Help us defend our skies and dominate them. And then Putin will sit down at the negotiating table.
Why? Because he will lose everything. Lose everything. Three months, two months โ he will lose everything.
Just hours after the U.S. eased sanctions on Russian fuel exports, Ukrainian attack drones struck the NZNP Rostovsky oil products export terminal in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
The Russian fuel export terminal was set ablaze.
Donald Trump again spitting on the graves of every dead Ukrainian. Heโs again spitting on the graves of every American service member killed in his war against Iran. Heโs making crystal clear again that he is not on the side of the free world. Tell me again that heโs not a Russian asset. Go ahead.
I find it odd that I have to explain this, but clearly there is a need.
Hegseth's willingness to livestream an execution has nothing to do with the sentence. Whether you are for capital punishment or against it (like I am), Nidal Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death by a court-martial. There is no ambiguity about the sentence, and in a country that permits capital punishment, it is legal and, given his crimes, perhaps even justified.
An execution that is livestreamed, however, is a government-produced snuff movie. It can inure us to state violence and feed our worst instincts and bloodlust. It is not the hallmark of a civilized country. Indeed, we have previously condemned countries that carry out public executions.
We have a justice system to maintain public order, protect rights and liberties, deter crime, and punish wrongdoing. It is not about revenge, humiliating prisoners, satisfying a public baying for blood, or providing material for watch parties with popcorn.
Pete Hegseth is dragging us back into medieval times, where civilization and empathy have little meaning. Nidal Hasan committed horrific crimes and was sentenced to death, but do we have to make ourselves worse people in the process?
President Putin and President Trump just had a successful call.
Russia-US energy and economic cooperation will continue and benefit global markets and the world. ๐ท๐บ๐ค๐บ๐ธ
President Zelenskyy:
There is never peace through weakness. Today in Kyiv, there were representatives of the US Congress, a bipartisan delegation, and I am grateful to them for visiting Ukraine at such a difficult time. They asked: "What is needed to end the war?" The answer must be strong. There must be sanctions under Lindsey Graham's bill, there must be support for Ukraine in defending lives, and there must be pressure on Russia for the war. And today, there was a conversation between the leaders of America and Russia. A conversation that leads to something else.
Recently, there was a European decision to lift sanctions on Russian oligarchs. After that, Russian strikes and abuses against people only increased. In this week alone, a brutal Russian missile strike hit a residential building in Pryluky, aerial bombs struck Kramatorsk, targeting ordinary city buses, and there were constant shellings of Kyiv's energy grid, as well as vital infrastructure in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, and our other cities. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured.
Russians are using this terror to compensate for their inability to achieve their stated goals on the front lines. This year, Russia is weaker on the front lines than at any other point in the war. That is precisely why Putin relies on terror. That is why he relies on attempts at backstage deals to weaken pressure on Russia in one way or another, in order to buy more time and opportunities for war.
Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness; it plays into Russia's hands, enabling it to kill more, wage war longer, show even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world.
Ukraine is ready for mirrored de-escalation steps, and the American team knows our position. Our strikes on Russian oil refineries and other oil facilities are a response to Russia's years-long campaign of terror against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Ukraine will not burn down Russian oil refining if Russia does not destroy our energy infrastructure. We offer America precisely this kind of agreement and believe that the strength of the United States is sufficient to achieve such a compromise.
Gifts to Putin will not work toward peace or bring any benefit to the civilized world. Russia will "thank" for diesel with further terror and vile acts. Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that needs to be ended, not prolonged. Real de-escalation with Russia is needed, and in a mirrored format.
We count on fair American support for our defense of life, our defense of the people in Ukraine, and on a correspondingly strong conversation between the United States and Russia. Strong, not weak.