Backing Ukraine Against Russia, With Colin Kahl and Derek Chollet

War on the Rocks

News, Politics

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2023

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl and Counselor to the Secretary of State Derek Chollet join the show to reflect on the war on year after Russia's brutal invasion and the commencement of Ukraine's monumental resistance. In a wide-ranging, hour-long conversation, the two respond to Ryan's questions about the arming of Ukraine, sanctions, choices about certain platforms and munitions, China, India, America's staying power, and much more.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the War in the Rocks podcast on Strategy defense and foreign affairs my name's Ryan Evans in this episode I sat down with Colin call the undersecretary defense for policy and Derek Shalay the counselor to the secretary of state
0:24.8	We sat down on the 22nd for this conversation just a couple days before it's come out to you and the topic of
0:28.8	course was Ukraine on this anniversary of Russia's invasion or rather re-invasion of Ukraine last year.
0:35.0	So, gentlemen, would you say the effort to support Ukraine
0:40.0	in the face of this Russian invasion has been overall successful and as successful
0:46.2	as it could have been?
0:47.2	Well, I think that if you look back a year, the Ukrainians are in a much better position
0:52.0	than I think a lot of people anticipated at the beginning of the conflict.
0:54.7	I think, you know, certainly Putin thought his troops were going to roll over the country in a few days,
0:59.7	conquered the whole place in a few weeks. I think we expected the conflict to be longer and
1:04.7	nastier but ultimately that the Russians would prevail just at a sheer mass.
1:09.8	I certainly think the Ukrainians shocked the world with their tenacity and their
1:14.3	resilience and of course we did our part alongside our allies and partners to provide them a tremendous
1:19.1	amount of assistance I think we're upwards at around 3030 billion as we're recording this in terms of security assistance in a year, which as someone has worked in the Pentagon a bunch over the last 15 years, if you had told me we could have moved $30 billion of security assistance in a year.
1:34.9	I would have thought you were crazy. You know, I don't know how the war is going to end up, but I will make, you know, I think one thing is is clear which is that Russia's already lost if you define
1:49.2	Success as you know in Putin's terms he expected to conquer the whole country that didn't happen
1:54.5	it's not going to happen a sovereign independent democratic Ukraine indoors it will
1:58.2	endure you know Putin intended to divide the west divide NATO he intended to
2:03.6	Finlandize NATO he's gonna end up NATOizing Finland
2:06.8	And of course he decided you know he thought he was gonna emerge from this conflict
2:10.8	You know a great power in a multi-polar world and Russia is gonna emerge from this conflict, a great power in a multipolar world, and Russia is going to
2:14.4	emerge from this conflict, a shattered power, probably in its weakest military
	...

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