the nato charter has that people who could contribute to nato security and share nato's values are welcome to join in the future. it would be a mistake to come up with an artificial closing of the door to certain states but not others in terms of what nato does in the future. i will leave it at that. >> i have a quick question. if you had to guess today, given where we are with the conflict, as nato more relevant or less relevant given where we are? i'd start with you, kim. >> it is much more relevant. it caused nato to come zooming back as a powerful alliance. no other country in the world besides the united states have ever had this kind of strong alliance. it is remarkable. >> michael? >> vladimir putin has revived nato. >> this administration came in and they wanted to focus on china. putin has united nato, brought the united states back to seeing a role for itself in europe and nato is a stronger center. >> great. i would like to turn to our first questioner. i please remind the members that this is on the record. the operator will remind you. >> ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder to

nato's core responsibility, _ nato territory? nato's core responsibility, our - nato territory? nato's core responsibility, our main . responsibility, our main responsibility, our main responsibility is to protect and defend all nato allies. so 1 billion people in 30 different countries. and to ensure that we also do that now in a more dangerous security situation in europe caused by the invasion of ukraine by russia, we have increased the presence in the eastern part of the alliance, increased the readiness of troops and we are deploying more capabilities, especially to the eastern part of the alliance. so an attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance, and we will protect and defend every inch of nato allies' territory. when we see more military activities, when we see actual fighting going on close to nato borders, there is oyster risk for incidents and accidents. —— always the risk. therefore must prevent such incidents and accidents, and if they happen, to make sure that they don't spiral out of control and create really dangerous situations. we a

concerning nato, nato allies are ready to increase military spending. it is very important for the future. -- for the future, in order to increase our capacity to defend ourselves and our allies. we will strengthen especially the eastern flank of nato. and that means we have for nato battle groups in this daily at -- groups in estonia, latvia, lithuania and poland. we doubled the groups from four to eight and there will be four additional battle groups in slovakia, hungary, romania and moldova. in general, we will increase the natural presence -- the nato presence in countries with more than 40,000 soldiers. 40,000 people will join already -existing nato forces here in the eastern flank. it is very important -- it is a very important result of our meeting yesterday, but only a preparation for the ordinary meeting of the heads of state of nato in june in madrid. this extraordinary meeting was necessary because of the russian war against ukraine. and we demonstrated our unity. missy: let's talk about latvia. how many nato forces are present in latvia? and

of nato eastwards, and the rhetoric of nato and _ nato eastwards, and the rhetoric of nato and its — nato eastwards, and the rhetoric of nato and its military— nato eastwards, and the rhetoric of nato and its military planning i nato eastwards, and the rhetoric of nato and its military planning and l nato and its military planning and training _ nato and its military planning and training became _ nato and its military planning and training became aiming _ nato and its military planning and training became aiming more i nato and its military planning and training became aiming more andj nato and its military planning and i training became aiming more and more against _ training became aiming more and more against the _ training became aiming more and more against the russian _ training became aiming more and more against the russian federation. - training became aiming more and more against the russian federation. we i against the russian federation. we spoke _ against the russian federation. we spoke about— against the russian federation. we spoke about that _ against the russia

nato and the u.s. previous impose no-fly zones such as iraq and bosnia and the 1990's as well as liby'as civil war in 2011. >> let's go ahead and bring our guests from kyiv, a member of the ukrainian parliament and deputy head of the parliamentary majority. from brussels, a senior fellow at the -- foundation in poland, also a former nato official. and from perth in australia, and associate professor of national security and strategic studies. a warm welcome to all and thanks for joining us on "inside stor " ." let me start with you today. you and i spoke two weeks ago on this program. at that time you were calling for a no-fly zone. what does it mean to you today that despite repeated calls from president zelensky and so many others in ukraine, officials in nato have continued to refuse to impose a no-fly zone? >> listen, i will tell you what no-fly zone means for ukrainians, innocent citizens. it means thousands of thousands of innocent ukrainians, women, children, elder people, will be saved. you kno

we've been able to reinforce nato's eastern flight. many of us have moved posture into central eastern europe in the last couple of weeks. all of us are applying pressure on moscow and all of us are providing support to kyiv let's talk about the question of what more can be done. last saturday traveling with general mark millie, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, near the ukraine border i watched as wide-body jets from the united states and other nato countries delivered theweapons you're talking about . javelins, stingers for transfer into ukraine. could you tell our viewers who've not been able to see that about this weapons transfer process and you mentioned a moment ago you're hoping to accelerate it even more. tell us about the ways in which it might be accelerated, additional weapons or categories of weapons you're providing that might be on the way. >> there's really a remarkable story to tell right here about what poland is doing. i've mentioned the fact that they're taking in thousands of refugees in real-time and find

of the nato. but the group i'm, we have doubled a number of battle groups in eastern part alliance. so not on the double the size, but those are double the number about the groups. close to $40000.00 troops on the delta dental command. and then on top of that, increase the presence by united states on others, on a, within the volatile arrangements. so until talented, this is a significant reinforcement. oh, our presence in the east including is the now where the air see and land forces on the we have, we are ready and we are there to protect on the fans, olives for it is to respond massively to in the potential effects attack against any nato ala country, this has already happened, so this is, this is this reinforcements as, as all, is taking place. and we will then also to morrow make decisions. and they declare those of a dead. we have deployed for more about the groups to to slot your hunger hungry bulgarian, on the, on, on the remain young. then these need toll suggest a more long term consequ

by nato, carried out by nato, is what we are supporting? we must be clear what a no—fly zone is. a no—fly zone means that somebody has to shoot on the planes which are not complying with that, som in fact, whose planes are going to be shooting down russian jets and russian bombers? if these are going to be nato planes then nato is going to be in direct war with russia. this is a direct implication of those who say that nato should police the no—fly zone. so, yes, we press for all the sanctions in all the european fora... but not the no—fly zone? we press for all military assistance to ukraine and, yes, i think we should be thinking about enabling, giving ukrainians the military hardware to enforce a no—fly zone. that's to say, to regain the skies. but it's very important, a no—fly zone is not a silver bullet, it's not a panacea. there are cruise missiles, there are artillery which the no—fly zone is not going to affect. ambassador, what do you think when you hear this, what's your response? i think that we need to start immedi

troops deployed to nato countries. ukraine's president zelenskyy is expected to address the group virtually and again plead for more help. and as the refugee crisis mounts, president biden will end his trip with a stop in poland, lester a lot at stake >> kristen, good to have you with us tonight. >>> a different kind of devastation back home deadly tornadoes in the south. and it may not be over tornado watch in parts of florida, georgia, ohio, west virginia, pennsylvania, and kentucky sam brock is near new orleans where the scope of the damage is immense. sam? >> reporter: lester, immense but concentrated here in araby, the tornado's path was only a couple of blocks wide but a few miles long in terms of the impact on homes. this area is all too familiar with mother nature's wrath the sight of a black funnel cloud barreling toward nuew orleans >> there it goes >> reporter: prompted gasps and cries. >> there it is you can see it get to your safe place. >> reporter: a monstrous twister leaving fractured neighborhoods in i

so again, more nato not less. and then very key, those things that alexander all just also just talked about, more battle groups, more of forces in the air, on the sea and so on. and. and very interesting was the question that he received about whether nato is now departing from the nato russian founding act. that in fact, was an agreement between nato and russia, about essentially the limits on nato. he didn't answer the question directly, but what he did say is that circumstances have changed because of the russian invasion in international legal speak. that means russia has departed from its commitments under the founding act. and therefore, theoretically between the lines. nato also can do so. and we heard some similar, slight vision and none the less messages between the lines. when it came to chemical weapons, he was directly asked, what does he know about the use of white phosphorus bombs in ukraine? and what would nato think about that? and he basically, he didn't speak to, he didn't mentioned white phosph

there has been criticism for _ nato will do. there has been criticism for nato _ nato will do. there has been criticism for nato about - nato will do. there has been | criticism for nato about being nato will do. there has been - criticism for nato about being clear about the limits of what it will do and it has been said that by making that so obvious, the message has been to russia that russia can continue to carry out its action in ukraine effectively with impunity in terms of direct engagement militarily from nato.- terms of direct engagement militarily from nato. terms of direct engagement militaril from nato. �* . . ., militarily from nato. blanc, we have technical issues. _ militarily from nato. blanc, we have technical issues. i— militarily from nato. blanc, we have technical issues. i think _ militarily from nato. blanc, we have technical issues. i think we - militarily from nato. blanc, we have technical issues. i think we can - technical issues. i think we can hearfrom him now. no, no, technical issues, we can see him but we cannot hear him. we issues, we can see

d, believe that nato, a, sorry, ukraine has called towards its view of joining nato as a negotiating tool with the hope of eventually reaching some kind of agreement with russia. thank you very much. alice saw united's both in providing support to ukraine. to this you portrait came to uphold the right for self defense. but the allies are also knighted. ah, when it comes to that, that nato should not deploy forces on the ground or in the air space over your crane. because we have responsibility to ensure that this cert conflict, this war doesn't escalate beyond ukraine. we see death, we see destruction. we see human suffering in ukraine, but this come to comp, even worse if nate thought or took actions that actually turned it in this into full fledged war between nato on the on that are shop. so allah's are united and when it comes to the issue over how to provide support or to ukraine ministers addressed this to day. they reinforce the message or the importance of is providing support away the equipment, advanced equipment, air defense systems are anti tank. a weapons and many other

ambassador to nato, julianne smith. she spoke with "the washington post's" david ignatius about the russian invasion of ukraine. this is about 20 minutes. david: welcome to "washington post" live. i'm david ignatius. a columnist at the post. continuing our recent discussions of the war in ukraine, i'm pleased that our guest today is america's ambassador to nato, ambassador julianne smith. understandably ambassador smith has many engagements that -- at nato headquarters and only be able to join us for 20 minutes so i want to jump right in. ambassador smith, thank you for joining us. ambassador smith: happy to do so. thank you. david: so let's start with the situation on the battlefield. today's reports suggest that russian forces are continuing to attack hard from three sides, kyiv and carrive have not been taken but the mayor of mariupol in the south described the situation in his city as armageddon. i want to ask you, madam ambassador, what is your assessment and the assessment of your nato colleagues is about how long

and nato allies. they are sending altogether accounts under we haven't seen all that much movement yet there on that a stage for that press conference of again. so we're going to let you go gather some more impressions and will bring you back a little bit later in the show. and we have our chief political correspondent, lender crane with us. so looking at the bigger picture here, melinda, as we're waiting for that press conference with the sultan burke to begin some of the issues that we just talked about with alexandra. this is a difficult position in a way for nato allies, for you, member states to find common ground on pushing back adequately against russia, but also not engaging in a direct direct conflict with russia. particularly in the face of appeals from president zalinski of ukraine, saying you haven't sent us fighter jets. you haven't sent us enough. anti tank weapons you haven't sent us of the weapons that we can use to repel attacks from ships at sea. so very, very direct appeals to one n

simple reason there is no consensus in nato on nato membership. george w bush pushed very hard, but if i now listen to president biden i do not think that nato membership for ukraine was very high up before this war broke out on the biden agenda. it is high up before this war broke out on the biden agenda.— the biden agenda. it is great to talk to you. _ the biden agenda. it is great to talk to you, thank _ the biden agenda. it is great to talk to you, thank you - the biden agenda. it is great to talk to you, thank you so i the biden agenda. it is great to| talk to you, thank you so much. the biden agenda. it is great to i talk to you, thank you so much. some breaking news. the uk is announcing further sanctions against 65 individuals and entities. the latest round of sanctions include the wagner group of missionaries, russian railways, also the stepdaughter of the russian foreign minister, sergey lavrov. the wagner group of mercenaries, it is a group talked about potentially being in that ukraine, a group that works to support russia. they are

i was there in brussels and followed the nato summit, all 30 nato leaders were there as well. as you know, the current nato secretary general jens stoltenberg said any use of chemical weapons by russia in ukraine would flatly be unacceptable and in his words, stoltenberg, i'm quoting him now, it would totally change the nature of the conflict. is that the line drawn between where things stand right now potentially between and maybe god forbid some sort of third world war? >> i, with my deepest soul, hope that will not be the case, wolf, but i think what we could expect to see is increasing efforts by the nato allies to build up resilience to chemical attacks in ukraine and that is already going on. that's something that's talked about preparing that, if heaven forbid, they should have to deal with a chemical attack but i think the way in which russia has been piling up outrage against the international legal regime, this would only be renewed because russia is a member of the chemical weapons in theory, they agreed to ban chemical weapons so once again, they would be, i think,

when it comes to nato . they've already done a great deal of those nato countries individually have supplied weaponry to the ukrainians, but also they boasted their own defenses, those countries that are closest to russia. one of the things they going to be discussing at this meeting is making some of those changes more permanent. this is what the nato secretary general had to say. also, address them or long term consequences. long term other taishan, our alliance. how to further strengthen our, the terms of the fence and to remove any room for miscalculation or misunderstanding must go about our in this to protect them, defend all allies. and nato has the responsibility to ensure that this crisis do not escalate beyond ukraine. and that's also reason why we have increase the presence in houston pot reliance. so some of the things they're likely to discuss to recent incursions by drones into nato territory that attack in ukraine, but close to the polish border on a base where we believe that there were forei

so there are a couple things here. nato leaders, specifically us president joe biden has said that nato will protect every inch of its territory. so that's the number one priority on behalf of nato. now, countries bilaterally can do much more to help you crane rather than the nato alliance as a whole. you saw the united states approved in $800.00, a new $800000000.00 aid package to ukraine. that includes more javelins, more stingers helmet, pistols, rifles. there's talk about potential as 300 surface to air missiles from vakio, potentially going to ukraine. so the help here is more on a bilateral basis between countries rather than from nato as an alliance. now it's being said, the trans atlantic partnership appears to be stronger today than it has been in perhaps decades. and the latter mere putin has actually united the west again, do you agree with that? i absolutely agree with that. what's interesting about hooton's decision to invade ukraine is that it's partially driven by the desire for fewer nato troops on russia's border. the desire for ukraine never to join the alliance. ironi

if these are going to be nato planes then nato is going to be in direct war with russia. this is a direct implication to say that nato should police the no—fly zone. so, yes, we press for all the sanctions in all the european fora... but not the no—fly zone? we press for all military assistance to ukraine and yes, i think we should be thinking about enabling, giving ukrainians the military hardware to enforce a no—fly zone. that's to say, to regain the skies. but it's very important, a no—fly zone is not a silver bullet, it's not a panacea. there are cruise missiles, there are artillery which the no—fly zone is not going to affect. ambassador, what do you think when you hear this, what's your response? i think that we need to start immediately with air defence systems in ukraine and with providing assistance with airjets to ukraine from nato. we need them for yesterday. and that will be a decisive move by our partners. let's see what the audience think. put up your hand if you think nato should enforce a no—fly zone over ukraine to stop civilians being hammere

on the ground or nato planes in the air. we do that, be cool. so we have a responsibility to ensure that this conflict do not escalate the beyond ukraine, doctoral course, even more suffering even more. that's even more destruction. our brussels bureau chief, alexander phenomena standing by for us at nato headquarters. hi, alexandra. we heard jen suttonberg say yesterday that nato would double the number of battle groups on its eastern flank. how significant is that most? well, this is a massive brain force meant of nato forces. there. we just have to put it into context. just remembered that before the annexation of crimea in 2014 need to didn't have any battle groups in the region than they then after 2016 decided to establish 4 battle groups. and now they're adding 4 more info, vakio in romania, in bulgaria, and in hungary, at that means $40000.00 troops under direct nato command plus 100000 additional you asked, troops deployed there and this is a massive reinforcement and i think it has to goals 1st of course, 1st of al

it is cruciat— nato and nato's open—door policy. it is crucial for — nato and nato's open—door policy. it is crucial for your's sissy —— security, _ is crucial for your's sissy —— security, and we count on that and we count on— security, and we count on that and we count onjoe biden and our relationship. we count on joe biden and our relationship.— we count on joe biden and our relationship. we count on joe biden and our relationshi -. ., . relationship. you heard it here, in finland may _ relationship. you heard it here, in finland may indeed _ relationship. you heard it here, in finland may indeed join _ relationship. you heard it here, in finland may indeed join nato. - relationship. you heard it here, in| finland may indeed join nato. you finland may indeed 'oin nato. you are ve finland may indeed join nato. gm, are very welcome. finland may indeed 'oin nato. you are very welcome. i]— finland may indeed join nato. you are very welcome. i will— finland may indeed join nato. you are very welcome. i will deliver

this is the last thing putin wanted which is fortifying nato, bolstering nato, unifying nato. this is one part of what they are trying to do here. yes, they want to talk about sanctions. yes, they want to talk about what steps they would take if putin were to take the extreme step of biological weapons, chemical weapons, nuclear weapons and using those but also just the fact they are standing together in this group in such an abruptly scheduled meeting. they want to send a message to putin. >> it's interesting. the president of the united states, secretary of state, other top officials, ambassador to u.n., they were suggesting that the russian military were committing war crimes in ukraine. now it's official. these are war crimes the russian military is committing. that's a significant development right there. >> exactly. it's something they held off doing for several weeks. they were gathering evidence. they weren't prepared to take that step to say that, yes, they have committed war crimes. now it's not just -- it would have been further with this formal announcement with th

there is no threat from nato. nobody can possibly call while anything nato was done as a provocation to russia. whenever mister bruce has in mind, that's only in his mind, but he is an aggressive state. and one of the problem is coming out of this is there is no western stake coating united states that will ever again be able to deal with mister. rush wants to have a healthy relationship, rush is going to have to take care of it on leadership. we're going to discuss that also in a moment. i'd like to get your take on what happens next. but 1st work, signor, if you can just give us some context of this because why would natal want to move east in the 1st place? you know, since 99714 more countries have joined the alliance mainly in the east. well, it's not written, it's the one i repeat. what i said earlier. it's not that natal wanted to movies. it's the fact that there were countries in eastern part of europe that asked to join nato. so therefore there was an organic expansion. there was no great game plan to us,

finland and sweden are nato�*s closest partners outside nato. and here in the nordic region, we have intensified our security cooperation and also military cooperation with common exercises, common training, common procurement, and i wish to see more of that. we can do that under today's circumstances. and then, for norway's security, it is important to say that sweden and finland, as advanced modern states, should have the complete freedom to make their choice. all right, well, i guess you might be saying that. very briefly now, how do you think this is all going to end? you started this interview saying this is a fight about european values. do you think authoritarianism or those european values of civilisation, as you put it, are going to prevail? i think european civilisation is going to prevail. authoritarian rule based on military power, now what we see is a dictatorship, is not part of the european heritage we have to safeguard and take forward. i don't believe that this is a government of the future. it's not what people want. people are

, germany and nato. you know what, what you call a pacifist country is often referred to as a free rider here at here in brussels, at nato. because germany, of course, benefits from the security of the alliance. but many people see it, see it as not having contributed everything it could. and that did all change with this speech. i spoke with someone working in, in the defense establishment in berlin, who said that, you know, up until now without this procurement decision announced yesterday, we would be able to, to know that we could by sort of one quarter of an airplane. we didn't know if we would get the funding after that to buy the rest of the plane. i mean, these things that don't sound that important perhaps to the public ears are really important for german defense. i mean the spending above 2 percent of g d, p, as nato has requested of all allies. that's massive. that of course has been something germany was absolutely lambasted for during the trump administration, but also in softer ways by oth

, the extent to which the nato summit today was really about protecting nato. i mean, obviously, sending additional equipment and weaponry to ukraine was top of the agenda but the real reason for today's meetings was about what can nato do to protect themselves given this brand-new, very, very challenging, they say, security environment in europe. wolf? >> natasha, stand by. kaitlan, you've been getting some new reporting on this so-called tiger team that the u.s. has put together to deal with this horrible contingency, this contingency of russia using chemical, biological or god forbid, nuclear weapons. >> this is basically a group of national security officials inside the administration. they're called a tiger team. they formed a version of this back in the fall when they thought russia might invade ukraine to prepare what that might look like. clearly that paid off given what's happened and four days we learned after the invasion started they authorized another version of it. this time focusing on if putin takes the extreme step of deploying chemical weapons

, pull nato out of ukraine. why did you not just do that? and then call his bluff. but you didn't. it's like watching undercover boss watching the council on foreign relations and all you so-called experts that think you know what you're doing but when it really happens it doesn't -- you don't know what to do with yourself. what i'm looking at is if putin didn't have permission by the powers that be, he wouldn't be doing this. he had, a at the world economic forium, he said build back better. and this was what was going to happen. this is all part of it and you're playing the american people as fools to think that this isn't planned because they would not have turned our pipeline off the second day of this administration if they didn't want to do something on fuel. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i'm hearing a lot of paranoia and conspiracy mongering and name calling on the part of the caller. i'm not hearing a very cogent argument. to be clear, i'm not the person who talked in 2008 about offering nato member

on nato's decision, political. only on nato's decision, political decisions, — only on nato's decision, political decisions, by— only on nato's decision, political decisions, by the _ only on nato's decision, political decisions, by the way. _ only on nato's decision, political decisions, by the way. plato - only on nato's decision, political decisions, by the way.— only on nato's decision, political decisions, by the way. nato will not send tr00ps — decisions, by the way. nato will not send tr00ps to _ decisions, by the way. nato will not send troops to ukraine _ decisions, by the way. nato will not send troops to ukraine but - decisions, by the way. nato will not send troops to ukraine but will - decisions, by the way. nato will not| send troops to ukraine but will send more forces to the neighbouring countries bordering russia as the alliance turns to face east. nato is being rapidly reshaped by the sport in ukraine in ways that the us has been pressing forfour in ukraine in ways that the us has been pressing for four years, in ukraine in ways that the us has been pressing for

good was banking on nato . be split my early conversations that december and early january was clear to me. he didn't think we could sustain this cohesion. nato has never, never been more united than it is today. prudent is getting exactly the opposite. what he intended to have as a consequence of going to ukraine. us present, they're speaking on the war in ukraine. we can take a now to nato h q. terry schultz is the covering events. there are tell you what stood out for you. i think as we heard in that sound by to president biden, was extremely bullish on the trans atlantic cooperation. and on the resolve that the alliance has had, he said that there were 3 main goals that they wanted to accomplish immediately after the invasion. and that was to help ukraine with military and financial assistance to impose harsh economic sanctions on russia. and sorry, sorry. and did these things, he says, have been accomplished, president biden said to bit brushes should not underestimate that the alliance is, is able to cont

so was the install to burg nato secretary general. and, and alina bab, bach, germany's debt to foreign secretary bank from germany. is that foreign minister there at georgia press conference in berlin, watching that with me here in the studios at the w. a political correspondence, simon young. welcome back, simon. did you hear anything new there? well, i think the main messages were ones that we already know that the response from nato is to strengthen its eastern flank as they, as they are calling it. in other words, or what they've been doing over recent months, really putting more boots on the ground in nato's eastern european members in the baltic states in poland, in romania and elder, just to send a message. but also there's more equipment. there's more readiness, there are more plans, there's a greater sense that, you know, any threat coming from the east will, it's obviously, it's obvious where that can come from right now. and you know, that that will be met and nato will defend its territory. so that i think is the, the key

of course, it has an influence often on vladimir, put in when nato is sir showing strength. nato. it's showing it's acting. united nato is moving some additional troops to the eastern flank, to, to poland, to the baltic states, to return to romania. m. this is something that for letting me put in really didn't want to happen. so this is something what he really achieved and it's the opposite of his, of his goals. this is, this is really remarkable or, but i believe also the sir. countries on the eastern flank like poland or especially the smaller countries like lithuania is tonia. they are really willing to get this attention from, from natal. they want me to, to, to, to be there. they want need to send the signals, even if it's a verbal signal saying we want allow an inch of, of our natal territory to be attacked by a, by russia. or, i guess, especially for the smaller countries it's, it's crucial to have this, this, this service, even verbal securities are because the situation is, is unthinkable. we didn't expect this to happen just a couple of weeks ago. what's happening now.

president levits: we have nato military personnel from 10 other nations. 10 other nato nations here. and we have several thousand from others, nato member states, and we have also of course our own military forces. so that's for the moment it is enough. but because of a change of the strategic situation in europe, we need more troops and we need to strengthen all eastern flank of nato and of course latvia is part of the eastern flank. and we will prepare our proposals so that we have more emphasis to defend fence, and -- defense, and of course for the employment of -- deployment of nato troops in our region. baltic region, but in general in the eastern part of europe. missy: it's interesting to see nato's leadership make these decisions following president putin's invasion of ukraine that many countries in eastern europe have been calling for years. we know the baltic nations have warn the west for a really long time about the threat of russia and the need to provide a stronger deterrence, posture in eastern europe. do you think leaders in western europe, in other parts of the trans-

it's, it's the unity of nato. it's all things that happened within the european union that were unimaginable just 6 weeks ago. also the, it's direct shift and german security policy that i mentioned. i want to say one word about foods, motivations, though, i mean in the end we, we don't know what he wants. unfortunately i think only put in himself knows what he wants. but what we do know is that he thinks in, in historical terms, and part of his mission seems to be to correct some of the, what he thinks, mistakes that have been made after the, the end of the cold war. and that he kind of wants to re unite and soviet states referring to ukraine, referring to better route, but also to george. i'm older and, and others. and this is why this is not only about ukraine, but this is really about defending the west and defending western values throwing as we all a proposal said, i wonder what the international community can do. i want to hear from a voice in ukraine about what they believe the world could do to help. this

tight authority. nato. he said the offensive alarms are core tossed. is to keep our 3rd nations safe. we are not part of this conflict and we have a responsibility to ensure it thus not escalate on, spread beyond ukraine. because not would be even more devastating and more dangerous. with even more human suffering, nato is not seeking a war with russia. the kremlin submission is to re create a sphere of influence and deny of the congress the right to choose their own path. so ministers disgust the need to support partners who may be at risk, including georgia. i'm boss nazzo, vena rush. us aggression has created a new normal for our security, where from a mental principles are contested to the use of force. and we face the fit of conflict for years to come. this much est holly, organized relations between states, whether democracy or, or 30 csm, prevails on ultimately what sort of world we want to live in minutes. this agreed that naples relationship with russia house for the mentally changed for the long t

ambassador to nato, julianne smith. she spoke with david ignatius about the russian invasion of ukraine. this is about 20 minutes. >> welcomes the washington post life. i'm david ignatius, columnist at the post. continuing our recent discussions of the war in ukraine i'm pleased our guest today is america's ambassador to nato, ambassador julianne smith . understandably ambassador smith has many engagements at nato headquarters and she'll only be able to join us for 20 minutes so i want to jump right in. thank you for joining us. >> happy to do so, thank you. >> let's start with some information on the situation on the battlefield. today'sreports suggest russian forces are continuing to attack hard from three sides . kyiv and karkiev have not been taken but the mayor of mariupol describes the situation as armageddon. i want to ask you what your assessment of your nato colleagues is about how long the ukrainians can hold these cities. >> first of all let me say that this is not exactly going as planned for russia's milita

concerning nato, nato allies already increased military spending. it is very important for the future in order to increase our capacity to defend ourselves. we will transcend the eastern flank of nato, so that means we have for nato battle groups in the eastern flank countries, in estonia, latvia, ukraine, and poland. they intend to double battle groups from 4 to 8 and there were be for additional cattle roots in slovenia, hungary, romania, and bulgaria. in general, we will increase nato presence in eastern flank countries with more than 48,000 soldiers. 48,000 people will join nato forces here in the eastern flank. i think it is a very important part of our meeting yesterday but it is only a separation for an orderly meeting of the heads of state of nato in june in madrid. this extraordinary meeting was necessary because of russian war against the ukraine and we demonstrated our unity. missy: let's talk about latvia specifically. how many nato portions -- forces are present in latvia and are you satisfied with nato's military presence in the baltic

exactly on that, that commitment by nato - of nato members. exactly on that, i that commitment by nato announced today that they are going to commit 40,000 or so extra troops to the eastern flank, can you just talk through what exec and that means and what consequence that has? because we heard one consequence could be a kind of shoring up of supply lines potentially. it is kind of shoring up of supply lines potentially-— potentially. it is the other flank ofthe potentially. it is the other flank of the ukrainian _ potentially. it is the other flank of the ukrainian defences - potentially. it is the other flank of the ukrainian defences i - potentially. it is the other flank - of the ukrainian defences i suppose what it is on the other side of the border. we have seen a strengthening of the eastern borders of nato members ever since this invasion began a month ago and even before because of the battle groups won't make a big, big difference but as you say, they send a symbolic message and they will help with sending a strong message to presi

the anti nato, or, the nato mirror image. the warsaw pact had a closet mirrored nato's article five. an attack on any member nation would be considered an attack on all. the warsaw pact endured for around 30 years, but in 1989, as the berlin wall came down, and communist governments across eastern europe fell, one by one, the members left the warsaw pact, until it was formally dissolved in 1991. but, nato, the greatest military alliance in the history of the world, took up the slack. all of those warsaw pact countries, ultimately, along with many other former eastern bloc nations, joined nato. but, not ukraine. ukraine has never joined nato. in 2019, it has the constitution to admit itself to, eventually joining nato. of course, russia cited the threat of joining nato, as one of the justifications for its invasion. as far as the nonsensical reasons for the nonsensical attack on ukraine goes, is one that holds almost water. much more during a denazification of ukraine, or the protection of russians inside ukraine, or being sub

but nato as a whole? nato as a _ weapons. but nato as a whole? nato as a whole, _ weapons. but nato as a whole? nato as a whole, first _ weapons. but nato as a whole? nato as a whole, first of - weapons. but nato as a whole? nato as a whole, first of all, - nato as a whole, first of all, is there to protect the territory of nato, but also as a warning to vladimir putin, and one of the things i expect him to talk about in the meeting shortly at nato is in fact to have a discussion about how do we prevent vladimir putin from escalating further, in particular when it comes to the use of chemical or other weapons of mass destruction, including regular weapons. and to say, —— nuclear weapons. and decide if there is a line crossed would lead to direct nato intervention. we are closer to that than we were four weeks ago. i hope there is no further intervention, in fact, we all hope the walk and end as soon as possible and russian forces are withdrawn back to where they came from. but until such time, what is important is for nato to be ready to make clear that certain actions

nato had been formed eight years earlier but there had never been a nato summit. a meeting of all the leaders of the nato countries. that is going to be a major world event. it was a dozen years after world war ii, amid the increasing competition between the west and the soviet union. nato countries were gathered in paris to reaffirm their unity. the undisputed leader of the alliance was president dwight eisenhower, not because he was the american president, after being the commander of allied forces in europe during world war ii, but before he was elected president, eisenhower became the first supreme allied commander of nato. when president eisenhower almost didn't make it to the summit, because just a few weeks before the summit was due to start, this happened. >> illness stocks the chief executive as he stands in the chill autumn air. a chill sensitive to bed. a bear aboard serious news. the following deer that, america hears the -- physician, learns that the president has suffered a mild stroke, resulting in a speech impairment. secretary dallas and other gov

it does seem that nato and nato leader's response is unless they hit a nato nation, they don't have a responsibility but what about the moral responsibility to defend ukraine against the possibility of chemical weapons? >> i heard your previous guest. i met your previous guest' brother, the mayor of kyiv in munich a little over a month ago. i remember meeting a number of ukrainians who, even at that point, as our intelligence said putin was coming in. they didn't even believe he would come in at this level. and i think we eall -- the whole world has been touched by the courage of president zelenskyy and the courage of the ukrainian people. and you hear it in his voice and i'm hearing on intelligence reports in the last few days, it's not -- it's no longer about how long ukrainians can put off the inevitable, the russian forces overcoming them but there's a real feeling and we're seeing this in individual battles could push back the russians. so, i think mato does need do more in terms of more arms. we've sent close to 20,000 antitanks. we're finally getting, in addition to stingers, t

of course, it has an influence of an on vladimir, put in when nato is sir showing strength. nato. it's showing it's acting. united nato is moving some additional troops to, to the eastern flank, to, to poland, to the baltic states, to reduce the romania m. this is something that for letting me put in, it really didn't want to happen. so this is something what he really achieved and it's the opposite of his, of his goals. this is, this is really remarkable. but i believe also these countries on the eastern flank like poland or especially the smaller countries like lithuania is tonia. they are really willing to get this attention from from natal. they want me to to, to be there. they want me to, to send the signals, even if it's a verbal signal saying we want allow an inch of, of our natal territory to be attacked by russia. or, i guess, especially for the smaller countries it's, it's crucial to have this, this, this service, even verbal securities are because the situation is, is unthinkable. we didn't expect this to happen just a couple of weeks ago. what's happening now. marcus,

he wants less nato at his borders, he's getting more nato at his borders. he wants to divide nato. he has actually united, is uniting nato. but there's still a limit as to what nato is willing to do. it stands ready to defend its members, but it won't be using its military power to intervene in ukraine. jonathan beale, bbc news, narvik, norway. sean corbett is a recently retired senior royal air force officer and the ceo of strategic advise company intsight global. these military exercises, how much we read into the significance those first of all? i we read into the significance those first of all? ~' ., we read into the significance those first of all? ~ ., ., ., . first of all? i think not too much at this stage- — first of all? i think not too much at this stage. as _ first of all? i think not too much at this stage. as you said - first of all? i think not too much at this stage. as you said in - first of all? i think not too much at this stage. as you said in the | at this stage. as you said in the clip, these were preplanned and would have been planned very much in advance.

now, _ if ukraine was a member of nato? now. i_ if ukraine was a member of nato? now. ido— if ukraine was a member of nato? now, i do not have an answer to that question. _ now, i do not have an answer to that question. but— now, i do not have an answer to that question, but i think it is worth reflecting — question, but i think it is worth reflecting on. if we look at this question— reflecting on. if we look at this question through a geopolitical lens, _ question through a geopolitical lens, it — question through a geopolitical lens, it is — question through a geopolitical lens, it is all about the nato expansion and russia's security concerns, — expansion and russia's security concerns, ratherfrom expansion and russia's security concerns, rather from the perspective of those countries that ithink— perspective of those countries that i think madeline albright understood very well, _ i think madeline albright understood very well, that wanted to join nato, mavbe _ very well, that wanted to join nato, maybe because they knew the kremlin better— maybe

troops in nato countries, in eastern europe. according to sources familiar with the discussions, an administration official said there is no final decision yet. and president zelenskyy said peace negotiations are moving forward step by step and russian forces continue to attack ukraine's capital, and rockets have caused extensive damage and it's believed several people died in that attack. richard engel remains in kyiv where they are monitoring the movement of russian forces as well as the counter attacks in ukraine's defense. >> this is kyiv here in the center. these russian areas, the red areas are all russian-controlled territory. you see just to the north of kyiv, there's a big russian area, and to the northeast there's another russian area, but what is interesting about this map is all of these blue spots, and there's quite a few of them. there are areas captured by ukrainian forces, recaptured from russian territory or from russian troops just over the last 48 hours with many of them particularly here in this sector over t