‘Russia has already misplaced’: US officials lay out enlighten of Putin’s invasion

Jake Sullivan. Most war. Almost all wars endin some kind of a negotiation. The sort of World War two warwhere one side complete only annihilates. The other is very, very rare in history. What will that that end? What will those negotiations look like? The Chinese have put out this. I don't know what they're call it,a peace plan.

It's just out it's a 12 point documentdetailing its position, calling for the end of hostilitiesand the resumption of peace talks. Is there anything to this? What is your reaction? Well, my first reaction to itis that it could stop at point one, which is respectthe sovereignty of all nations. That's the first point in the 12 pointplan. This war could end tomorrowif Russia stopped attacking Ukraine and withdrew its forces.Ukraine wasn't attacking Russia.

Naito wasn't attacking Russia. The United States wasn't attacking Russia. This was a war of choiceby Putin waged upon Ukraine. And it could endif he simply left Ukraine. And that is the best way for this warto end. Now, I cannot predict the future. What I can tell youis that the United States is not going to dictateto Ukraine how this war ends. President Biden tells President Zelenskyand our allies.

At every opportunitynothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. It is the Ukrainians who will decide howthey proceed towards the end to this war. Our job is to put them in the bestpossible position on the battlefield. So they are in the best possible position to be able to do diplomacywhenever they choose to do diplomacy. And that is how we are going to proceed. But I think there's one more importantpoint as we approach this anniversary and is actually the anniversary has arrived in Ukraine, and that isRussia has already lost this war.

Russia's aims inthis war were to wipe Ukraine off the map, to take the capital and to eliminateUkraine, to absorb it into Russia. They failed at doing that, and they are in no positionto be able to do that as we go forward. And it is important for everyoneto remember that the courage and bravery of the Ukrainian peoplehas already accomplished that objective and the support of the United Statesand our allies and partners around the world has helped contribute to that. But where this goes from here.

Is something that will play outover the coming months. What we know is day by dayWe simply have to keep doing our job, which is to give the Ukrainiansthe tools they need to defend themselves. So whateverhappens at the end of this war, Ukraine is going to need a massive amountof reconstruction and assistance. Does the world have the capacities? The United States have the capacityfor the kind of thing you know, people talk about a Marshall Planlike there was after 1945 to help Europe rebuild.

Is that the kind of scalewe need to be thinking about? Well, I think we associatethe Marshall Plan with a moment, right, just as we associatethe end of the war or two with a moment. And it looks as though recoveryand reconstruction in Ukraine, at least for the timebeing, is going to happen differently. Just this month, earlierthis month, the world Bank announced $50 million to invest in the repairand restoration of the transport networks,the transport infrastructure in Ukraine. And that's how U.S.

Aid is proceeding as we try to catalyzethe involvement of the European Bank for Reconstruction Development. The big international financialinstitutions and to get the private sector to be interested in coming back to those parts of Ukrainethat are relatively peaceful and even to continue to make investmentselsewhere. We just strucka Public-Private partnership with Bayer, which is building a new seed factoryin Ukraine, which is going to employ thousands of Ukrainians.

The more Ukrainians are employed, the more revenue there is the lessassistance will need to come from outside. So this is going to be from withinand from without. But I think it's not necessarilygoing to be an on off switch. It's something we want moreUkrainian refugees to be in a position to come home to have infrastructurethat awaits them where they can live in buildingsthat have been repaired. But, of course, the damagethat some estimates is that the damage so far has been $130 billion if you takearable land, homes, hospitals, schools.

So this is going to bea mammoth undertaking. The other thing we want to do nowis with an eye to those big ticket items, which most of which will happenonly when there is a negotiated peace. But we have to make sure that resources are going to bewell spent. When you have those huge investments which go well beyondwhat is being provided right now, that's when, of course,you want to make sure that you have the safeguards in placeso that all outside investors and donors.

Know that and can say to their citizens that this is moneythat's going to be well spent. But I think President Biden has spokenreally eloquently, powerfully to how much enthusiasm there will bewhen this war is officially over. You know,a number of actors are on the outside really wanting to be a part of the longerterm solution. But getting the institutional frameworksright is something we can be working on right now. In addition to these stopgap recoveryefforts.

Jake, I got to ask you one final question. We've talked all about the world,Russia, Ukraine. We haven't talked aboutwhat's going on in the United States. Do you worry when you hear voiceslike Governor DeSantis, Senator Hawley, Senator Vance questioning why the United States is doingthis, asking why we should be spending this money, wondering whether we should be taking a more neutral position What I find so interesting.

About that perspective, we can't operate in the worldbecause we have to operate at home is it presents a fundamentally false choicethat is not at all who America is. We can both invest at home and provide for the safetyand well-being of the American people. And we can lead in the world. And that's what we have done at our best under Democraticand Republican presidents for decades. The United States is capableas a powerful self-assured nation.

We have the resources,we have the talents, we have the energies of our peopleto solve our own problems here. And President Biden has done morein two years to invest in this country, to build jobs,to provide for the social safety net, to deal with the problems that people sitaround their kitchen tables and think about while at the same timemobilizing a coalition of free nations to support the valuesthat Americans hold so dear. So what I would say to those senatorsis, yes, let's do these things at home. But are you sayingthat America is incapable of also.

Helping to serve a powerful forcefor good in the world? I don't think that the American peoplebelieve that. I think the American people thinkwe are capable of doing both. And at our best,that is exactly what we have done. And I believe that a lot of the momentsI've seen in this last year in Ukraine, from those flags waving in small townsthat Samantha was talking aboutto the people in the U.S. government who are trying to supportfolks like you who are on the front lines,that has been America at its best.

And so I think that there's a pessimismin this argument that these senators are making. President Biden has an optimistic view,which is we can do it and we should do it and we are doing it. And as a result, I believe that democracies in the worldare getting stronger, not weaker, as the president said, and autocraciesare getting weaker, not stronger. And that is betterfor every single person in this country.

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