Return to Transcripts main page
Fareed Zakaria GPS
Interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; Interview with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Kidnapped By Russia; How Russia's Invasion Upended Ukrainian Life; Ukrainian Women Fighting On The Front Lines. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired September 14, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:32]
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: This is GPS, the GLOBAL PUBLIC SQUARE. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world. I'm Fareed Zakaria coming to you from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Behind me is Saint Michael's, an iconic symbol of the city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: Today on the program. Last weekend, Russia launched the largest air attack on Kyiv since the war began three and a half years ago.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: It's our land.
ZAKARIA: I talked to President Zelenskyy about the current state of war and the prospects for peace.
ZELENSKYY: We know that we can't trust Putin. He will not stop.
ZAKARIA: I also talked to Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland, a nation that just joined NATO two years ago. I'll ask him about Ukraine's hope to be part of that alliance.
Also, Ukraine says Russia has taken at least 20,000 of its children. Stripped them of their Ukrainian identity and reeducated them.
I will tell you the amazing story of Vlad, who was kidnaped by Russians at gunpoint at just 16 years of age, and then managed to escape.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: But first, here's "My Take."
Traveling to Ukraine this year has felt different, more tense even than in the months after the 2022 full scale invasion. The new sense of anxiety was palpable before I entered the country. My flight landed in Lublin, Poland, the closest major Polish airport to the Ukrainian border. But I couldn't get off the plane. The airport had been temporarily shut down. Overnight NATO jets shot down a swarm of Russian drones that had
entered Polish airspace, and the country was on high alert. In that atmosphere, a set of unattended bags at Lublin Airport understandably triggered an emergency search.
The dominant facts of life in Ukraine are now Russian drone attacks and therefore ubiquitous air raid warnings. For the first time since the war began, I downloaded an app that notifies me about air alerts.
Most attacks come after dark, and locals complain about endless nights of constant interruptions, trips to shelters and sleeplessness. Many have turned their phones off, banking on Ukraine's air defense system that so far has intercepted most incoming projectiles. But the Russians are getting better, and some of them do get through, as happened last weekend when an Iskander cruise missile hit the main government building in the heart of Kyiv, which houses the offices of many cabinet ministers.
Kyiv is still a beautiful and lively city, full of cafes and trendy shops, but all this is now overlaid by a jittery new normal. Some people talk about leaving Kyiv simply to get away from the air raids and sleeplessness. Others have devised their own strategies to cope. But none of this translates into a weakening of resolve.
Surrender is not really an option. For most this is a battle for their survival as a nation. People just seem resigned to a grim long fight. In a way, the mood inside Ukraine mirrors some of the realities outside. There was some sense of movement a few months ago. President Trump seemed determined and energized to end the war. He even appeared to have a plan of sorts that might have seemed unjust, but was a practical strategy in its own way.
He would force Ukraine to accept terms that seemed likely to get Putin to agree to end the war. American officials, including Trump, made clear that Russia would likely get to keep what it had conquered, that Ukraine would never become a member of NATO, that the U.S. would not send in troops to guarantee Ukraine's sovereignty, and that Trump looked forward to reengaging with Russia economically after the war was over.
In other words, before even getting to the negotiating table, Washington agreed to most Russian demands.
It didn't work. Despite those preemptive concessions, despite a personal invitation to Putin to negotiate with Trump, despite a warm red carpet welcome, Putin stood his ground.
[10:05:05]
His demands for Ukraine have always been maximalist. He wants a Ukraine that is territorially dismembered economically precarious and militarily weak. This would make it like Belarus and Georgia, other parts of Russia's czarist sphere of influence, totally beholden to Moscow. Any outcome that allows for a sovereign, independent, pro- Western, liberal democracy with a functioning market economy would be, for Putin, a dangerous loss. The peace overtures and concessions seem to have convinced Putin that,
far from backing down, he can press forward. In the last few weeks, Russian attacks have damaged an American factory in western Ukraine and the offices of the British Council and the European Union Mission headquarters in Kyiv. And it has now violated Polish airspace. Until the incursion into Poland, there had been no western response other than words of condemnation.
Putin seems to be following Lenin's famous probe with bayonet strategy, as recounted by Richard Nixon of all people. Quote, "If you encounter mush, proceed. If you encounter steel, withdraw."
Finally, after the violation of Polish airspace, NATO fighter jets were activated and shot down the Russian drones. Some here feel that Europe is often slow and feckless, but no one doubts that it wants Ukraine to win this war. The central question in everyone's mind is, what is the Trump administration's actual goal?
Trump speaks of putting pressure on Putin, but then does this in a bizarre, indirect fashion. Punishing India for buying Russian oil under an oil cap scheme promoted by Washington, rather than punishing Russia itself. He talks about ending the war but speaks fondly of Putin and the economic deals that America will make with him.
Neither he nor anyone in his administration acts like securing a free and independent Ukraine is itself a crucial goal. The administration has never outlined a plan to help Ukraine fight with greater military might, the only real pressure that Russia will feel immediately. And as long as what Putin hears from Washington is mush, he will keep pressing his bayonet forward.
Go to CNN.com/Fareed for a link to my "Washington Post" column this week, and let's get started.
I want to turn now to the man at the center of this country's fight. That is, of course, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has led Ukraine against more than three and a half years of full scale Russian attacks. Today, Moscow's troops occupy about a fifth of the country and have been inching forward over the summer in the east.
I sat down with Zelenskyy on Friday at the Yalta European Strategy Conference in Kyiv. I first asked him what President Putin had gained from his summit with President Trump in Alaska.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: What Putin wanted was to delay sanctions, to delay any further measures that were taken that would pressure Russia, and to pretend that he was willing to negotiate. So wouldn't you say that Putin, in a sense, got everything he wanted from this meeting and Trump did not?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I can't -- I don't know who from them have got something or everything. I don't know, really, but I think that, for Putin, it was a successful meeting, first, with the president of the United States. Second, on the territory of the United States. He got images with the president of the United States and he didn't promise for a ceasefire.
But again, maybe he promised something to President Trump. I don't know, but he didn't so -- and he postponed sanctions and postponed any strong pressure. What really Putin understands the Trump can do.
ZAKARIA: You said you're not sure what was debated -- what was discussed and agreed to in the summit?
ZELENSKYY: I don't know. I don't know.
ZAKARIA: President Trump called you afterwards. Did -- what did he tell you?
ZELENSKYY: I had so many conversations with him. Really I don't remember all the details.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAKARIA: You've become a very good diplomat.
(LAUGHTER)
[10:10:02]
ZAKARIA: How is your --
ZELENSKYY: We'll see.
ZAKARIA: How is your relationship with him?
ZELENSKYY: With president.
ZAKARIA: With President Trump now?
ZELENSKYY: Very good. What can I say? I think that we have -- I think that we have good relations with the United States, with the -- with the President Trump, and around him, a lot of different voices.
ZAKARIA: There are people in the United States who say, look, the Ukrainians need to recognize they're not going to get that territory back. And if Putin wants all of Donetsk, if that is the price of peace, if Ukraine can be sovereign and independent and a member of the -- of the West and Europe, so give away a little bit of territory. And I ask you this because there is this view in America.
What is -- what is the response? Why not? If you really want peace, why not accept, at least for now, maybe not legally, but accept the reality and say that is where -- that is we will take as much as we can in order to get peace?
ZELENSKYY: I'm not sure that in the United States people support this idea. Like American said, the swap the territories because people really recognize the territorial integrity of Ukraine and they know the price of all these battles from the very beginning. I mean, more than 11 years ago and high price from the very, very beginning of full scale invasion. And we know that we can't trust Putin. He will not stop.
So there is an order of the points of discussions. The first, we need meeting with outcome of ceasefire. And he is not ready for the meeting for today. It's true. Yes. Then if he wants to speak about territories and about some historical crazy things and et cetera, I'm ready to speak with him. But not through Americans, not through Europeans. With their support, yes, but not through.
It's our land. It's our people. It's our nation. It's our history, our identity. And that's why.
(APPLAUSE)
ZAKARIA: You're ready to meet face to face with Putin.
ZELENSKYY: Yes. Face to face.
ZAKARIA: You mentioned --
ZELENSKYY: Sometimes we need it. Even if we don't love faces.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: After I was done asking questions, I opened it up to the floor. And Poland's foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, asked President Zelenskyy about what Ukraine needed to achieve a just and lasting peace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): We cannot even raise the issue. How long would it take? What we need if Russia constantly receives components for its missiles from various companies? So here there is no solution except to put sanctions on private companies of any state. And this must stop the supply of components for missiles.
As regards long range fires, we were at the moment when practically the United States and other partners were thinking whether to give Ukraine long range weaponry or not. And we have found our own. As of now we have our own long range capabilities. We just lack financing. There is financing for drones. I'm not saying that to mock any of the partners, but it's not a solution, right?
For 800 Shaheds per day at Ukrainian territory, we need at least 1,500 interceptors. The price of one interceptor is 3,000 euros. That is the answer to how to stop the Shaheds. And so that Russia does not want to morrow to send 800 Shaheds. We must send 1,000 drones to their territory to retaliate.
So what we need from the partners to counter Shaheds, we need financing from our partners. These are not global decisions. These are fast decisions that must be done today.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZAKARIA: My thanks to President Zelenskyy.
Next on GPS, I talk to a European leader who has that most rare quality. He is liked by Donald Trump. Finland's president, Alexander Stubb, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:19:07]
ZAKARIA: Finland has been a leading voice for the Ukrainian cause. The Nordic nation shares an 830 mile long border with Russia and joined NATO only in 2023, spurred on by Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. More recently, Finland's President Alexander Stubb has become an important bridge between Donald Trump and the leaders of the European Union.
Back now to the stage of the YES conference. This time with President Stubb.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: President Stubb, a pleasure to have you. Tell us, how did you develop -- how has it happened that the president of Finland is now seen by Europeans, by people around the world as one of the closest interlocutors with Donald Trump?
ALEXANDER STUBB, FINNISH PRESIDENT: Well, I mean, I think Finns are actually usually quite down to earth and humble so the first thing to say is that I certainly don't want to inflate my role.
[10:20:04]
I think a country like Finland obviously has a long border with Russia. We have a long history and experience with Russia, but I think that Finland is very much in the back office. So we're trying to have a dialogue with President Trump. We're trying to have a dialogue with President Zelenskyy.
But I firmly believe that it's the big players in Europe that are in the front office and doing the heavy lifting. If we can help a little bit in the background, I think that's good.
ZAKARIA: So you were part of the European delegation that spoke to President Trump after the summit with Putin. What was your sense? Was President Trump disappointed? And if so, what was he planning to do about it?
STUBB: My sense was that we wanted to keep the process alive and out of that, the process was alive. In other words, we agreed to work on security guarantees or security arrangements together with Europe and the United States. And we also agreed to try to work at a bilateral -- trilateral between President Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin.
So I mean, disappointment wasn't the word. I think it was an important meeting to have. And now the process moves on. I think what we need to understand in peace mediation is that a lot of times it takes patience.
ZAKARIA: Do you feel that, going forward, President Trump is now willing to put more pressure on Putin, including direct military pressure, which seems to be the most important immediate one?
STUBB: I don't think direct military pressure is in the cards. I mean, we have our military planning for the security guarantees, and they have been pretty much finalized. But I do feel that the president, and I'm sort of speaking under the authority of General Kellogg here, is getting increasingly frustrated with Putin and increasingly impatient.
ZAKARIA: When you think about what it would take to end the war, do you think that Ukraine has to be prepared for some painful compromises regarding territory?
STUBB: I would never like for that to happen to Ukraine, so that's why I think it's important that we focus on independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity for Ukraine.
(APPLAUSE)
ZAKARIA: But let me ask the uncomfortable question, which is, if you insist on those, what I would describe as maximalist demands that Ukraine retain all its territory when it has lost about 20 percent of it to Russia, and there's no -- there's no plan to regain that, isn't that an argument, then that means there will -- there will not be an end to the war?
STUBB: Well, not necessarily. So let's start from the basic -- basics. What has been proposed is an unconditional ceasefire on the line of contact, which is basically the 20 percent. So no land swaps whatsoever. If you establish that ceasefire, that is when the negotiations actually begin about land and other elements. So I don't think that we should go ahead of ourselves.
What we're seeing is more or less constant maximalist requests and demands coming from Russia. So therefore I think it's very important that Ukraine continues to push for maximalist demands as well.
ZAKARIA: You've spoken to President Trump a lot over these -- over the last year. Do you feel that he is getting closer to wanting to put the kind of pressure on Putin that would really make a difference?
STUBB: Yes, definitely. I mean, you know, never underestimate the capacity of President Trump to negotiate a deal. I mean, that's what I've learned and looking at it close up. Obviously he's been engaged in international affairs over the past little bit less than a year, very actively. I mean, he's negotiated peace agreements, he's negotiated ceasefires. And the difficulty, of course, if you are the president of the United States is you're trying to juggle many different issues.
So, you know, Israel's attack on Qatar came straight in the middle of a discussion that we had on, you know, what are we going to do with Russia and Putin? So I am confident that in the long run, we'll find a solution. You know, we don't know what that solution is going to be. But I repeat, once again, peace mediation is a business of patience. So I'm confident that eventually we'll get there. Certainly we're closer to peace today than we were yesterday.
ZAKARIA: President Stubb, thank you very much. Pleasure.
STUBB: Thank you, Fareed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: Next on GPS, I'll tell you an incredible story about a Ukrainian teen named Vlad who was kidnapped by Russian soldiers and brought to a camp to be indoctrinated in all things Russia. He's not alone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:29:31]
ZAKARIA: Vlad Rudenko may be just 19 years old, but one thing is certain. He is a fighter. He is one of eight children raised in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, near the Black Sea. He learned to box, in part to show his siblings how to be strong. He needed that strength after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In March of that year, Russian troops took Kherson. That October, they took Vlad. He was kidnaped from his home by armed Russian soldiers. And he is not alone. The Ukrainian government says that nearly 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine since the war began, but the real number, many say, is likely much higher.
Save Ukraine is one important organization that is working to repatriate the children, and they were the ones that helped Vlad escape eight months after his capture. I sat down with Vlad at Save Ukraine's Hope and Healing Center this week outside Kyiv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: So, tell me, what was it like when you first heard about the Russians coming to Kherson?
VLAD RUDENKO, UKRAINIAN KIDNAPPED BY RUSSIA AT 16 (through translator): I have friends. And the day before the full-scale invasion, we were sitting at the playground next to their house, talking about how we were about to face Russians if they would come to Kherson. We, 15, 16-year-olds, were talking about how we are going to kill Russian soldiers.
The next morning, my mom woke me up saying, honey, wake up, the war has begun. The next thing I hear is a passing missile towards Chornobaivka airfield. I stand up, go to the balcony and see that missile flying towards that airfield. And then I really comprehended that war has for sure begun.
ZAKARIA: Eight months after the invasion, you're home alone, right? And what happens then? RUDENKO (through translator): On 8th of October, three Russian soldiers broke into my apartment with firearms and told me to pack up in 30 minutes and follow them in unknown direction to me. I didn't have a cell phone at the time. It was also early in the morning, so I couldn't even think of leaving a note for my mom. I packed up and had to follow them.
Seventeen buses were waiting for us to take us to Crimea where we were given the paper with the date of entry. The date of exit is missing. And then I started to think that I might never return to Ukraine.
ZAKARIA: So, the first place you go to in Crimea is this place called Camp Friendship? Tell us what that was like.
RUDENKO (through translator): First of all, after we arrived, the chief of security, Astakhov, directed us to give up everything Ukrainian from our stuff and forbid us to speak Ukrainian language completely.
I had a small Ukrainian flag that I didn't give up and hung in my room. And always as I was looking at it, I remembered my family and hoped to return to Ukraine as soon as possible. As we arrived, Astakhov told us that we will not come back to Ukraine, that we might stay up to six, 10 whatever years.
ZAKARIA: So, when you were at Camp Friendship, there was a Russian flag in the camp ground and you didn't like that. Tell the story of what you did and what the -- what the Russians did to you.
RUDENKO (through translator): One day, when I was in the camp, the idea of taking the Russian flag down crossed my mind for what Russia had done to me, to my family, separated us. And in the evening, I went and took the Russian flag down, replacing it with my underwear, and threw the Russian flag to the trash in the bathroom and went to the room.
And the next morning, everyone was looking not on the Russian flag but on my underwear listening to the Russian national anthem. But in three days the chief of security, Astakhov, found me and gave me two options. Either we go to the police or put me in isolation for seven days. I chose the second option to stay in the camp but in an isolated room.
The first day I protested, saying that I didn't want to be there, that my will was being harassed. They restricted me from seeing anybody, from reading books, from being outside. Locked me in the room with the bed, toilet and a little window with bars.
[10:35:00]
ZAKARIA: As a teenager, to be put in solitary confinement sounds just so brutal. Would you say that was the darkest period for you of all during this period?
RUDENKO (through translator): Yes. Why? Because every morning I was waking up with a thought of why would I live this life, if I might be here until the time my mom comes here and takes me. It could have lasted for a very long time.
I am 16 years old and I had suicidal thoughts of cutting my veins or my throat, or hanging myself because I was forbidden to do anything and I could do absolutely nothing with it.
ZAKARIA: From here they send you to a military academy and they teach you how to shoot a gun. Did they think they were going to teach you to be a Russian soldier who would fight against the Ukrainian army?
RUDENKO (through translator): To be honest, I didn't have such thoughts. But as I see now on YouTube, Instagram, Telegram that Russia really recruits Ukrainian teenagers to fight against their country, trying to convince and force them in any way possible to fight on an enemy's side.
I was 16 at the time and I didn't think about it then. But later, I was told that we were about to move to Krasnodar to be deployed on Navy destroyers for trainings. And then, of course, I started to think about all that and about what would happen to my family back in Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: Ukrainian officials say that one of Russia's objectives in kidnapping Ukrainian children is to train future soldiers. And researchers confirmed that many of these children do end up in combat training. Next, Vlad's ultimate escape from Russia and Russian control and the heroic feats of his mother to make it all happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:41:54]
ZAKARIA: In 2023, Vlad's mother, Tatiana, decided she had had enough. She wanted -- no, she needed her son back. So, she began a hero's journey to find her son. She went through Ukraine, Poland, Belarus into Russia, which is, of course, enemy territory, down to Russian occupied Lazurne in Kherson where Vlad was being held in a military academy. She demanded to be reunited with her son.
As reported in the publication "Christianity Today," when she arrived, she was held for three days and interrogated and threatened with 25 years in jail. Her release and the release of her son had a very important condition. We'll pick up the story there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: They say they'll let you out if you and your mother record a video. What did they make you say in the video? And how did you feel? Because I assume you were saying things you didn't believe in.
RUDENKO (through translator): She had three days of interrogation. And only after three days, they say we have to make a video of us saying that we will stay in Russia, that Russia is a great state that doesn't target civilians and doesn't kidnap Ukrainian children, that my mom sent me there to the camps. Only after filming that video, we were released. That's how I returned in Ukraine with the help of Save Ukraine. They helped me and my mom very much.
ZAKARIA: There are thousands and thousands of other children whom Russia has taken, who are still in Russia, some of them in these camps, some of them in military academies. What would you say to them? What is your message to them if they could hear you?
RUDENKO (through translator): Firstly, they are very afraid that they are not awaited in Ukraine. They think that Ukraine has forgotten them. But that's not true. I am an example of someone who was returned in 2023. I was 17 at the time.
The experience of coming back to Ukraine was eye opening. Being in Russia under occupation in Lazurne, under influence of that insane Russian brainwashing machine where there is no freedom of speech, I was restricted in everything. I couldn't go out for a walk, couldn't talk to my family, couldn't meet anyone and start any relations.
But back in Ukraine, I bloomed. I saw the world. I started boxing again. Where Russia is present, freedom of speech doesn't exist. To all the kids there, come back. We are waiting for you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: My thanks to Vlad for sharing that extraordinary story. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for war crimes for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the head of the children's program in Russia.
[10:45:07]
The charges are related to the kidnap and attempted reeducation of Ukrainian children. Moscow denies accusations of war crimes and claims it took these children out of war zones for their own protection. Next on GPS, meet this female medic in the Ukrainian military whose job is so secretive she cannot show us her face.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:13]
ZAKARIA: War changes a society. World War II brought millions of women into the workforce, transforming female roles and setting the stage for greater social equality. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the number of women serving in the Ukrainian military has more than doubled, according to "The Economist."
There are now around 70,000 female fighters, all of them volunteers. Katya is one of these women. She serves as a medic in Ukraine's Special Operations Forces. And because she's in special ops, she must keep her face hidden to protect her identity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: So, Katya, tell me a little bit about what life was like for you before the war began. KATYA, COMBAT MEDIC CORPSMAN, UKRAINIAN SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES: Before the war began, I had a very nice, very beautiful life in a small France city where I was studying, and I just enjoyed my life. I want to become a lawyer and I dream about -- about -- in one day, I dreamed to go back to the Ukraine and do something great for my country, to change something for people.
ZAKARIA: So, to make the system better here.
KATYA: Yes, yes.
ZAKARIA: And when the war happened, what happened? What did you decide to do?
KATYA: When the war happened, I remember, I just woke up and see this news. And I decide for myself to go back immediately to my country.
ZAKARIA: But you never thought of staying in France. You wanted to go back to Ukraine.
KATYA: Yes. Yes. I -- you know, in this war I'm fighting for the values. It's one of the points why I participate to the Ukrainian army, its values. I want to live in a democratic, free, independent country.
ZAKARIA: So, tell me, what does -- what does a day look like for what you do now?
KATYA: I work in Special Operation Forces. I'm a combat medic corpsman. And, for example, I can wake up at 7:00 and my team leader calls me and says, we have a mission in some place in Ukraine. We go in some city.
ZAKARIA: So, every morning you wake up, you don't know where you're going to go?
KATYA: Yes. I work with drone units and we always change the place where we -- where from the drones fly.
ZAKARIA: So, it's where you're going to launch the drone. So, you go to -- you go to wherever, and it's usually on the front lines.
KATYA: Yes.
ZAKARIA: What do you think is the hardest thing you've done since you've joined the army?
KATYA: The hardest things, I think, you know, when you do your medical work and do all -- what you can and more but your teammate, unfortunately, dies. It's the most difficult.
ZAKARIA: So, you couldn't -- you couldn't help the person.
KATYA: Yes, you do all what you can, what you know, but the miracle, unfortunately, impossible in the front line.
ZAKARIA: Tell me what it's like being a woman in an army in Ukraine.
KATYA: You know, the Ukrainian army isn't ready for too many women previously. But now they try to change. And I remember my first year in the army and I called some Ukrainian NGO, Zemliachky, and I asked them to send me female uniform because we don't have a female uniform.
And the second problem, I think, it's natural, but I don't feel, you know, there are some sexisms or something like that or discrimination. I don't have a problem with that in my unit. But I see how my teammates try to protect me.
In critical situations they -- I don't know why they want to protect me like, you know, I'm chief of the unit.
[10:55:04]
I don't know why.
ZAKARIA: Do you appreciate that? Or do you feel like, no, let me be --
KATYA: Yes, but --
ZAKARIA: Let me be equal.
KATYA: Yes, but sometimes I say, slow down. I'm a soldier like you.
ZAKARIA: We're now in almost a fourth year of the war. Are you getting tired? How do you feel?
KATYA: I have a strong motivation to do what I'm doing. So, I continue to do my work as long time as my country needs it.
ZAKARIA: Do you think it's going to be a long time?
KATYA: It can be, yes. I don't believe about, you know, fast peace, fast -- fair peace. Yes.
ZAKARIA: If it's fast, it won't be fair.
KATYA: Yes.
ZAKARIA: Well, Katya, thank you so much.
KATYA: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAKARIA: That is our show. Thanks to all of you for being part of it from Kyiv this week. I will see you next week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
