Mr. Secretary, what is the purpose of your visit to Ukraine on this occasion?
I came here to support the workforce at Kyivstar. As a relatively new member of Kyivstar. I wanted to get out and meet the team. We’ve had a board meeting. I'll also interact with the national police here to encourage them. And then I'll meet with a couple of government officials, too.
Kyivstar is a centrality, it's important to Ukraine and the work that it's doing. Everyone's got a keen interest in the cyber-attack on it that recently took place, as well. I've been involved in the response to that.
And then I just love this place. I love Ukraine. I've been here now a dozen or so times and my wife and I both have a deep affection for the people of Ukraine.
How is the uncertainty about how Russia's war against Ukraine will go affecting investment in the beleaguered country?
It would be foolish to say that that war doesn't have an impact on the willingness of capital to come to Ukraine. But two thoughts. Kyivstar is hard at it. It's going to invest $600 million over the next three years in building up systems, making the system more reliable, adding new services for the people of Ukraine as well.
And I'm watching American and European companies, too, now identify projects that work. Work, no matter how this conflict goes on. They know that there's building that can take place, and there are opportunities.
What they're looking to make sure is that there's rule of law, transparency, due process, all of the things that if you're a capital provider, you can't deal with.
Ukraine’s Largest Mobile Operator Knocked Out in Cyberattack, Millions Lose Phone and Internet Service
You can deal with all kinds of commercial risk. The risk that your company may get nationalized, or your company may have some regulatory risk – those are things that cause companies to walk away from making investments. And then when you add the war to it, that would make it hard.
I can see there's a lot more people sitting there trying to figure out how to put money in here, and I'm very hopeful I can be part of helping them work their way through it.
What is your own assessment of how things in Ukraine are going in the business sector, and what would be your recommendations?
Kyivstar had a great 2023, a fantastic year. It has to do not only in its performance as a business but serving its customers, keeping the reliability rate of the system up, adding deeper technologies, all of those things.
And as you know, it got a little harder. Some of the employees are serving the country, so that’s added a twist, as it has for every Ukrainian company. But the resilience of the Ukrainian people has allowed the company still to perform its mission on behalf of the country and the Ukrainian people.
Customers are still growing, competition still exists in many sectors including in Kyivstar’s. Those are all the hallmarks of economies that are doing well in spite of the complexity of doing so in a war zone.
But we recently had this threat or talk of the nationalization of Kyivstar. Has that prospect receded?
I became involved about the same time that this issue arose publicly. If there's one thing I know – I was a small business owner in Wichita, Kansas before I lost my mind and ran for Congress – businesspeople need to know that they're secure in their property rights.
And that matters to Kyivstar. It has literally no Russian connection. It's 100% owned by the international VEON Group, headquartered in the Netherlands and listed on NASDAQ and Euronext, which got out of Russia as quickly as it could. It had a significant operation there. But it just said, fine, take it. It chose Ukraine.
And so, companies that do that ought to be able to have confidence that they're not going to have their property rights diminished.
That applies certainly for Kyivstar, but I think your larger point is, if you're Goldman Sachs or Blackstone or a large US manufacturer, Archer-Daniels-Midland, an industrial company like Halliburton or Schlumberger, whoever it might be, and are thinking about an investment in Ukraine, and you see a national company like Kyivstar, so central to the country, being dogged by the government, putting the ownership of it at risk or, reducing their property rights, you're going to think twice before you come and place your capital.
So, I think the Ukrainian government leadership does see and understands that.
And yet a French businessman has just expressed interest in buying a competitor company to Kyivstar.
Absolutely. You make the exact right point. Yes, there's deep interest here. This is an important market with good people and massive commercial opportunities. It can only be limited by the extent of the Ukrainian government’s ability to set up the conditions for businesspeople to make that foreign direct investment.
Obviously, our readers would want to know from a person like yourself, Mr. Secretary, your thoughts about the situation in the United States. So, I can't avoid asking you the following: Given the political standoff in Congress and society generally, what are the chances that the US will resume providing aid in sufficient quantities to Ukraine? And in the longer term, as we await to see what happens later in the year, what are the political risks for US-Ukraine relations?
I'm convinced the United States will continue to provide the support that Ukraine needs. Regardless of party politics inside the United States, it is the consensus view across the large swath of the American political leadership that it is important to America to continue to support Ukraine's effort to push back against the atrocities of Vladimir Putin. I just think that's fundamentally true.
And when you believe that core proposition – we'll have our political noise, but the signal, right? And if you just separate the noise from the signal, the signal will be that we're going to be with the Ukrainian people. We're going to help them win.
Last thought on this. And I don't, I don't do politics when it comes to national security things that are so just so central to humanity.
One of the things I hope we see is not only the United States, but Europe as well, permitting Ukraine to win, indeed willing them to win, indeed providing them the research they need to achieve victory. Not a standoff, not a stalemate, but the capacity to actually get to an end state – that is Ukrainian political independence from Russia and a security structure, security architecture, which reduces the risk that this ever happens again.
Those are the two fundamental things that I think the United States must stand with Ukraine for. We shouldn't limit how you can use weapons systems. We should provide you with everything that you need.
And when we do that, you will win, and the world will be a safer place. So, that’s the bottom line.
So, you remain an optimist?
Definitely! It's a necessity. We have to win. Not only absolutely for the people of Ukraine, absolutely for the people of Europe, but also absolutely or the people of America. To demonstrate American leadership here is essential.
And, you know, the old Churchill line, which is something like this: America always does the right thing after they've exhausted all the other possibilities. That remains true some 70 years on. I'm convinced we'll do the right thing.
Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us. Success to you and all of us.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
Comments (9)
@Troll jack needs putinrump,
Thats great troll jack!.....'Pompeo has the ear of putinrump.'
putinrump....a man lacking morals and respect for most laws and the democratic electoral process, who lies congenitally and lavishes praise on putin for invading Ukraine. A man who would let putin do whatever the hell he wanted to to a democratic ally, and openly states he will do nothing to support Ukraine.
With all that going for him who in a country trying to banish its past putin’esque corruption, would not want a person with such a connection.
I doubt even Pompeo would wish to list putinrump as a reference.
Did they teach you about sarcasm in MRGA troll school yet troll jack?
@Jack Griffin, this was not my post. I do not employ such language. Pompeo is privUkrainevandvhasvthe ear of President-elect Trump. Pompeo was first in his class at West Point. And thanks again Mark for calling out Johnnthecloon from Canada.
John, Get some Professional help! You really are a fucking lunatic. It’s probably all those Covid “vaccines” you had. Seriously dude, get some fucking help.
@Mark, Hey ...you remembered...thanks so much for your concern troll Mark!
I think the vaccines had the side effect of making me want to help Ukraine. It's like I want to do more of it each day.
Are your MRGA putinrump supporting side effects the results of catching Covid without first having the Covid vaccine? Was it even available in your country. If she why did putin hide in his bunker 2 years and only talk with the rare unperson visitor at the end of a 40 table?
Inquiring minds want to know. I have so many questions for MRGA supporters.
@John, great to see you read the National Enquirer. You’re probably one of the aliens that they show from time to time. Get some help buddy, you really are nuts.
@Mark, Thanks for your continued concern, but we covered that 1st step a few times (...about my getting some help).
Could you run me through step #2 and #3 again?
Thanks.
@John, sure. Step 2 is to find support from day one. Step 3 is to detox through your first days of sobriety, or in your case sanity. Good luck!
@Mark, Step 2 is the same as step one?
No wonder russia is floundering in its battles against its smaller neighbour.
I think I will keep my addiction to helping Ukraine until they are victorious. I can't think of anything better to do with my spare time and donations.
Especially now the Vatican has recommended redirecting former church tithes towards Ukraine's righteous self-defence.
As I did further review on Pompeo, I discovered he remains one of the very, very few of putinrumps past White House appointees who is seemingly still quite loyal to him.
Even during his brief dabbling with a potential Republican leadership bid himself, he barely had anything negative to say about the myriad of lies, illegal and morally questionable acts of his former boss putinrump. Putintrump is cosy with putin, parrots his dissent sowing falsehoods and would undoubtedly sell out Ukraine to putin in a heartbeat.
You can see what putinrumps other top appointees grew to think of him in my posts below .... once they had a chance to work with him.
So Ukraine, please use maximum caution and diligence in your vetting of this man. Most sane people can change if they want so who knows where his thoughts lie these days. However State Mike Pompeo may now have access to some key data about your country...... given past allegiances, caution is merited.
Given rump's busy criminal legal life he has fortunately hired other experts to handle foreign policy, national security ...etc. So lets see what his former cronies have to say about him:
1. His vice president, Mike Pence: “The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. … Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
2. His second attorney general, Bill Barr: “Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”
3. His first secretary of defense, James Mattis: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.”
4. His second secretary of defense, Mark Esper: “I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”
5. His chairman of the joint chiefs, retired Gen. Mark Milley, seemed to invoke Trump: “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
-----To be continued————
----- More quotes from about putinrump from his hired advisors:
6. His first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson: “(Trump’s) understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of US history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
7. His first ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley: “He used to be good on foreign policy and now he has started to walk it back and get weak in the knees when it comes to Ukraine. A terrible thing happened on January 6 and he called it a beautiful day.”
8. His presidential transition vice-chairman, Chris Christie: “Someone who I would argue now is just out for himself.”
9. His second national security adviser, HR McMaster: “We saw the absence of leadership, really anti-leadership, and what that can do to our country.”
10. His third national security adviser, John Bolton: “I believe (foreign leaders) think he is a laughing fool.”
11. His second chief of staff, John Kelly: “A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
----and even more quotes from about rump from his former advisors:
12. His former acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who resigned as US special envoy to Ireland after January 6, 2021: “I quit because I think he failed at being the president when we needed him to be that.”
13. One of his many former communications directors, Anthony Scaramucci: “He is the domestic terrorist of the 21st century.”
14. Another former communications director, Stephanie Grisham: “I am terrified of him running in 2024.”
15. His secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, who resigned after January 6: “When I saw what was happening on January 6 and didn’t see the president step in and do what he could have done to turn it back or slow it down or really address the situation, it was just obvious to me that I couldn’t continue.”
16. His secretary of transportation, Elaine Chao, who resigned after January 6: “At a particular point the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue, given my personal values and my philosophy.
17. His first secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer: “…the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
18. His first homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert: “The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace.”
---continued below----
- the negative quotes about putinrump from his former WH advisors continue below---:
19. His former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen: “Donald’s an idiot.”
20. His White House lawyer, Ty Cobb: “Trump relentlessly puts forth claims that are not true.”
21. A former director of strategic communications, Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is now a CNN political commentator: “We can stand by the policies, but at this point we cannot stand by the man.”
22. A top aide in charge of his outreach to African Americans, Omarosa Manigault Newman: “Donald Trump, who would attack civil rights icons and professional athletes, who would go after grieving black widows, who would say there were good people on both sides, who endorsed an accused child molester; Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part. of this madness.”
23. A former deputy press secretary, Sarah Matthews, who resigned after January 6: “I think that his actions on January 6 and the lead-up to it, the way that he’s acted in the aftermath, and his continuation of pushing this lie that the election is stolen has made him wholly unfit to hold office every again.
24. His final chief of staff’s aide, Cassidy Hutchinson: “I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”
Completely agree. What a backstabbing mofo this ahole turned out to be.