The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. warned on Sunday that Russia would not stop if it decides to invade its western neighbor.
While appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Oksana Markarova noted Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
“The reason why Putin attacked us is not because he wants Ukraine, or only Ukraine. The reason he attacked us is because we have chosen to be a democracy and we have the Atlantic and European aspirations,” Markarova said.
“I believe nobody’s safe if Ukraine will be attacked,” the ambassador added.
“We do not want to be part of the Soviet Union or the Russian Empire or the Russian Federation. We want to be sovereign, we are sovereign and we’re fighting for our independence,” she continued. “And if Ukraine will be further attacked by Russia, of course, they will not stop after Ukraine. So that’s why it’s in the interest of Europe and all democratic world, to help us to defend ourselves but also to show that the international rule of law still works.”
Host Margaret Brennan noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has seemingly sent out mixed signals on Russia and the U.S.’s support against aggression, noting that he said last week that he is grateful for the support, but he couldn’t “be like other politicians who are grateful to the United States just for being the United States.”
“We can have some discussions and we can have difference of opinions, but United States is our strategic partner and I would even say strategic friend, number one. Our relations especially during the last year has been at the highest level ever, I would say in 30 years,” Markarova responded.