# GEOFF: THE ALL-O UKRAINE WILL ENTER ITS THIRD YEAR AND MONTH.

THE BATTLE LINES NEARLY AS FROZEN DURING THAT'S FRIG BUT TWO YEARS AGO THERE WAS CONCERN THATKYIV W LAST WEEK.

NICK: UKRAINE'S NATIONAL ANTHEM IS A DARK BUT DETERMINED CALL FOR FREEDOM.

IT BEG HAS NOT YET PERISH CONTINUES, FATE SHALL SMILE ON UKRAINE, AND HER ENEMIES WILL VANISH.

OUR ENEMIES WILL V THE TITLE OF THE NEW BOOK OUT TODAY BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S CHEAP PA AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT.

HELPING DEFINE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE HE JOINS ME HERE IN THE STUDIO.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING IN.

THE BOOK IS EXTRAORDINARY BECAUS REPORTING.

IT IS PERSONAL.

IS YOU IN THE LASSES RIGHT DOWN THERE IN ART CLASS AS A KID.

YOU WRITE IN THE BOOK, IT FELT WRONG TO WEAR ON THE STREETS OF MY HOMETOWN THE BEST AND H BY THE BOTANICAL GARDEN WHERE I USED TO GO ON DATES, BY THE MUSEUM WHERE I USED TO SPEND AFTERNOO THE RUSSIANS THOUGHT IT WAS THEIRS, AND A COUNTRY THEY BELIEVED DIDN'T EX PART OF A NATION T THEMSELVES HAD BEE HOW DARE THEY, I THOUGHT.

HOW PERSONAL IS THIS STORY?

>> I'VE SPENT MUCH OF MY CAREER'S -- COVERING WARS AND INSURRECTIONS AND OTHER COUNTRIES.

SUCH A PEACEFUL PLACE, IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN THERE.

AND THEN ONE DAY I I WAS PREPARED FOR THAT, BUT STILL THERE IS A SENSE OF PERSONAL THIS IS A CITY THAT IS BEING BOMBARDED AND DESTROYED.

NICK: YOU REVEAL THAT THERE WAS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UKRAINIAN AND U.S. INTELLIGENCE BEFORE THE WAR.

INTELLIGENCE, AND THEY KNEW THAT THOSE SENIOR OFFICIALS WERE AC EXPLAIN THAT, AND HOW THAT PLAY OUT?

HIGH-GRADE INTELLIGENCE, SO THEY KNEW WHAT THE GE TE THERE WAS THE CAPACITY TO ROUT UKRAINE VERY QUICKLY AND THAT UKRAINIANS WOULD NOT BE RESISTIN WHAT UKRAINIANS KNEW FROM CO THAT THE RUSSIANS WERE NOT A STRONG AND A LOT OF THE RUSSIAN SPY NETWORK TO FACILITATE RAPID TAKEOVER WAS ACTUALLY NOT GOING TO NICK: YOU WRITE EXTENSIVELY ABOUT HOW CLOSE SOME OF THE RUSSIANS CAME TO KYIV, A POINT THE RUSSIANS HAD A 12 TO 1 ADVANTAGE.

GOALS IN THE CAPITAL?

TAKE OVER THE AIR FEELS -- AIRFIELDS.

IT WAS A PIVOTAL MOMENT AT THE START OF THE WAR.

IN THE RUSSIANS WERE THERE, THEY HAD CROSSED WEST OF KYIV AND ESTABLISHED A FOOTHOLD.

IT WAS EVERYONE WHO COULD HOLD A GUN TO REPEL THEM, AT A HIGH COST.

NICK THAT UKRAINIANS HAD BY OCTOBER OF 22 INTO IS SPECIFICALLY, WHAT DID YOU SEE WHEN YOU WERE ONE OF THE FIRST REPORTERS INTO SOME THES UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS?

>> MY PHOTOGRAPH ME THROUGHOUT THIS WAR DROVE VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING AND WE WERE AMONG THE FIRST TO ENTER THE CITY.

SAW RUSSIAN ARMORED VEHICLES, AND WE SAW A MAN CRAWLING FROM BEHIND ONE OF THOSE VEHICLES WITHOUT EITHER FROM RUSSIAN FORCES ARE ONE OF THE LOOTE STEAL ITEMS FROM THEM.

NICK: EVEN A YEAR AGO YOU SPOKE TO SOLDIERS WHO WERE CRITICIZING THE UKRAINIAN FOCUS IN EASTERN UKRAINE AS TAKING AWAY SOME OF THE GOALS IN THE SOUTH.

WHY DO YOU THINK PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY HAD A SENSE THAT HE COULD IGNORE SOME OF THE MILITARY ADVICE HE WAS GETTI >> I THI DECISION.

HE WAS TRYING TO ASSEMBLE UKRAINIAN RESISTANCE AND THE WHOLE IDEA WAS, IT WAS COST TO THE UKRAINIAN MILITARY, BUT IT WAS ALSO A BIG COST TO RUSSIA.

IF YOU FORCE THAT WAS ON THE GROUND WAS WAGNER, THE ONLY RUSSIAN FORCE THAT WAS CAPABLE SPRING OF 2022.

IN WAGNER WAS DESTROYED THERE.

NICK: YOU WRITE, LOOKI THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE FULL-SCALE INVASION, IT WA CLEAR UKRAINE HAD WON THE WAR FOR ITS INDEPENDEN UKRAINE WASN'T GOING T DISA AGAIN.

THAT IS OF C TODAY, TWO YEARS ALMOST AFTER THE FULL-SCALE INVASION.

I WONDER GOOD ENOUGH OR WHETHER UKRAINE AND UKRAINIA THAT IS GOOD ENOUGH?

OBVIOUSLY.

UKRAINIANS DO WANT TO REGAIN THE OTHER 18%, THERE ARE UKRAINIANS LIVING THERE UNDER TERRIBLE CONDIT BU IS CONTINUING TO SURVIVE AT A TREMENDOUS COST.

LAST YEAR.

THERE ARE BATTLES EVERY DAY AND THE WAR GOES NICK: THE BOOK IS OUR ENEMIES WILL VANISH.

>> THANK YOU.

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