The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2185 - My Journey To Ukraine and My Interview With Zelensky
Thu, 24 Apr 2025
I travel to Ukraine to speak with President Zelensky at an inflection point in the Russian invasion; President Trump slowly backs away from his enormous China tariffs; and Yale reignites into anti-Semitic fury on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Click here to join the member-exclusive portion of my show: https://bit.ly/3WDjgHE Ep.2185 - - - Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings - - - DailyWire+: We’re leading the charge again and launching a full-scale push for justice. Go to https://PardonDerek.com right now and sign the petition. Now is the time to join the fight. Watch the hit movies, documentaries, and series reshaping our culture. Go to https://dailywire.com/subscribe today. Get your Ben Shapiro merch here: https://bit.ly/3TAu2cw - - - Today's Sponsors: Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine that searches the internet to deliver fast, unbiased, high-quality answers, with sources and in-line citations. Ask Perplexity anything here: https://pplx.ai/benshapiro PureTalk - Switch to PureTalk and start saving today! Visit https://PureTalk.com/SHAPIRO LifeLock - Join now and save up to 40% your first year. Call 1 (800) LifeLock and use promo code BEN or go to https://LifeLock.com/BEN for 40% off. Terms apply. ZipRecruiter - Try ZipIntro FOR FREE: https://ZipRecruiter.com/DAILYWIRE HIYA - Get your kids the full-body nourishment they need to grow. Receive 50% off your first order at https://hiyahealth.com/SHAPIRO Tecovas - Right now get 10% off at https://tecovas.com/shapiro when you sign up for email and texts. - - - Socials: Follow on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3cXUn53 Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3QtuibJ Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3TTirqd Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RPyBiB
Chapter 1: Why did Ben Shapiro travel to Ukraine during the war?
Well, folks, a big question I've been getting since we released the trailer for my interview with President Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine is, why go to a nation under fire? Why take your crew and take that risk? And the answer is simple, because the truth matters and facts matter. We want you to be smarter and know more things. That's what this show is for.
You, our Daily Wire members, deserve the truth. This is the kind of journalism your support makes possible. This is the community that fights for your values. Join us right now at dailywire.com slash subscribe. So, Last night, Vladimir Putin's Russia blanketed Ukraine with missiles and drones in what was perhaps the largest-scale air attack on the country since 2022.
One missile apparently struck an apartment building in Kyiv and killed nine people and wounded another 63. This, of course, is a war zone. A little bit earlier yesterday, the Trump administration rolled out its proposed outline for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. This was being negotiated in London.
It's a peace deal under which Ukraine would have been forced to accept Russian annexation of Crimea. That's the very southern portion of Ukraine that is on the Black Sea, as well as control of eastern Ukraine. Russia is currently in control of large swaths of eastern Ukraine and has been since 2014. It would have removed NATO membership from the table for Ukraine.
Ukraine obviously is interested in joining NATO because that would mean that an attack on a NATO member would allow for Article 5 invocation, meaning other countries would have to come to Ukraine's defense. The deal would prevent Ukraine from becoming a NATO member. It would have provided... little or nothing in the way of security guarantees for Ukraine.
So the proposed Trump deal did not obligate the United States to come to Ukraine's defense or even allow for the EU's defense of Ukraine. Maybe they could have, maybe they couldn't have, but that was unclear. And it also would have full-scale ended sanctions on Russia. So clearly this peace deal It gave Russia a bunch of things that Russia was looking for if it had been accepted by Ukraine.
Russia has not accepted a peace arrangement along any of these lines. You should be clear about this. Essentially, the proposal that was published was the United States, Europe, and maybe Ukraine kind of negotiating against themselves because there's no one else at the table right now.
Now, Zelensky rejected handing over Crimea legally because that would be making a major legal concession without actually getting anything from Russia in return. If you preemptively say Crimea is now part of Russia, you've now said it, and Zelensky doesn't want to do that. He has accepted the Trump proposal for a 30-day ceasefire without any preconditions. It has been true for weeks.
Vladimir Putin has not. not for one second, which is why last night the Russian missiles were falling on Kiev. They're also falling on Lviv, which is in the western part of the country. It was a bad night in Ukraine. Now, Putin, again, has at no point actually given any sign that he truly wants the war to end. If you want the war to end, the question is, Will Zelensky accept an end to the war?
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Chapter 2: What is the status of the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations?
The Russian government since 2014, in an effort to rucify Ukrainian children, has abducted tens of thousands of kids from eastern Ukraine and Crimea back into Russia. As the New York Times reported in 2023, quote, Russian officials have made it clear their goal is to replace any childhood attachment to home with a love for Russia.
Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers and contractors have died, according to the BBC. Around 50,000 Ukrainians have been killed, according to Zelensky's government. As of February, the numbers are probably higher. President Trump's entry into office provided the possibility of something new.
Pledging to end the war, the Trump administration insisted on negotiations, and to that end, put pressure on both Zelensky and Vladimir Putin to come to the table. After a fraught conversation with President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office, Zelensky has agreed to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Putin has agreed to nothing.
The United States, under Special Envoy Steve Woodcuff, continues to advocate for Ukrainian concessions, ranging again from recognition of Russian territorial annexation to abandonment of intent to join NATO. Putin, for his part, has mouthed words of interest, but has shown little willingness to make any real concessions at all. That is where things stood as we traveled into Ukraine.
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