Speaker 1: The situation in Ukraine is grim. Eight percent more than
Speaker 1: eighty percent of Kiev. There's no running water right now.
Speaker 1: Three and fifty thousand apartments lost power according to the mayor.
Speaker 1: Still no water supply about at this point, for instance,
Speaker 1: Russian missiles and drones damaging infrastructure in ten regions of Ukraine,
Speaker 1: hundreds of locations without power, and we're watching the capital
Speaker 1: of Kiev just bathed in darkness. It's a very eerie
Speaker 1: thing to consider here. In some US military personnel apparently
Speaker 1: now operating inside Ukraine. We're gonna get to that in
Speaker 1: a moment. Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department, says,
Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin continues to target civilians. We've all seen a
Speaker 1: number of UH strikes and bombardments that appear to be
Speaker 1: nothing more than an effort to brutalize the people of Ukraine.
Speaker 1: And as we discussed on this program, there's gonna be
Speaker 1: some change is coming, most likely in the form of
Speaker 1: the House leadership. If Kevin McCarthy gets his way and
Speaker 1: in fact become speaker. He says, no more blank checks.
Speaker 1: And we've heard questions from progressives on the left as
Speaker 1: well about how much we should be spending. Although this
Speaker 1: infamous letter was withdrawn, this is going to be a
Speaker 1: concerted debate as we move beyond the mid terms and
Speaker 1: towards the election. That's why I remember we talked to
Speaker 1: Mark Hamill and now look at this. He doesn't just
Speaker 1: play one. He is an astronaut. Scott Kelly, former NASA astronaut,
Speaker 1: retired U. S. Navy captain, is now one of the
Speaker 1: newest ambassadors to United This is the fundraising platform put
Speaker 1: forth by President Vladimir Zelenski. Kathain Kelly, it's great to
Speaker 1: have you with us here on Bloomberg. I appreciate the
Speaker 1: time today very much. What did President Zelenski tell you
Speaker 1: when you spoke with him, Well, the first thing he
Speaker 1: just said is, you know, officially asked me if I
Speaker 1: would be part of this fundraising platform, and of course,
Speaker 1: you know, I agreed. I'm a big supporter of Ukraine.
Speaker 1: I have Ukrainian family members, Ukrainian friends, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: all of those people are suffering in different ways, and
Speaker 1: I think we we all need to do whatever we
Speaker 1: can to support Ukraine because I think in the end,
Speaker 1: we're really just supporting democracy and and freedom. Even though
Speaker 1: you know this is a war currently in Europe. It
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's going to get get better if we,
Speaker 1: uh don't do whatever we can to help. So how
Speaker 1: do you get the word out beyond conversations like this one? Captain?
Speaker 1: How do you help President Zelinski raise the cash and
Speaker 1: get the hardware needs? Yeah? Well, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: certainly social media is important, but also you know, normal
Speaker 1: regular media like this and and just people you know,
Speaker 1: passing the word that this is a really important cause.
Speaker 1: My my area that I'm working on is his medical supplies,
Speaker 1: particularly ambulances. The Russians destroy you know, ten a week
Speaker 1: or they steal them. So um, you know now, like
Speaker 1: you just mentioned, you know, they're not only because they're
Speaker 1: losing on the battlefield, they're now taking revenge on innocent civilians,
Speaker 1: including on their medical infrastructure. Well this is this is fantastic.
Speaker 1: And are you're you're raising money specifically for ambulances? Is
Speaker 1: it like the drone program where there they would actually
Speaker 1: accept donations of ambulances themselves or are European nations helping
Speaker 1: on that front too? You know, I think that you know,
Speaker 1: people have reached out to me with saying that, hey,
Speaker 1: I have an ambulance don um. So I need to
Speaker 1: figure that out some more whether that's viable, but currently
Speaker 1: is it's to raise money to purchase ambulance that will
Speaker 1: be then used in Ukraine. Are you worried about funding
Speaker 1: here in the US drying up because of politics? Funding
Speaker 1: for what? For Ukraine? You know? This was this has
Speaker 1: been essentially a blank check, if I can use that term.
Speaker 1: And it looks like it's gonna be a harder case
Speaker 1: to make for the president. Yeah, I mean it's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, certainly, I think anywhere we spend our money
Speaker 1: uh is uh, you know, needs to be scrutinized, especially
Speaker 1: when it's this amount. But I think if you look
Speaker 1: at the facts here that this is a worthy cause,
Speaker 1: and you know, I feel like we need to be
Speaker 1: putting in whatever we can within our means, of course,
Speaker 1: but within our whatever we can to defeat Russia because
Speaker 1: I do think this is an existential threat to the
Speaker 1: you know, the rest of the free world. Well, Captain,
Speaker 1: you must feel pulled in two different directions here. Obviously,
Speaker 1: as a as a retired Navy captain, a former fighter pilot,
Speaker 1: you've got a certain feeling about this as well. But
Speaker 1: you are a NASA astronaut who's shared space with Russian cosmonauts.
Speaker 1: And I wonder how you rationalize that as we try
Speaker 1: to figure out our future in space. That's a whole
Speaker 1: different idea here, divorcing Russia and our project for the
Speaker 1: International Space Station. Do you feel like your hand is
Speaker 1: being forced in that direction? You know, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a tough question whether you know Russia should stay a
Speaker 1: part of the International Space Station program. I, you know,
Speaker 1: it's really complicated for them to leave. Having said that,
Speaker 1: I think we're at the point where we might just
Speaker 1: show them the door. Obviously, that's my personal opinion. It's
Speaker 1: not anything I've gotten officially from NASA or anywhere anyone else.
Speaker 1: I would say that for future programs, you know, without
Speaker 1: a change of you know, leadership in Russia, Um, that
Speaker 1: is more in line with you know, Western values on
Speaker 1: you know, freedom and democracy. I don't see them participating
Speaker 1: in any anything ever again with with us. And you've
Speaker 1: had wonderful working relationships with Russians in the space program,
Speaker 1: haven't you. Yeah, I have some you know, some great
Speaker 1: Russian friends in the space program. Some are Cosmos, some
Speaker 1: are you know, engineers, administrative personnel that I know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of Russian people, and a lot
Speaker 1: of them are you know, exactly in line with my
Speaker 1: thinking and I think most free people's thinking on this,
Speaker 1: and then there are some others that it's just shocking,
Speaker 1: how you know, the Russian propaganda that they've been exposed
Speaker 1: to for you know, decades as just you know, altered
Speaker 1: their ability to to you know, think rationally on this idea.
Speaker 1: I mean, had one Cosmo tell me that, you know,
Speaker 1: he is absolutely convinced that the Nazis and NATO we're
Speaker 1: going to are were imminently going to invade Russia and
Speaker 1: this is the only way they could defend themselves, which
Speaker 1: is absolutely absurd. Pretty smart, yeah, right, supposed to be.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just pretty amazing to think about five
Speaker 1: th dollars Captain Kelly you raised by launching an n
Speaker 1: f T to support you. Craz You've been at this
Speaker 1: for a while. Yeah, I've been at this from from
Speaker 1: the very beginning. And like I said, you know, I
Speaker 1: have a niece and nephew that are Ukrainian Americans. Their
Speaker 1: dad and my brother in law was an archieve you
Speaker 1: know a place that is currently you know, you know,
Speaker 1: really a focal point of this war right now. And yeah,
Speaker 1: so this is an issue that I took to heart
Speaker 1: right away. I saw it, as you know, with Russia
Speaker 1: starting a war in Europe unprovoked, that this was an
Speaker 1: issue that we should all get get behind helping Ukraine.
Speaker 1: And I had platform to do it because I had,
Speaker 1: you know, between you know, Twitter followers and and exposure
Speaker 1: in in Russia and uh and and and in Ukraine
Speaker 1: a little bit my you know, I wrote a book
Speaker 1: that was translated into Russian, so I'm somewhat of a
Speaker 1: known figure there and I have the ability to tweet
Speaker 1: in Russian at the Russian people and try to show
Speaker 1: the am what the reality of this is. So I
Speaker 1: I took it. I've taken it very seriously from the big,
Speaker 1: very beginning. But you've actually you've been a notorious troll
Speaker 1: on social media for some Russians, you kind of spooked
Speaker 1: off the platform. Yeah. I don't know if I call
Speaker 1: it a troll. Well, you know, maybe the noun version
Speaker 1: is that the trolling, captain is what I want to say,
Speaker 1: you know, my first trolling ever, if that's what you
Speaker 1: want to call, maybe maybe referred to it as like
Speaker 1: social media warrior. I like that it's consistent, consistent with
Speaker 1: your resume. Who are you spooking off of Twitter? Next?
Speaker 1: M Oh, I'm not targeting anyone in the specific The reason, I,
Speaker 1: you know, went after the head of risk Cosmos, the
Speaker 1: Russian space agencies because he threatened to leave an American
Speaker 1: crew member behind that he was responsible for, and I
Speaker 1: was just absolutely shocked. So you know, I went at
Speaker 1: him in his own language, in ways that he could
Speaker 1: you know, ways that he can understand um, with language
Speaker 1: that would get his attention, and I think it may
Speaker 1: have worked. It appears to have you talked to your
Speaker 1: brother about this when it comes to war funding obviously
Speaker 1: the senator from Arizona, you both have a platform, Captain Kelly, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I have not talked to him specifically about
Speaker 1: like you know, government policy or legislation, legislation. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think he's certainly aware of of my stance, and
Speaker 1: I understand that he's a you know, a big supporter
Speaker 1: of freedom and democracy and supports Ukraine. So yeah, but
Speaker 1: I haven't gotten into any specifics like you know, hey,
Speaker 1: you should vote for this or that. Hey probably listen
Speaker 1: to me anyway. Yeah, I'm not so sure about that.
Speaker 1: I think you have a few things in common, uh,
Speaker 1: including your biology. But look, in terms of President Zelenski,
Speaker 1: he's been asking Washington to help close the skies. That
Speaker 1: that was the refrain when he had rest uh the
Speaker 1: Joint Session of Congress. There was a time when he
Speaker 1: was begging for fighter jets. You're a former fighter pilot.
Speaker 1: Would they actually make a difference? Well, that's a good
Speaker 1: that's a good question, you know because right now, and
Speaker 1: it's my understanding that Russia does not control the skies
Speaker 1: of Ukraine. So you know, on one hand, I think
Speaker 1: it would it would be helpful and make a difference.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make.
Speaker 1: Having said that, I think, you know, anti missile systems
Speaker 1: would be really helpful because they're getting you know, having
Speaker 1: you know, cruise missiles and other you know, things that
Speaker 1: you know that could be countered with, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: some existing systems out there. So whether you know airplanes
Speaker 1: are really required and how you know, giving Ukraine a
Speaker 1: bunch of F sixteens or something. But would that be helpful? Sure,
Speaker 1: I think it would be helpful. Would it make a
Speaker 1: huge difference, I'm not probably, Um, I probably don't know
Speaker 1: the details there with the air war enough to really
Speaker 1: really comment on that. Well, everybody likes to talk like
Speaker 1: an expert, and you actually are one, though it sounds
Speaker 1: like it's more complicated than a lot of people are
Speaker 1: making it out to be. Yeah, I think just given
Speaker 1: giving a country a bunch of airplanes when the you know,
Speaker 1: when the airspace is not dominated by Russia right now,
Speaker 1: is I think something that really has to be studied
Speaker 1: and what it does to escalate the situation or not. Well,
Speaker 1: I want to congratulate you and thank you for the
Speaker 1: work that you're doing in the service that you've provided
Speaker 1: not only our count for you, but now that the
Speaker 1: people of Ukraine. It's admirable and the Captain, we thank
Speaker 1: you for being here on Bloomberg appreciate by all means.
Speaker 1: Flew over eight thousand hours in more than forty aircraft
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty carrier landings in his naval career.
Speaker 1: I know people refer to him as an astronaut. He
Speaker 1: spent more time in space than Luke Skywalker. This guy's
Speaker 1: a tom Cat pilet. Anybody who puts an airplane down
Speaker 1: on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the rain
Speaker 1: at night has my respect. By the way, no one
Speaker 1: who flew enough fourteen should ever be called to troll