Russia-Really influence how you think about the Ukraine war today?

First, on your, your question on comparing what happened in the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union, there is something in, in common, which is when you, you have a, a one nation which wants to, to defend its independence, to, uh, its, its right to decide for itself or its future, you can-- you cannot, uh, prevent it, and the more you, you try to suppress this, the more it, uh, increases the, the will to resist.

Because if you look at, uh, what's happening in Ukraine today, it's, uh, f- more than four years, the resistance of these, these people is, uh, is really, uh, amazing, and, uh, the resilience of the Ukrainian nation.

And it started with Putin some months before the invasion, uh, in, in twenty twenty-one, publishing a, a tribune saying that the Ukrainian and peop- and Russian peoples are together.

They, they, they make one, one nation, one...

They cannot be separated.

So indeed, a part of the Ukrainian people, Russian-speaking, close to Russia, was indeed very, very, uh, close w- to Russia.

What did Paris need to hear from the White House before sending you back, and how did you work to rebuild trust upon your return?