I mean, do you feel as in you're in a constant war zone? Is everything just been demolished? Is it still beautiful? Like, how's it looking?

Odessa is a beautiful city, and it's a lively and active city.

And we had a full conference with 1,000 visitors from Europe and the United States coming to engage with each other.

And in your daily activity, there's really no sense that there's a war around.

Odessa is, by the way, quite a lovely city.

The Black Sea Port was operating in production.

We were entertained by the Odessa Orchestra and the Odessa Ballet Company.

How do you sum up what the state of the war is in terms of winning, losing, etc.? ?

Andrew began by asking how Americans feel at international events in today's political climate.

Well, I feel very welcome, and I've been welcomed very much.

I think that we have a little bit of trepidation because it is true that at least for this conference, where it's the focus is on the freedom of Ukraine, there's a feeling of disappointment among some people here that the United States under President Trump have backed away a little.

And so I come here saying, you know, America is bigger than just one voice at one time, and you need to play the long game with America, and in the long run, America will come through.

Mm.

And so all of that, the United States has played a role in.

But over time, Americans, when they start to struggle economically, they will begin to think, "What about me?" And that's what's going on, and we have to keep talking about it and arguing it and try to get people to understand that it's in their interest as well and also raise up the issue of freedom.

This is about freedom more than anything else.