Just over three years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine.
An estimated 1 million people have since been killed or wounded as the sweeping impacts of the conflict range from igniting an arms race similar to the lead-up to World War II and causing the biggest global energy crisis since the 1970s.
Before the war, Alexander Vindman was an active-duty officer in the U.S. Army and director for European Affairs on the National Security Council under the Trump administration. He gained notoriety for speaking out about a 2019 phone call President Donald Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when Trump urged Zelenskyy to work with Trump’s team to investigate then-President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Vindman’s testimony before Congress led to Trump’s first impeachment.
"The privilege of serving my country is not only rooted in my military service but also in my personal history. I sit here, as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, an immigrant,” Vindman told impeachment investigators in 2019. “My family fled the Soviet Union when I was 3 1/2 years old."
Mike Collins sits down with retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman to discuss his new book, and break down his argument that miscalculations by the West since the collapse of the Soviet Union have led to the current crisis.
GUEST:
Alexander Vindman, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, former director for European Affairs on the National Security Council during the first Trump administration and author of "The Folly Of Realism: How The West Deceived Itself About Russia And Betrayed Ukraine"
