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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Putin justifies1 Ukraine invasion as a 'special military operation'
Russian President Putin, in a video address to his nation, described the attack on Ukraine as an act of self defense3. It came as the U.N. Security Council was once again holding an emergency meeting.
A MARTINEZ, HOST:
News of Russian military action came in a video address from Russian President Vladimir Putin early Thursday, and it came as the U.N. Security Council was once again holding an emergency meeting. And here's what the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N., Sergiy Kyslytsya, said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SERGIY KYSLYTSYA: It's too late, my dear colleagues, to speak about the escalation4 - too late. The Russian president declared war on the record.
MARTINEZ: Charles Maynes is in the city of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, near the Ukrainian border, and he joins us now. Charles, so Vladimir Putin announced the attack on Ukraine in a national address. Tell us more about what he said.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE5: Yeah. So he went on television just before 6 a.m. here local time. He said, essentially6, what the West had been predicting for weeks, that a Russian military campaign against Ukraine had begun.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: So, here, Putin is saying he ordered a special military operation to protect the people in the Donbas, who he argued were being subjected to genocide by the government in Kyiv. And he went on to say that the additional goal of the mission was demilitarization and eventual7 denazification of Ukraine. Now, Putin's reference to Nazis9 is part of a wider argument he's made in the past that Ukraine's 2014 revolution, in which protesters overthrew10 a Moscow-backed government in favor of a pro-European vision for the country - that that instead brought a fascist11 junta12 to power, intent on cleansing13 Ukraine of its Russian-speaking population.
Now, you know, there's really no evidence of that, but Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their weapons voluntarily and return home rather than fight to protect fascists14 in the government - and that's in Putin's words - and then he would claim that Russia had no intention of occupying the country. But Putin's language certainly suggests that he has designs on regime change in Kyiv. And I should add that he also warned outside countries from getting involved. He's suggesting that they would face a ferocious15 Russian response if they did.
MARTINEZ: You mentioned his call for denazification. Can you explore more on how he rationalized this military action?
MAYNES: Yeah. You know, he seemed to go out of his way to justify16 the legal basis for this. He said Russia was coming to the defense of these Donbas statelets that the Kremlin formally recognized earlier this week and to which Moscow has promised security guarantees. And again, in all this talk of fascists, you know, Putin is drawing comparisons between Nazi8 Germany's invasion of the USSR in World War II and NATO's expansion to Russia's borders. You know, he railed at NATO's triumphalism after the Cold War. He accused the U.S. of trying to destroy Russia from within. And he said it was Ukraine's ambitions now to join the NATO alliance that had brought the threat to Russia's doorstep.
MARTINEZ: All right. So clearly, we're in the early hours of this military action, and then there's the fog of war and propaganda. But, Charles, what are you hearing about the Russian side on the military campaign so far?
MAYNES: Yeah, we heard from Russia's Defense Ministry17 in a statement. They claimed to have taken out Ukraine's key military infrastructure18, including air defense capabilities19, and they said they targeted military airfields20 with precision airstrikes. And it's - they've also said that they're not targeting Ukraine's civilian21 population, although there are certainly reports to the contrary. You know, also, online footage seems to show Russian ground forces crossing into Ukraine from all directions- the north from Belarus, in the south in annexed22 Crimea and also in the east, closer to where I am. So I think put another way, this is basically the scenario23 the U.S. predicted - a Russian invasion force massed around Ukraine in order to move in. And U.S. warnings that Russia always dismissed as hysteria have all proven true.
MARTINEZ: That's NPR's Charles Maynes. Charles, thanks.
MAYNES: Thank you.
1 justifies | |
证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 ); 为…辩护; 对…作出解释; 为…辩解(或辩护) | |
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2 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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3 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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4 escalation | |
n.扩大,增加 | |
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5 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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6 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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7 eventual | |
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的 | |
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8 Nazi | |
n.纳粹分子,adj.纳粹党的,纳粹的 | |
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9 Nazis | |
n.(德国的)纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 );纳粹主义 | |
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10 overthrew | |
overthrow的过去式 | |
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11 fascist | |
adj.法西斯主义的;法西斯党的;n.法西斯主义者,法西斯分子 | |
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12 junta | |
n.团体;政务审议会 | |
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13 cleansing | |
n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词 | |
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14 fascists | |
n.法西斯主义的支持者( fascist的名词复数 ) | |
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15 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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16 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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17 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
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18 infrastructure | |
n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施 | |
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19 capabilities | |
n.能力( capability的名词复数 );可能;容量;[复数]潜在能力 | |
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20 airfields | |
n.(较小的无建筑的)飞机场( airfield的名词复数 ) | |
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21 civilian | |
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的 | |
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22 annexed | |
[法] 附加的,附属的 | |
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23 scenario | |
n.剧本,脚本;概要 | |
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