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Home » Transcript: Ukraine’s Last Stand? The Truth About the War in 2025 – Scott Ritter

Transcript: Ukraine’s Last Stand? The Truth About the War in 2025 – Scott Ritter

Read the full transcript of a conversation between Judge Andrew Napolitano and former United Nations Special Commission weapons inspector Scott Ritter on Judging Freedom Podcast titled “Ukraine’s Last Stand? The Truth About the War in 2025”, premiered March 12, 2025.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

Introduction

[JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO:] Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, March 12th, 2025. Scott Ritter will be here with us in just a moment on what is all this talk about ceasefire?

[JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO:] Scott Ritter, welcome here, my dear friend, and thank you very much for sharing your time with us. What are, as you understand them, and I believe he’s articulated this many times, President Putin’s conditions for a cessation of the special military operation? And then I’m going to understand you and I’m going to ask you if you think that the American Secretary of State understands them.

Putin’s Terms for a Ceasefire

[SCOTT RITTER:] Well, I mean, Putin has articulated these several times and I’ll just briefly summarize them. One is neutrality. That means that Ukraine not only will never be a part of NATO, won’t be part of a European alliance that could be aligned against Russia. Pure neutrality. That Ukraine will not have foreign troops, will not have foreign entanglements, et cetera.

Two, that before there could be a ceasefire, all foreign weapon shipments to Ukraine have to stop. Because if you’re sending weapons to Ukraine, that means that Ukraine is taking advantage of a ceasefire to rearm, re-equip, and prepare for a continuation of the war. A ceasefire, from the Russian perspective, means the war is over. No more fighting. So, therefore, there’s no reason for any more weapons to come in.

And three, that Russia’s territorial integrity has to be respected.