Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, doubted Russia’s ability to win the war it started, "because the Ukrainian people will continue to resist."
"Ukrainians are never going to turn back to Russia at this point -- never," she told ABC News. "Not after he has invaded them and destroyed their families and destroyed their livelihoods and destroyed their homes. It is appalling what he has done, all in the name of allegedly protecting people in Ukraine. "
While Yovanovitch said she does not believe a ceasefire is currently on Russian President Vladimir Putin's agenda, "It’s important to keep the lines of communication open."
"It's important to keep on talking, at least hopefully to get humanitarian corridors set up so that people can, you know, can leave cities that are no longer habitable because of the barbaric aggressiveness of Russia," said Yovanovitch, who served as ambassador to Ukraine under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, between 2016 and 2019.
Yovanovitch also said she believes that Trump was dismissive of Ukraine during his presidency, adding that his praise of Putin "emboldened" the Russian leader.
"There's no question that President Trump's actions and his statements presumably emboldened Putin, and I think that Putin was getting what he needed from President Trump in terms of while our official policy was very strong with regard to supporting Ukraine," she said.
-ABC News' Penelope Lopez