order, although we can already see that there are already these solutions, and probably you will work on increasing the accuracy of hitting, and all these requirements will probably be implemented there in the version of backfire 2.0 or maybe something else, yes, first of all there is a version of k2, about which i said, which flies further and carries more, we are already working on the k3 version, there are even more interesting ones. there will be ttcs until i announce them, well, the team works constantly, there are other options of the uav aircraft type, that is, well, we are not standing still, we are working as backfire, so on other developments, and well, because the front dictates the conditions and we have to move. on,

on, we have no right to stop. mr. artem, thank you very much for the inclusion , for the work that you do for the armed forces, because what you said is really encouraging, because these decisions, in my opinion, are extremely important, so thank you again team, and i will remind our viewers that it was artem scherbakivskyi, the operator of the uav of the combined squad of evil birds, and also a member of the team that developed the backfire strike drone, we see that this drone is now... being formed in a more powerful version, there will be new modifications, but we can see that separate technological solutions are also being developed, because relatively speaking, the appearance of these software elements for fpv drones, why is it important, because in fact now the fp drone operator a person who endures significant emotional stress during the execution of a combat mission, there are four or five missions per day, this is actually a qualitative limitation, because yes ... it becomes

difficult for the operator to really hit the target under the influence of enemy reb, if the fpv drone is on the terminal stage, i.e. at the end he can already capture the target and destroy the enemy object, this means that the burden on the operator decreases, and on the other hand, i repeat, this story with the trench reb, now the enemy is trying to saturate the front edge with various means of combating drones, first of all with fpv drones, we see, relatively speaking, that on some russian tanks there are such green boxes where there are fpv drone suppression systems, but these modules that cherbakivsky is talking about, they are in principle now are being developed by several more teams, i'll tell you the truth, they actually really zero out the capabilities of the russian reb, they are extremely interested in making it happen as soon as possible, i think that the military leaders will understand the significance of this step and support the initiatives of the team, which is now represented by artem scherbakivskyi. so, these were the main

conclusions of this military program of ours, where on the one hand we see the potential of private companies with certain bureaucratic restrictions due to the actions of certain government bodies, in particular dasu, and really breakthrough solutions that can to be implemented by private companies to strengthen potential in various areas, starting from unmanned complexes and ending in other areas. stay tuned to the spresso channel, there will be many more interesting things to come. you are watching the program of the ukrainian voice of america chas time, i am natalya leonova, congratulations. the pentagon denied the information in the media that... the united states is apparently going to destroy

the atek missiles, which have expired . i saw these messages in zmi, we read them, and they are not true, - said the spokesman of the us department of defense pat ryder in voice of america questions answered. earlier , the publication new zevik, with reference to military experts, reported that there are hundreds of missiles in the us warehouses, which are supposed to be disposed of due to the expiration of their useful lives. military analysts point out that it is the provision of additional velika missiles to ukraine. range is key to the success of the armed forces. the pentagon says it continues to work with congress to resolve the issue of additional funding for ukraine to continue providing weapons. we will talk more about this with our correspondent at pentagon by osap yarysh. congratulations ostap. congratulations natalie. so, ostap, are there any backup options for providing arms to ukraine until congress resolves the issue of additional funding for kyiv and other partners. natalya, this is what it looks like at the moment, isn't it?

the united states currently has no backup options for funding, at least that's the answer we're hearing from the pentagon, from the state department, from the white house, that's why the enactment. congressional additional request of the white house for additional funding to support ukraine is now so much critical we know that, in principle , the option of the law on lendlease was available before, and here it is possible that it would be needed and useful. however, we do know that congress did not support an extension of this law through 2023-2024. let me remind you that this law would allow joe biden to transfer weapons to the white house for ukraine without the approval of congress. however... this option has expired because congress did not extend it for subsequent years. in theory , natalia now has four, about 4 billion, more than 4 billion dollars left in the pentagon, this is permission to use these

funds to send weapons to ukraine. however , in fact, this money also remains unavailable, due to the fact that it is necessary to replenish the reserves of the united states, and from which these weapons are actually provided, and... there are no more funds for replenishing these reserves. ostape, are we about ukraine, since you do not have money to replenish your own reserves, does this mean that these remaining more than 4 billion are essentially untouchable. this is the authority to spend money. again, without the money to actually restock, that is, the authority to spend...that amount, but not funds must be available, so we need additional funding from congress. so basically you don't have 4 billion. we have the authority to expend it from available resources, but we do not have the ability to replenish supplies by removing equipment from

our warehouses. so, in practice, this means that we have run out of money. so, we heard. pat ryder, the pentagon has run out of money, but in the wake of the latest massive russian attacks, the issue of protecting ukraine's skies is more urgent than ever. are there any alternative ways, while the question is about additional financing for ukraine has not been decided. give in? yes, absolutely, natalya, i would like to go back to what pedrider said, also explain to the audience a little bit what exactly is meant, so the over 4 billion that was discussed in this segment, is the authorization of congress to use the maximum. such an amount, and at the same time the pentagon has, the united states must replenish its own reserves in order not to jeopardize its defense capability. as we heard, there are currently no funds to replenish these stocks, that is, in fact, the permission is not physical money, it is not the money that is somewhere in the bank account is

an authorization from the congress, yes, actually physical money, and from which these reserves should be replenished later, they are not there, and that is why this discrepancy actually arises, that is, in fact, in theory , the authorization is there, but in practice . as we heard from pat ryder, unfortunately, the united states cannot use them right now, which is why they are pushing so hard for congress to pass the necessary funding. going back to your question about air defense, are there any alternative ways to provide it? in in principle, the situation is similar, as with other weapons, again all the funding is chosen, but the united states can now turn to and talk about it to the allies, in particular, we know that every month, almost every month , the allies meet and... on the meeting of the contact group on the defense of ukraine in the ramstein format, and actually not only the united states helps ukraine, we know that germany has provided ukraine with patriot installations in particular, airista installations to ukraine, and other countries have provided sempti, nasams, norway provided, it's about other

hawk installations, that is, all those things that side by side with the patriots help protect the ukrainian skies, and probably the united states now, if within this month ... congress does not pass, that's what will happen , additional funding will be forced appeal to the allies so that they take on this role and cover ukraine's requests. we saw that the allies, in principle, in the past responded to these calls and supplied weapons, after all, germany has recently increased its supplies of ammunition and missiles to air defense, ultimately the installations themselves, so they will probably look there as well. one more alternative option that i will discuss... however, this is also not a matter of a few days, it is a probable confiscation of frozen russian assets and its transfer of these assets to the benefit of ukraine for the defense of ukraine, however, again, everything depends on the legislation, legal points, and this process is also not instantaneous, and therefore this

option is also likely, if countries even come to such a decision, for example, groups seven or european union countries, it can still take. time, therefore, in principle, plan a also talks about it like this, ukraine and the united states will use and still get the money approved by congress. we need more, let me explain , we have given ukraine very effective systems, and like everything else that we give them, they use it wisely, they put it in the right places, they prioritize defense and so on, but take that, that we sent and compare it with the map of ukraine for the necessary territory defense, my hands don't even fit in the screen, we haven't given enough to ukraine, we need to provide... give them more and more capabilities, as i mentioned before, we also need to give them things that don't

shoot, sensors, radars, points controls that tie it all together. just like i said about the f-16, it becomes more lethal when connected to sensors and a command network, so does patriot, sampt, nasams, all the things that are provided. all are more capable when connected to the sensors and control networks that enable them determine where the attack is coming from. ukraine is already doing a good job with the limited amount of capabilities they have, but we need to give them more, and more modern, not only launchers, but sensors, controls, communications , etc., that will make the weapons more lethal. we have heard the words of philip breedlev, he is a retired american general, his recipe is simple, it is necessary to provide ukraine with more capabilities, more better capabilities, in his opinion, this is... the only option in order to strengthen the defense of the ukrainian sky not only over kyiv, but also over other cities

such as kharkiv, odesa, zaporizhzhia and others that suffer from russian attacks. thank you, ostap, for your analysis, our correspondent at the pentagon, ostap yarysh, was in direct contact with us. donald trump's companies received millions of dollars from foreign governments while he was president, according to a house oversight committee report released thursday. yes. democrats in congress accused trump of violating the constitution. 20 countries spent a total of almost 8 million dollars on properties of trump, including his hotels in washington and las vegas. moreover , china spent about 5.5 million dollars, the report says. the emoluments clause of the us constitution prohibits presidents from accepting money from foreign governments without the consent of congress. on january 3, ukraine and russia carried out

the first major exchange of prisoners in about six months. kyiv reported the return of 230 military and civilian personnel. however , there were no azov fighters among the returnees. our next story is about the 20-year-old soldier of the azov national guard , anton shtukin, who participated in the defense mariupol he survived russian captivity in olenivka and donetsk, torture and starvation. on april 15, 2022, he, along with other defenders , got to the azovstal plant, and on may 20, by order of the command, the servicemen surrendered. anton was released only a year later, on may 6, 2023. all the time that anton was in captivity, his father serhiy organized actions for the liberation of his son and his brothers. anna kostyuchenko and pavel suh will tell more about the azov man's stay in polona and his release. junior sergeant , 20-year-old anton shtukin, trains at the training ground

in donbass. the boy spent more than a year in russian captivity, where he was tortured, from which he still has not recovered. i just came after questioning some guys from the back of my head to the heels, i was all blue. that is, a cut on the head, a cut in the sweat, simply from the fact that you are already being beaten with something, that your... skin kind of cracks. a native of uman , anton joined the azov regiment in september 2021, as soon as he turned 18. this family that you get, let's say this, after you join the ranks, it just can't be compared to anything. at the moment full-scale offensive of russia, anton was in mariupol. on april 15, 2020, anton, along with other defenders of the city, was sent to azovstal. at that time he was already wounded. i was wounded twice while still performing my duties on the right bank, that is, on azovstal

, i literally became 300, just such an average 300, i had a massive bleeding, my elbow was shot, it was a certain inconvenience, let's say, one the hand is actually not working. despite a wounded right hand, anton took an active part in the defense of azovstal. 20 in may, the command received an order to surrender in order to save the lives of the personnel . for the first two or three days i refused to go out, even before i went to the ranks of azov, i understood that if we azov people were captured, it would be very difficult, that's all. well, you can put a cross on yourself, that is, you will not be killed immediately, you will simply be tortured for a very long time and mercilessly. the captured fighters were sent to the village of olenivka in the premises of the former penal colony in the occupied part of the donetsk region, anton says. before that, he recalls, all the prisoners searched you are completely undressed, you

put all your things on the table. the first phrase that you get in your... they put a tick and you go, you are completely described, from head to toe, you tell what each tattoo means, the first interrogations of the people of volyn have already begun, all the testimonies that anton gave to the russians , were given under torture, says a serviceman, they tried to blame the drama theater on ours, that we destroyed it, blew up the drama theater, then if... you don't go to contact, you will be sent to dizo, and there are certain people who will make it so that you went to contact dzizo is a disciplinary isolator. on just one case fabricated in this way, the russians gave anton 24 years in prison, he says, for the alleged killing of civilians during the shelling of the russian headquarters with anti-tank weapons. well,

it seems to me that they were simply fed up with what they would do to us. build up and that's it, you just sign everything that is just there, and that's it, and you have such a package. every day, the soldiers were forced to sing the national anthem of russia and other russian songs for refusal beat - says anton. i never thought i could learn songs so well. i refused once at the very beginning. but nothing, normal, normal then he could not walk. anton was able to secretly call his father once and tell him where he was. forty-two-year-old serhii shtukin made every effort to free his son. the first test was to achieve the appropriate status for anton, because he was initially recorded not as a prisoner, but as a missing person. i probably stormed the red cross six or seven times a day,

because confirmation has already come to some people, word has come that... there is confirmation from the russian side of some persons, this is one of the first by chevron. serhii and his wife maryana started organizing events in support of prisoners of war. the first was held in the native uman. then there were about 20 more actions in different cities of ukraine. the city of uman, the city of zhashkiv, khrystynivka, in odesa, kyiv. we also did car races. a lot of money is spent on this. what funds, each share, it poured into some round figure, fuel, the funds were used to buy paraphernalia, flags, accommodation, food, meals, there were even moments when people wanted to go, they said, we don't have anything, we

paid extra for transport, things don't count, their regular promotions helped. because anton was eventually exchanged, we shouted and were heard, honestly, because there is a lot, here is what i want to tell you now, and i may even address those parents, those families, indeed, whose children are relatives in captivity, do not be silent, well, we fell silent, everyone fell silent, after three months of captivity in a deer pen, the russians staged anton in donetsk, it happened on july 22, exactly one week before, according to the sbu and... the funeral service of ukraine, russia committed a terrorist attack, setting off an explosion in the barracks of the olenivska correctional colony, where the rest of the ukrainian prisoners were held. anton spent more than eight months in prison in donetsk. the chamber is 18 m2, most of it is occupied by bunks. the wash basin, from which the water comes once, once at easter, twice at the new year. and for

all this space there are 25 people, 25 men. showered how many times, twice a year, something like a hot shower, in the best case, once portion of food, you will have a full glass and half of it, it happened that there was half a glass of one hundred grams, interrogations and torture continued in donetsk, says anton, well, in most cases, physically, because psychologically, i don’t know, well, as you can see, i communicate quite adequately, everything is fine, like, it was just difficult to find some lever, lever yes... on me and in most cases it was all a physical intervention in my own health. on may 6, 2023, anton managed to be freed from... captivity after almost a year slavery during this time, the boy lost weight by at least 25 kg, says his father serhiy. in addition , during the torture, the russians severed his

sciatic nerves. because of this, the 20-year-old soldier is currently having difficulty walking. it's terrifying, it's terrifying, because when you see, you see your son, less than half his weight. it is in terrible condition. he will never say it, never show it. garden: anton spent 5 months in rehabilitation in one of kyiv's hospitals, but returned to the front last october. the ukrainian flag with which serhiy went to the liberation rallies azov citizens, his son is now carrying on combat missions. this flag was at all actions, at events where he participated, where he was there, let's say, shouting to the whole world that there are people who are further in polonia, they need to be... saved. anton is not the first military man in the family, his great-grandfather is russian, by origin he fought during the second world war. he lost his leg, but found love in the town of

uman, where he stayed to live. i don't know the type of troops, but a person i don't know was also captured, after that he decided to go again to go fight, and she fought until she lost a limb, well, but still she continued to build a family, a house. like, it didn't bother him. anton already has his own family, because he got married after the capture. anna kostyuchenko, pavel sukhodolskyi for voice of america from donetsk and cherkasy regions. us secretary of state anthony blinken on thursday. to the near east. blinken will visit israel, the west bank, egypt, qatar, turkey, greece, jordan, the united arab emirates, saudi arabia and egypt, the state department said. under

during his meetings, blinken will discuss the protection of civilian life in gaza and the west bank. ensuring the prevention of forced displacement of palestinians from gaza and the safe release of hostages who remain in captivity - said state department spokesman matthew miller. main. the us diplomat will also discuss ways to stop attacks on vessels in the black sea by iran-backed houthis. earlier, the united states and 12 other countries issued an ultimatum to the houthis demanding that they stop attacking ships in the red sea. hundreds of fighters hamas were killed or captured during the october 7 attack on israel. israeli officials say many of the slain militants were found to be in possession of captagon amphetamine pills. it is a stimulant. which can radically increase endurance, yuriy mamon will tell more about it. numerous witnesses say that the hamas militants who

crossed the border between gaza and israel on october 7 were in a state of euphoria, they stormed more than 20 small settlements, killed more than 1,200 israelis and took another 240 hostages. israeli officials say many captured or killed hamas members were carrying drinking bottles. captagon, an amphetamine drug also called poor man's cocaine. for years, captagon has been common among isis fighters in iraq and syria, mostly because it gives them almost superhuman abilities. under the influence of this substance, you don't want to sleep, the feeling of anxiety disappears, and you can stay focused for several days. captagon also relieves fear and hunger to some extent. in addition, the drug has a very low self-esteem. although israeli officials say

the pills were found in the hands of the hamas attackers, an israeli army spokesman did not officially confirm that hamas militants had admitted to using them during interrogations, or that the relevant substances were found in the terrorists' blood. we know that captagon was found, it was found in large quantities. and we can assume that it has been widely used by hamas terrorists to increase militant activity, excitement and reduce any inhibitions about atrocities. israeli analysts at the same time say that the atrocities of hamas militants cannot be justified by the effect of a narcotic substance. they are convinced that the main reason for cruelty is the long-term indoctrination and dehumanization of jews. amphetamines don't turn people into dekuns. so take a look. young people who take amphetamines and then dance all night and party, they don't become dekuns, and terrorists don't become dekuns because of amphetamines. the use

of amphetamine by militants is not only problematic. in the context of the hamas attack on israel. it an extremely profitable commodity that is mainly produced in syria and exported to the arab countries of the middle east. many of these countries have already declared the spread of captagon a public health emergency. yuri mamon, linda gradstein, voice of america. non-profit volunteer organization leleka foundation, which. founded by volunteers in california back in 2014 , supplies the front lines with quality tactical medicine. after russia's full-scale invasion of ukraine, the organization grew its volunteer network and size supplies khrystyna shevchenko met with the co-founders of leleka, who told how they manage to collect donations already in the third year of a full-scale war. there are immigrants

from ukraine in california. kostyleva and vadym geshel solve issues that are happening thousands of kilometers away on the ukrainian front every day, they are co-founders of the leleka foundation, a non-profit organization that supplies tactical medicine to ukraine. when we tried to understand what will be more effective, what is needed to be as effective as possible to help military and ukraine in this war, we concluded that in fact. such tactical medicine is, first of all, very necessary , secondly, it is a consumable that will always be needed, and this is what our army, unfortunately, at that time, and now everything is exactly such volumes that there are some gaps , where we can help. the history of the organization dates back to 2013, when program manager svitlana and programmer vadim were confused by the events on the maidan in kyiv. a very strong desire

to help, i was, well, simply in awe of such a blossoming of ukrainian civil society, and from a political point of view, and a general, cultural point of view, i do n’t know, and on the other hand, this treachery, injustice, cruelty of russia, and... for me, it was such an almost physical factor , i don’t know the pain and so i looked for a way to be useful in some way and i found it by 2022 a small team of storks established strong ties with suppliers of tactical medicine and contacts with ukrainian hospitals, military medics and volunteers. after the large-scale

invasion of russia into ukraine, the scale of thanks to the partnership with the ukrainian logistics company and the network established over the years , the purchased goods are delivered to ukraine at a fast pace. i am extremely grateful to the leco foundation for the medicine trainer. you are handsome. really very grateful for these things, because all this is really necessary for work. thank you very much. glory to ukraine. also, in 2022 , a team appeared in ukraine. our team in ukraine communicates directly with doctors, that is, we know every day what is needed, where it is needed, what urgent needs we prioritize and precisely we know who to send what to. thermal blankets, as well as nights, are among the most necessary things now, say lalakiv residents. this is a thermal blanket with heating. when a person encounters

a lot of blood, it is a very... important thing, because the victim's temperature drops. vadim shows us the contents of a backpack, a combat medic, which they hand out for military medics. the backpack meets nato standards. our leleka ukraine team in kyiv collects all these backpacks for individual orders. turnstile. this one, for example, is the so-called software. and a lot. popular, may be the most popular kat and so on, this, hemostatic band, celox is the substance that this band is impregnated with, which stops the bleeding, the life of the wounded, recipients of tactical medicine, ukrainian field medics and ambulance crews , from february 24, 2022 volunteers sent more than 7,000 medical backpacks.