the same time is coming, because it means that it is necessary to urgently think about how to confront russia, which of the european armies today can really fight with russia, well, excuse me, i will take the courage to say that no one, and that here, first of all, not because there is no... equipment , there is equipment, because the european armies are not ready for this either morally, psychologically, or organizationally, they are disorganized, they very often do not have the necessary amount of what is needed, they cannot lead some one line, because it not spelled out in the relevant standards, well

... i'll just give you one example, when today it's about creating a so-called tank visa-free zone, so that conditional tanks from germany could get to the conditional lithuania or latvia or estonia in the event of an attack on these countries by this russian wild bear, but so far this is only talk, and if the country... 32, then imagine how much time and everything else must pass for such a simple, normal, banal the decision was made, so in europe finally, it seems to me, they are beginning to guess that the matter is turning into quite such, you know, dramatic forms, and that ukraine must be helped, otherwise then they will be helping themselves, but... will they

be able to do it, the question is rhetorical, so i think , macron just caught this change very quickly and is trying in this regard, hardly to be a leader here, he is just trying, it seems to me, to be the first to convey this story to others, so that people in berlin and in warsaw and in prague , and in madrid and anywhere in europe. understood that now a key time, or everyone will help ukraine together and in this way it will not be necessary to involve itself directly, well, or then the situation will get out of control, and then the french, german and all other armies of europe will have to try on their military uniforms, because... - others simply won't succeed.

thank you, mr. volodymyr, for the conversation, this was volodymyr ogrysko, politician, diplomat, minister of foreign affairs of ukraine in 2007-9 . friends, we are working live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms, for those who who is watching us live there now. please join our platforms, subscribe to our pages, take part in our survey, because today we are asking you about this, do you agree with... is the criticism of the pope's words about negotiations with the russian federation valid? yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, if you watch us on tv, pick up your smartphone and vote. if you think that the criticism of the pope's words about the negotiations with the russian federation is valid? 0800 211 381, no 0800 211 382. all calls to these numbers are free, call, at the end of the program we will match you. of this

vote, then we will be in touch with viktor yagun, major general of the reserve sbu, deputy head of the sbu in 2014-15, mr. general, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today, good health, new the york times writes that at the end of 2022, the administration of the president of the united states of america was developing an action plan in response to russia's possible use of nuclear weapons in ukraine. i quote this respected publication. administration representatives stated that the response of the united states of america should be non-nuclear, but they quickly added that it should be some kind of dramatic response, perhaps even a conventional strike against units that launched nuclear weapons, or they risk emboldening not only russian dictator putin, but any -what other authoritarian leader with a nuclear arsenal in... big or

small, mr. general, given that ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear potential, and we found ourselves in a situation where... the guarantors of the budapest memorandum, well, they could not provide us with security guarantees, and one of the guarantors attacked ukraine, in your opinion, can ukraine declare in the future and count on the return or restoration of nuclear potential in our state? in the near future it is difficult to imagine, it is in... first of all, it seems so to me, because i think that in such a perspective we will rather become members of nato and receive a nuclear umbrella from those three states that are officially the carriers, well

which are the owners of nuclear weapons, it is great britain, france and the united states, it first, and secondly, we still need to work on non-nuclear components, we will succeed in this better, and we will be able to resist the enemy sooner, if we use our capabilities for application, first of all, it is missile technology, as a long-range missile. the problem in ukraine was very simple, and i once called it, we do not have the opportunity to use test sites for missiles with a range of more than 15. so where did we use the odessa test sites in order to be able to hit the black sea there, warning everyone who is there floats, it is, unfortunately, not such a long distance, we need missiles 1000 km, how

to do it, well, we need to reach out to our allies and negotiate with them so that we can test the missiles that we are developing on their training grounds, this so many countries do. so, in particular, i know that south korea has been working on it, and i think that would be a much better option than nuclear weapons, although it's clear that they would like, you know, like israel, we, we nuclear weapons we do not have, but if necessary, we will apply it, well, i meant that whether or not ukraine can , let's say, take some specific steps in order to... well, protect itself from such a neighbor as the russian federation, especially since missile technology has always been at a sufficiently high level in ukraine levels, the south has created a lot of different missiles of different classes , including missiles that can carry nuclear weapons,

or in this situation, any step towards nuclear weapons will be against us. hiding from the civilized world, from the north atlantic alliance, and in the end, how do you assess the fact that russia can use our nuclear power plants as a weapon, that is, we know that the zaporizhia nuclear power plant is now under control, the magate directorate has already appealed to russia to free the territory of the zaporizhia nuclear power plant, but no one is going to do this, and yet ukraine surrenders. this nuclear blackmail, and not only ukraine, but the whole world, and this is happening in front of the eyes of the whole world? well, unfortunately, we have to decide if we're going to develop nuclear weapons, and unfortunately, we

're in a state where we're dependent on our allies, at this stage, then we can be given an ultimatum from which we cannot refuse, then... that is , you cannot hide a needle in a bag, and all our efforts or developments can be known, become known both to our allies and to our enemies, and it will be used first of all against us, so if we were at least on the same level as israel, which conducts a more independent policy and has the ability, including financial, to use it for its defense, then i think the situation was possible would be a little different. but at this stage in the coming decades, until we complete all of those, including financial obligations to our allies, i do not think that we will go down the path of creating our own, our own nuclear developments, but

i emphasize, still once again i emphasize that there is an opportunity to ensure our security with non-nuclear weapons, and it will be effective enough that the enemy will know that we can use, of course, missile weapons with fissionable warheads, not of the nuclear type, but they will fly on... on their centers like themselves like to call decision-making, i think it's going to be pretty frustrating for them, and it can be used much more effectively than we've had before unfortunately, so we have to work on those weapons, on the missile weapons, on the drones systems, and i think that in this way we will put any enemy in place. er, this is one of those elements that will allow us to be on the alert and keep them at bay. well, unfortunately,

the most effective method is actually joining the euroat-atlantic union. sir general, lithuanian military intelligence believes that the russian federation will have sufficient resources to wage war against ukraine at its current intensity for at least two more years. simultaneously. according to the institute for the study of war, which is located in the united states of america, russia has already deconserved from 25 to 40% of its tank strategic reserves, and removed the best equipment from storage. how far do you think russia will go in this war, or will they wage this war against ukraine simply to the last russian in order not to to lose this war and in order... to prove to the world, well, first of all, that they are ready for

a big war and that they were preparing for it and that they have enough resources, well, let's be honest, the resources are not enough, but unfortunately, the psychology of the enemy at this stage is very difficult to predict their actions, because their psychology is just kind of crazy, in fact, all economists and all specialists really think that... the 24-25th years are the last years when russia can still stay afloat with that intensity . without outside help from some of its own, i don’t know allies there, whom it can attribute there, it is not capable of waging a long-term war of attrition, if they run out of resources, or are exhausted, then on our side, on the contrary , a situation is observed when the mechanisms in europe are... and in the united states and in general in the world, where opportunities are being sought

to renew production, increase its capacity, implement certain projects, including in ukraine, so i emphasize once again, against this whole background, their situation will worsen, in our country, i still i wish, well, i believe that it will... improve, and in reality all economists say that the 26th year is precisely the critical year that russia may simply come out of, well, not at all ready for further actions, as far as they can withstand this marathon, it is not unclear, their situation in the internal economic plan is deteriorating significantly, and they may not be ready for certain things. explosions, not some kind of socio-political ones, but rather social ones, well , we saw what happened if the eggs

disappeared somewhere, the chicken ran out, and some other there are moments, so you have to understand that it will be manifested in many factors in the future, i agree with some conclusions, and really we just have to endure this marathon to the end. how can you, mr. general, as a professional, explain why europe failed to calculate the scale of the war that the russian federation was preparing for, why it turned out that the weapons that were being prepared and the forces that were being prepared in europe for a potential confrontation with the russian federation , turned out to be not so large, or let's say... yes, not as powerful as the times require, why is europe

catching up now, why couldn't they in the think tanks just calculate this situation? well, listen, they did not calculate the situation that ukraine would last more than 3 days, or how much they gave us a week, that is , the miscalculations are very serious, and i think that the conclusions were drawn, no one expected that in the 21st century... someone will solve the issue in the center of europe with weapons, even nuclear weapons, god forbid, but with conventional weapons, therefore... and this is the period after after the collapse of the soviet union, everyone in europe believed that there were no more monsters, we can democratically agree on everything, if there are any economic issues, well, the last ones are russia's efforts to make money on gas, on those phobias, then

everything was attributed to the fact that, well, the market. they are not quite ready yet, they want to make extra money with such thieving methods, but no one thought that their plans were not just far-sighted, but barbaric, that is, not just to take control there the country politically, but to destroy it physically, that is why the situation has probably happened that over the last 30 years some countries that have not seen war since 1945 have relaxed, i can’t say another word, although those countries that are close to russia and understood what the soviet union is, what russia is, the same finland that had it in reserve and was preparing for possible

actions without being tied to russia or anyone else, she was just preparing because they... understood that the nation is small, you have to survive, and they, against this background there, you know, and prepared enterprises, and stocks, and warehouses for people and for some things , that is, the countries were different, but the same situation was with the baltic countries, who understood who they lived next to and understood that this was all... so simple may not finish, that is why they tried to join nato as soon as possible and to reach the big countries that not everything, not everything, what russia says is true, it must be looked at very carefully, so i emphasize once again, the vast majority countries that have not known war and upheavals for a long time, they

were really unprepared, and i don’t know , there wouldn’t have been... unhappiness, it wouldn’t have been happiness that led to unhappiness, that’s why they are now actively working to change all this, to improve it, i read the situation that was in the 14th year in the bundeswehr, where the number of tanks, planes , helicopters, and ships that were able to directly take part in some... or other military operations was less than 50%, and even if you take into account that about 10% of the bundeswehr spoke russian , because an extremely large number of people from the soviet union tried to receive the benefits of serving in the army,

it was this that led to such very, very, very scary thoughts, so thank god that it is so... as it is, it is good that they raised these issues and are working in the direction of improving their defense capability. mr. general , i also want to ask you about the statements of the pope regarding the white flag and negotiations with russia, but in the context of the existence, the continued existence in ukraine, of a branch of the russian orthodox church, we see how the kremlin skilfully uses and tries to use the church, because on territory of the russian federation of the russian orthodox church. has already turned into a subdivision of the kremlin, they openly campaign for the russians to go and kill ukrainians. the pope talks about some kind of peace, about the fact that the two sides must sit down at the table of peace negotiations, with the pope, obviously, already after our victory, it is obvious that there will be

a conversation with the ukrainian state, well, according to that , it is possible and now there will be some there is a statement about the vatican state, because... the pope heads this state, and what concerns the russian orthodox church, the russian orthodox church branch in ukraine, well, why do you think we are not can we quickly put an end to the existence of this church? well, frankly, we understand everything, and we can do everything, but we still have to live in the world that exists, in which it is bad or good, so we have to go through all these legal matters to the end. to reach the level where there will be no claims against us, and to clearly write down in the legislation the legal mechanisms, the destruction of this church, another word cannot be chosen, but it cannot be written, because, unfortunately, it has an influence in the world, it has its

agency not only in the form of some there representatives of the russian orthodox church in one or another state, but they actively work with other orthodox churches, they work with some governments, they actively work in the same one. in the vatican, there is an active representation there in the form of the russian ambassador in the vatican, there is a direct contact from the russian orthodox church who is in direct contact with the pope, that is, there are many such moments that indicate that the russian orthodox church is also used in the world to discredit , they for example, they ordered a significant, well, it is clear through whom and... it is even known whose money it is, such a significant lobbying campaign in the united states, where they talk about the suppression of true believers and so on and so forth,

so you just have to go through all those legal points, i know that the law is the law on the way out, it is imperfect, but it is imperfect in terms of realizing our intentions, but it, if we follow it and if we follow this letter of the law, i think... the time will come when we really wake up finally this cancer a tumor that, unfortunately, has metastasized quite hugely in our body of ukraine. mr. general, thank you for the conversation, this was viktor yagun, major general of the reserve sbu, deputy chairman of the sbu in 2014-15. friends, we work live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our platforms in youtube and. facebook, for those who are watching us live there now, please like this video and vote in our poll, today we ask you if the criticism of the pope's words about

negotiations with the russian federation (0800-211-381), yes no (0800-211-382) all calls to these numbers are free, vote on youtube, everything is quite simple: yes, no, or write your comment, please below video. next, we will be in touch with viktor. boberenko, political expert, expert of the bureau of policy analysis. mr. viktor, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today. good health to you, i am also very glad to see you. i actually wanted to start our conversation with zelensky's statement, which he made after today's verkhovna rada bid commander-in-chief, that ukraine is building 200 km of fortifications in three lanes. vault? prime minister denys shmygal, regarding the pace of construction of new defense lines, was heard today, and here is the large-scale construction that has started, the pace is good, he expects to

finish it on time, zelenskyy wrote in his telegram channel. mr. viktor, are you located 30 or 35 km from the russian federation in the city of sumy, or not? fortifications in the sumy region, because we see the intensity applied by the russians occupiers, attacking the sumy region during the last month or three weeks, so exactly, are these fortifications there, if it does not constitute a military secret? well, of course, it is a military secret , where they are located, at what depth, whether they are far from the enemy or not, uh, and, well, let’s put it this way, excursions even from journalists along such maginot lines are conditional or the manerheim line or what can be called the shmyhal line or the

yarmak line , the zelenskyi line, i don’t know, the line, oh, but they don’t bother, er, they don’t bother , i have information from the people themselves military, there is information from open sources, well, it is actually great. sense. of course, on the one hand , it is necessary to build such fortifications, on the other hand, the territory is the same in the sumy region, it is divided by the siym river, in fact on the south, and the north side, and the north side, we understand that if there is an enemy on to advance, on two operational, so to speak, units , yes, operational-strategic, if they will advance in the north of the region, then it will be guhliv shostka and further along... the kiptibachivsk highway there, well, in the kyiv region, but there is something to the right of him the bridges are torn down, their pontoons are taken off and everything is covered again, they can advance

naturally like this. how they tried to advance through the akhtyrka to the rear of kharkov, of course they should build there too, and this applies to sumy oblast, but i think that first of all they should build in the east and south, where the main battles are taking place, here, let's say , a front of secondary importance, of low intensity near sumy, but, although it is undoubtedly there, people are dying, cabs are flying, iskanders are hitting there in... sumy and in the suburbs, that is, we are all time is running out, but it doesn't matter, it 's not kupyansk, it's not avdiyivka, it's not ughledar, where they are now advancing, and it's not robotic, but it's a little less, i hope they're building what we know from open sources, that very often there is such a hop, information gets into the consolidated support point of 45 million, and you think, if on the front somewhere near avdiivka there is a third

assault unit somewhere... and you are like the one who is building a zgavna and a stick there, like some money is allocated , where is the combatant will knock out there or something else , some volunteers are bringing the forest there somewhere or something else we dig ourselves and everything here is the same platoon base point. 45 million seems like, well, what should it be made of, maybe there are golden toilets there, who knows, so many questions, especially since such an interesting guy as kyrylo tymoshenko walked out, he is already an adviser to the minister of defense, and everyone can say : vitya, well, not the ministry of defense, the manager of construction funds , yes, okay, but the ministry of defense will take the act of acceptance, that is, whoever built it, whether it was the regional military administration or the ministry of regions, and whoever built it , will accept the balance of the ministry of defense, that's right, and tymoshenko will appear here, he will say there,

guys, build for 45 million is not enough. build plutocrats for 100 million, we will accept , we will accept everything on balance, it is not difficult for us, that is , a person with absolutely no reputation, a person who is connected, connected there, well, the phrase "grand theft" and immediately an associative series who, kyrylo tymoshenko, only you will knock out, kill big larceny in google and you will be knocked out, and here he is again in the first roles, it feels like... if in the office the president has no idea at all what reputation is like, reputation is a resource, and why are you throwing the fox into the henhouse, well, well, i have no words after the platoon strongholds for 45 million and after kyryla tymoshenko, i think well they have allocated 31 billion, on the one hand, i understand very clearly that it is not possible to write. there is something in

the tender conditions, well, don't publish the tender now, but conduct the tender so that we can look later, i would really like the security service of ukraine to check everyone, what brand of cement is there, what else , because if these 31 million are now built, they will take something on the balance sheet, they will report something, they will take zelensky somewhere, where there will be a potemkin village and where everything will be fine, everything is perfect, but on 200 km... 10 support points will be ideal , and the rest will be made of anything, that is, when zelenskyi brags, i immediately have suspicions, just like before the large-scale construction during the first part of his pre-war presidency, so i would , i do not consider them to be gentlemen and i would like them to be checked if they are not

we can do it now, okay, there are reasons, but it is necessary that either we do it later, or the competent authorities do it now. mr. viktor, volodymyr zelenskyy is still bragging about the fact that ukraine will now have a new ambassador to great britain, general zaluzhnyi, although not a general, as i understand it, a retired general, because there was information that he passed military the medical commission, he was declared unfit, as was serhiy shaptala, the former chief of the general staff of... the armed forces of ukraine, but the question is not actually zaluzhny is not in shaptal, because it is about 16 generals who were retired, and therefore , the question is probably more about personnel policy in general, because we are witnessing how 16 generals who fought since 2014 in the russian-ukrainian conflict front, resigned and not a single, not a single message.