today in the verdict program with serhii rudenko. at the sole discretion of the armed forces. the united states government offers ukraine to independently make decisions about the use of american weapons. does this mean an unofficial permission to strike on the territory of russia? exacerbation in the far east. china calls its large-scale military exercises around taiwan serious. a warning to separatists, what might a chinese invasion of a recalcitrant island lead to? time to get used to the dark. ukrenergo urges ukrainians to learn to live with regular electricity turning off the lights and preparing for a hard winter. in what way can ukraine overcome the shortage of electricity. glory to ukraine, this is

the verdict program, my name is serhii rudenko, i congratulate everyone and wish everyone good health. over the next hour, we will talk about the war, about ukraine, about the world, and about our victory. let's talk about another terrorist act by the russians in kharkiv, tensions over taiwan and the situation in the energy market of ukraine. today we will be with a people's deputy of ukraine, a colonel of the security service. roman kostenko, political expert vitaly kulyk and director of the energy research center oleksandr kharchenko. however, before starting our big conversation, let's watch a video of the consequences of today's attack, another terrorist attack by the russians on kharkiv. seven civilians died, another 20 were injured, they were employees of the factor druk printing house, where magazines, newspapers and other printing were printed. at the time of the enemy attacks, about fifty people were working there. employees, let's see,

well, the line goes there, you see that... there were hits, this is a factory that was engaged in printing, notebooks and books were printed here, unfortunately, there was a work shift when the previous s300 missile arrived, hitting the shop where people worked.

eternal memory to the dead and death to the russian occupiers. friends, we are working today live on the tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms for those who are currently watching us on these platforms. please take part in our survey, today we ask you the following: are you ready for an increase in electricity prices? yes, no, everything is quite on youtube. simply, if you are watching us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote if you are ready for an increase in electricity prices (0800-211-381), no, 0800-211-382, all calls to these numbers are free, vote, at the end of the program we will sum up the results of this vote. our first guest is roman kostenko, people's deputy of ukraine, secretary of the verkhovna rada committee on national security, defense and... colonel of the

security service of ukraine. mr. colonel, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today. good p.m. mr. colonel, let's start our conversation with the situation in kharkiv region, the enemy continues to storm vovchansk for the next two months, and will continue to storm while the armed forces of ukraine accumulate forces and means, but the defenders have already begun to receive... western ammunition and thanks to this deters the enemy, the commander of the akhiles attack drone battalion yury fedorenko told about it on espresso. let's hear what he said. as for the enemy, it is essential to take it because it is good enough the bridgehead can be for the further advance to the rear of the grouping of forces of the defense forces. accordingly, the defense forces understand that it is enough. weakly and actively hitting the enemy for

the last day, the enemy had no tactical success on the battlefield, but the battles in vovchanka are now very difficult. mr. colonel, what are they trying to achieve... putin and his army, well, if we say strategically, then at first their main task is, of course, to draw our forces away from the main directions of attack, where they strategically have a goal left, to capture donetsk, luhansk region and her admindonah and further, let's say, to create a sanitary zone along the territory along the border of ukraine, most of all they don't have the strength yet, i say once again, this is as of now, what we see. what forces and means do they have, that is why this operation, they naturally hoped for more, they hoped that we would not be able to react normally and let them pass further, their bridgeheads would be large, we would have to withdraw most of the troops from the main directions , but quite well, despite the fact that

, let's say, everything was not 100% prepared there, the command quite quickly reacted, er... made the right personnel reshuffles, in principle general drapaty there is an experienced general who has already participated in more than one, let's say, more than one battle in the russian-ukrainian war, so i think that this situation and ee yes ee stopped the enemy’s offensive, now they are trying to press somewhere in the same vovchansk, but there is no strategic threat, now we need to be more careful, of course along the entire front line, because... well, it is difficult to achieve suddenness, for example, there to the east of our countries where there are constant skirmishes, but there are more than there, well, somewhere around the 2,000 km border from kharkiv to the borders with belarus, there, of course, russians with such forces

as in the vovchanchan direction can make provocations or, let's say, seize some territories, which settlements are located... near the border, we understand that if we talk about defense, then defense is usually built from the point of view of its expediency, its er, let's say, necessity, precisely importance in terms of the area , it is tied to the area and it will not always be there on the admin of our borders, and the enemy understands this, and it is important for him that we do not enter his territory, or let's say from our territory these... russian volunteer corps, or russian volunteers, and we are putin i already spoke about it myself, and here is their task, after all , to make a line of defense on our territory, because we understand that a line of defense is , as a rule, territory that may not be returned to its use, let's say,

for the purpose of tens, and maybe 50 years, because these are mini fields, fence lines, trenches the presence of personnel there, so the russians also understand that if they do not succeed in going further, but still, in order for the territory that will be needed, well, let's say, to make it uninhabitable, so that it is our territory, we have it to understand and respond adequately, to prevent the russians from gaining a foothold in our territories, well, that is , mr. colonel, i understand that putin seeks to create a so-called sanitary zone, as he said, and this sanitary... zone can affect the sumy region as well, because we understand that the north-eastern point of our state is sumshchyna, well, along the entire border, i understand, up to, up to the donetsk region or

wherever they control, as much as he said about it, but they wanted to go deeper, it's not us gave as a matter of fact, they said there, our intelligence said that they talked up to 20... kilometers, in some directions up to 50, that is, they wanted a sanitary zone and some more of them, let's say there are populated areas or some the area attracted them there from the point of view of economic, maybe it was better for them to see for themselves what they needed, that is, they didn't just think about the 3 km or five that they would be able to pass, they planned to take such a large strip and make it, let's say, a buffer zone, but ours did not allow it to be done. i hope that in the future we will keep it the same way, and we can mutually create the same buffer zone only on that side, if it comes to that, well, it should be done that way, look, when putin talked about this sanitary zone, and the russians are trying

to create it, then obviously they are calculating or not are calculating, trying to avoid the actions of units such as the rdk on the territory of the russian... federation, but if we have long-range weapons, and our western partners allow us to use them on the territory of the russian federation, then obviously this is the story with the sanitary zone, well it ... it will be quite lifeless for the russians, because from the same side, as i said, it will be possible to create a sanitary zone, now there are discussions about whether to give permission to ukraine to fire american weapons on the territory or not, and new york times writes that after a sobering, as they write, trip to kyiv, secretary of state anthony blinken calls on president joe biden to lift the restrictions, even though... during the hearings in the foreign affairs committee of the house of representatives of the united states of america, blinken

evasively answered a question, does the biden administration plan to cancel the ban on the use of american weapons on the territory of the russian federation? let's hear what the secretary of state of the united states of america said. we rallied 50 countries to provide defense of ukraine and provided it with the weapons necessary to protect and repel russian aggression. in terms of authorizing and approving attacks outside of ukraine, we haven't done that, but ukraine will have to make its own decisions, and i want to make sure that it gets the equipment it needs to defend itself effectively. mr. colonel, the fact that ukraine will have to make these decisions on its own, can this be considered antony blinken's hint that there is such a decision, well, how will it be decided? the ukrainian leadership, that's how it will be, i think, no, i

i don't think so, i think that what blinkin still says on the air is probably more about sending signals to the same russian federation and showing that they are, shall we say, determined, but still for that , we can strike or we can't, you need to know from their conversations from the sidelines, unfortunately, i don't know how the conversation with the president ended, they probably talked about it. i think to strike or not to strike, this will be a question not specifically voiced now, if they wanted to, they would directly say, ukraine can strike, but now, let's say so, on the decision of ukraine, but you can always say that ukraine did not make this decision, so i think everything depends on the agreements that were reached between the president there and mrs. blinken on the sidelines, which are agreements, maybe not yet, but then they will allow, and perhaps the question has already been allowed, it really is for us... it would free our hands and we could be protected from such actions

of the russian federation, because russia now has trump cards, they have the opportunity to create shock weapons on their territory groups, somewhere bring them close to the border, when we can't hit them there, and then attack if our intelligence detects them, for example, whether at the time they are formed or when they are forming into a column to advance on our side, we can really hit them more. there is bilogrodsky or some other, let's say, some areas, preventing them from moving to our borders at all, and this will certainly free our hands, and it will give us the opportunity to keep reserves less on the borders, and to use them directly on the line collision where they go active hostilities, so if that kind of direct authorization was officially like that, i think it would make us stronger, i'm not going to say it's a turning point in the war or anything, but it would make us stronger, but... we always have to be as well prepared for the consequences, because we see when we

strike, the russians, they strike back, we, i'm not saying we shouldn't do it, but we always have to think through uh all the ways that we strike , and immediately we have to strengthen our ppu there, immediately we have to strengthen our positions, disperse our troops, because the russians, unfortunately, if there was no possibility. as for missile attacks, they are bigger, because they make them themselves, but in the future we need to complete our own sapsan complex, which, if available, in terms of its tactics and technical characteristics, is not inferior, but better than iskander, and i think when the first rockets fly towards the enemy, the russians will understand that this will be the beginning of this era of deterrence, when the russians will already... think before launching something in our direction. well, by the way, the speaker

mike johnson of the lower house of the congress of the united states of america, who contributed to the fact that the decision to allocate aid to us was delayed, now he supports allowing ukraine to strike the russian federation with american weapons. let's hear what mike johnson had to say. should allow ukraine to wage war as it sees fit, they should have the ability to strike back, and i think what we're trying to do is micromanage that effort. is not right for us, mr. colonel, given the pace of supply western weapons to ukraine, and the lack of aircraft in the sky of ukraine so far and the lack of sufficient air defense systems, what can you say, the west is deliberately restraining ukraine from

having all these means in... russian troops and in this way trying to keep ukraine from actions that could harm the same united states of america or france or germany. it is difficult to explain their logic, we are fighting with their, apparently, enemy, well, at least in the middle to the end of the 20th century, yes, they took part together in the second world war, but in principle... the ideology they had, let's say, at that moment the russians, was basically the same as, well , practically, but it was called differently, and well, then they were allies, after which, after which there was a cold war, and they were enemies in principle, now there is an opportunity to destroy the russian potential, let's say so, without

involving the personnel of nato countries, and... it is difficult for me to explain to myself why they are not doing it, but i, as a military person, as a person from the special services, i understand that this is the chance that is out there, which may not be there tomorrow, especially well, we understand how many countries the united states has helped in its time, trying to keep this or that region in the sphere of influence, well, let's say, not that in the sphere of influence, in the sphere of democratic influence, that is, democracy, but we remember them the etnam from which they went there, yes there... korea is also there, it is possible to negotiate negotiations, negotiations, the same afghanistan and many other countries, the same one where they tried to throw in just crazy resources there, gave a lot of weapons, but as a result, everything is exactly the same there the dictatorship won and they gave more there, and after that the efforts made by those who seized

power after that were much less, here ukraine is probably the only one that has shown that... it is really fighting, let's say this, really, and it is not going to give up, but our partners are grazing here, i am not saying that they do not give, i am very grateful to them for the help that finally began to arrive, of course, a lot of time was lost and our territories were lost, but let’s say, it is difficult to explain to me how a person military, there to a person with an understanding of the strategy that is happening there from the point of view our geopolitical, why do they do that. i think they are afraid of some other consequences, because really, for us, our war is the center of everything, and we invest in it, for them, of course, the geopolitical schedules are a little different, and i think they are betting on several directions at once , that's why they try to, let's say, maneuver her, but

it's difficult for me to explain, because i'm here with you right now in this special event. i think only this, because well they have the opportunity and they and even more europe should have the opportunity to provide our capabilities, if they wanted russia to at least stop advancing there and destroy its potential. the elementary things i am talking about, which do not require their direct intervention in hostilities, but could put the russian federation in place and show the whole world what they are for... peace in europe, and they influence something, i have already repeatedly said, i once submitted a decree about the closed sky, back in the 21st year before the start of the war, i asked to close the sky, and everyone treated it like that, sometimes even skeptically, so what is a closed sky, like this maybe, well israel showed how it is possible when iran struck at it. now i would see it when france, for example, declares

that we can send our soldiers to ukraine, britain there. and er, some er , pro-government persons also do not exclude it , they do not deny it, i would see it, well, we know that there are many patriot systems in europe, there are the same poles who will be next, or other nato countries, well, in the depths of ukraine to a depth of about 50 km, er, i would be in their place, er globally, if they think globally and want to remain players, at least at the level of europe, and to be reckoned with in the world, to put patriot systems and say: look, we are not entering the war, but our task is to shoot down every russian missile that flies at civilian an object of ukraine, if it is not a trench on the front line, and we will shoot down every missile that approaches closer than 100 km to the border, let's say,

of ukraine, and of the eu countries, and this is not an introductory one, it is really a declaration of protection of the european countries that are there in the european union union and the protection of the ukrainian civilian population, it's normal, and i think it's right, and i... i don't know if the russian federation went around it and did something to them because of it there, i don't know the note of protest, it's very difficult to do, because these are normal declarations, and from this you can start to go further and further and further, because this is, look at kharkiv, which, by the way, you were in the wind, this is precisely the issue of russia striking civilian objects, the whole of europe is watching, so you can take such steps, i don't know why they don't they do, it's fear or some sick game of diplomacy. but the fact that they do not do this, well, history, at least, will not forgive this. from a technical and legal point of view, colonel, the polish authorities are already considering the possibility of involving the country's air defense systems in

shooting down russian missiles over ukrainian territory near the borders, the spokesman of the polish ministry of foreign affairs, pavel wronskyi, said. we know that zelensky has already announced a visit to france, and there he will also consider the issue of closing the sky, well, at least in the western part of our country. countries, so we will wait to this decision, and the very end of our conversation, i would like to ask how you assess the current situation with mobilization in ukraine, on may 18 the law on making changes to the mobilization procedure, as well as the registration of conscripts, entered into force, you, as the secretary of the specialized committee, what would you say, how satisfied are both the parliament and the military leadership? with those changes and the pace at which conscripts are now being registered or updating their data in the tsc

, including through the reserve plus application, look, i would divide your question into two satisfaction is the result and the process, but i am not satisfied with the process, for example, because , let's say, the ministry of defense has done a lot of great things here, this reserve, but i have very... many questions, especially for the military leaders, when what is happening now, when people come to update, for example, data even for reservations, who work in the defense-industrial complex, and they are taken away, and you have to talk with representatives there, explain the importance, the benefits of many normal, adequate people who go to meet, but at the same time, they have, let's say, to they may have questions, but they, let's say, see strategically, some do not. anymore, the leaders of the tskk do not see beyond their tsk and there is a soldier in a trench, they do not see that this soldier needs to build a drone or make a projectile, because if we

drive everyone into the trenches, then tomorrow there will be nothing to shoot at, and this is the problem, this which we had today, by the way, we had a committee and we solved this problem, now we have collected the issues, including those i raised, we submit them as proposals to the government, they have to fix it, and the result, well, i'll tell you. according to my information, the result now exceeds all expectations, as of the latest, i won't name the numbers, but they are probably the largest, i don't know, well, i won't say since, but probably within a year, so the result really is and it pleases, well, that is, we expected much less, but received much more, right? well, i don't think that i expect, we always expect more, but now there is a question that due to the fact that people came to update and people understood some rules there, and sometimes, when, let's say, they took away those who were

needed, that is, let's say, the number of people, now we need to make them quality, and now we need to regulate that those people who are needed for the defense industrial complex, for work of critical infrastructure, they still remained, because , well, it is possible to ... er, let's say, once again, push everyone into the trenches and be left without ammunition, without weapons and without the economy. thank you, colonel, for the conversation, this was roman kostenko, people's deputy of ukraine, colonel of the security service of ukraine. friends, we we continue to work live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms. for those who are now watching us there live. please subscribe to our pages and also participate in our. today we ask you about the following: are you ready for an increase in electricity prices? yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, if you have a separate opinion about the tariffs, about the fact that this tariff

can... change due to the fact that there is not enough electricity, there were blackouts in ukraine, then please write to in the comments, if you watch us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote if you are not ready for electricity price increases 0.800 if you are ready 0800 211 381 if you are not ready 0800 211 382 all calls to these numbers are free , vote, at the end of the program we will summarize. this vote. next, we have vitaly kulyk, director of the center for researching civil society problems. mr. vitaly, i congratulate you and thank you for joining our broadcast. i congratulate you. let's start our conversation with in the last few days, in the verkhovna rada, where we are watching these events, it seems that a certain part

of the people's deputies is trying to return. the subjectivity of the parliament and still the center of decision-making should be transferred from bankova street to hrushevsky street, taking into account the fact that this is a parliamentary-presidential republic. the two questions that the representatives of european solidarity demanded to be put to a vote were the creation of the tsc on fortifications and consideration in the second reading. the bill on banning the orthodox church in ukraine, the first issue was voted on, the second, at the beginning of june, the verkhovna rada will consider, and before considering this bill, at the request of the majority, the people's elected officials must collect 240 signatures, the collection is conducted by both the ruling party and the opposition, let's see what the representatives and the opposition say, and authorities, gather

several factions. ours collected more than 100, 120, 120, the process continues, other factions are also collecting votes, our task, it was the wish of the majority faction, to collect more than 240 votes, because then they will have conviction, that this law will pass, we will all vote for it, and many opposition factions too, they are worried that it will look bad if half of the ruling faction does not vote. i don't think this process will be completed this week, i think it will take a little more time, because there are many colleagues at the moment. along the paris line on a business trip, and they have to do it personally, but it is definitely more than, well, more than 150 signatures, mr. vitaly, stefanchuk says that there is no place in the parliament for a political discussion during war, there should be a political discussion, and how do you view the attempt to return to

the subjectivity of the parliament. i don't see anything wrong with the subjectivity of the parliament, because it was really rightly said, after all, we are a parliamentary-presidential republic, and it is obvious that the parliament has a major role in the formation of politics, and all politics should be in the hands of the banks, although of course that is the supreme commander-in-chief, determines policy, determines military, defense policy, but on the other hand, there are a number of issues that still relate to competences of the verkhovna rada... and reports to the verkhovna rada, so i don't see anything wrong with the subjectivity of the parliament, the parliament should, must be a subject in any case, of course, that the bank may not like it, because it believes , that now the parliament should vote like a carbon copy, like a serax, all the decisions generated by the bank is another story, but in the grand scheme of things

, the parliament should play a role. in particular , parliamentary control over the defense sector, the security sector and efforts to keep a hand on the course of economic processes, in particular the mobilization of the economy, is the task of the parliament, and the fact that the majority of the presidential office is trying to prevent the realization of all these opportunities for parliamentary control, this, in my opinion, is the main problem of the parliament... despite all the crisis nature of it inside, there are certain problems that exist in the majority, i am not talking about the fact that there is no longer a muno majority, but there is a situational majority of the people plus satellites, but so far they vote, well more...