[000:00:00;00] including issues of the future of ukraine and national security. thank you, mr. mykola, for the conversation and for the inclusion. it was mykola knyazhytskyi, people's deputy of ukraine. friends, we continue to work on the air of the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms, and that is where we are conducting the survey today. today we ask you this question: will putin dare to use nuclear weapons? yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, if you... have your own opinion, please write it in the comments below video. if you're watching us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote. the relevant numbers are on your screens: 0800-211-381 if you think putin would dare to use nuclear weapons, 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. next, we will be in touch with mykhailo samus, military expert, deputy director of the army, conversion and disarmament research center, director of the new geopolitical research network. mr. michael, i congratulate you, thank you for joining our broadcast. i congratulate you. let's start our conversation with two statements, statements by zelenskyi and defense minister umerov about the possibility of russian invaders gathering in the north of ukraine and the obvious discovery. front, the new front, i understand that in sumy oblast, chernihiv oblast, do you think russia has enough resources to launch hostilities in these two regions of ukraine, and is ukraine ready for this? in fact, the russian strategic operation continues in relation to or, let's say, a new approach to the implementation of its strategic

operation. from the breakthrough of the ukrainian front, if since october last year the main efforts were aimed at the breakthrough of the donetsk donbas front in donbas, let's say, by leaping and pressure, then from a certain moment, somewhere in early may, the russians began to use a new approach, which consists in stretching ukrainian forces, stretching ukrainian reserves, and that is why they started their so-called big one. operation, which in principle was carried out with the aim , of course, of pulling ukrainian reserves away from donbas, and in case of success, it is also possible to implement certain tactical and operational tasks, well, in particular, for example, in the kupyansk direction, if they managed to break through the front in the vovchansk region, but it did not work out, so they have the next one,

the next continuation of this tactic. of this approach is the stretching of ukrainian reserves even further in the north, i will immediately say that the forces for carrying out, let's say, operations that could have a real operational success, a breakthrough of the ukrainian front, for example, in the sups region of chernihiv region, such forces in they are not there now, for this the russians must either carry out an open mobilization or for a certain time carry out the accumulation of forces at the expense of their... recruiting, using material incentives, incentives, but in any case, it is obvious that they will continue to try to stretch ukrainian reserves, because not they manage to break through the front in donbas. let's listen to umerov himself, because i mentioned his statement, he is talking about the stabilization of the situation in the kharkiv region, about a possible new attack in the north

of ukraine. let's listen to what he tells me. defense of ukraine. their goal is to open a new front in the north to begin using all their manpower and firepower against us. they continue to realize their goal - to destroy the nation. they have up to 500,000 troops in the occupied territory, on our territory and near our borders. in addition, they want to increase this group. mr. mykhailo, how will the appearance of a new section in ukraine on the russian-ukrainian front affect other sections of this front, in donetsk region, kherson region, and zaporizhzhia? well, that's it the enemy's plan, i.e. to stretch ukrainian forces and ukrainian reserves as much as possible in order to create conditions for a breakthrough in precisely those areas that are considered

important for the russians, are the most important. from a political point of view, it is the donbas, obviously they would like to occupy the entire donbas, the entire donetsk-luhansk region, of course, it is possible to capture some of the kharkiv region, the zaporizhia region as well. parts, but judging by the way, for example, their big, so-called, so-called operation in the kharkiv region, which did not have that much success, took place, which they counted on, and in principle, now it looks like the ukrainian command managed to stabilize the front in the kharkiv region without making any significant transfers of reserves from the donbas, it is clear that the russians are not having significant success in the donbas against this background either. the opening of another front relates to exactly this task, which the russians set before themselves: stretching our reserves. from the point of view of the ukrainian forces,

of course, this is another challenge, it is another challenge to the ukrainian command to allocate reserves in such a way as to prevent opportunities for the russians to break through the front, or it could be the south, donbas, or the same kharkiv. direction, i can still say that in fact, we should now feel and perceive any section of the belarusian or russian border precisely as a front, as a front line, without considering that it is a calm border line that is drawn on a map, delimited and recognized as an international right, in fact, the russians consider these lines simply as a front line, and in this way... we should treat these borders as much as possible, that is, to ensure the construction and engineering support of the defense line, which should run completely along all lines

of the border of ukraine with belarus and russia. andriy kovalenko, director of the center for combating disinformation at the nsdc, says that russia is increasing its information campaign regarding a possible attack. from belarus, but today the enemy does not have the strength and means for this, according to kovalenko, the enemy's goal is to stretch ukrainian forces and reserves, i quote mr. kovalenko. to do this, they will increase the informational situation so that our command pays more attention to this direction, however, belarus is under constant surveillance, notes the head of the center for combating disinformation, but we can see against this background that russia is creating. as our western partners are working rather weakly in the direction of providing us with f-16 fighters, belgium has already promised that these aircraft in the amount of 30

fighters will reach ukraine by 2028, although i remember conversations in 2023 when they said that the first aircraft will appear in the ukrainian sky in the spring. in the 24th year, spring is already coming to an end, why are western partners delaying the provision of fighter jets to ukraine? well, if we talk about belgium, on the contrary, belgium is accelerating, because belgium was not supposed to give us the planes in the 24th year, they were talking about the fact that the first planes could arrive in the 25th, early in the 25th year, and now there was a statement that perhaps a certain amount would be transferred before the end of the 24th, that is, belgium hastened. and as far as i know, such steps are indeed being taken by belgium. as for the other countries that give us f-16s, as far as i know, the process is going on, and there is a multi-pronged parallel process going on here

training of ukrainian specialists, and pilots, and technical personnel, and of course, the infrastructure on which the f-16 will be based, because in reality we cannot simply bring the f-16 to the territory of ukraine. and immediately russian intelligence will determine where they are and will try, of course , to destroy them, that is, we have to create such an infrastructure that would provide full protection and basing, and combat combat use of f16, and this process is not easy, for the first time in the territory of ukraine such systems will be placed, it is very complex, very a complicated process, but in any case, the first f16 will be in the near future, and by the way... the transfer of the rira long-range radiation detection aircraft by sweden, that is, it is actually an analogue of the wax, or if, to make it even clearer, it is an analogue of the russian a50, it

aircraft and editorial intelligence and a targeting aircraft, which will provide targeting, including for the f-16, that is, i am considering the decision to transfer such aircraft , including a... in systematic preparation for the transfer of f-16 aircraft to ukraine and their effective use. and what about the appearance of these of planes will change the nature of the russian-ukrainian war and will it change? the nature of this war, because there are a lot of expectations from the f-16, and will the armed forces of ukraine get that effect from the transfer of these aircraft? well, if we now look at the nature of the hostilities, on any part of the front, that is, it can be the kharkiv region, the donbass, the zaporizhia region, and the kherson region, the russians now have dominance in the air, they are using it. up to 100 or more cabs per

day, and thus can provide the advancement of their assault groups or other forces, not quickly, but gradually, simply destroying ukrainian defensive positions precisely because of the use of the same cabs from the russian aviation, it becomes possible because we simply do not have the tools, for example, fighter aircraft to be destroyed with sufficient missile strike... under radar capabilities, and also sufficient, of course, long -range anti-missile systems such as the patriot. f-16s change this picture, that is, potentially f-16s can drive away, roughly speaking, russian aviation from the boundaries of the use of the same cabs, and this will immediately affect the situation on the battlefield, that is , the russians will be able to use only artillery, only strike drones, but will not be able to use the cabs, which are the main ones now. breakthrough, so to speak, force on

the battlefield. the secretary general of nato jend stoltenberg, mr. mykhailo, during his speech at the nato parliamentary assembly in bulgaria , stated that the allies of the alliance have not fulfilled most of their promises, which related to the supply of artillery shells, air defense systems and other types of weapons to ukraine. let's listen to what stoltenberg said. the problem is... that in recent months we have not delivered to ukraine what we promised. the united states spent six months negotiating a new aid package. the european allies, who promised 1 million ammunition, did not deliver anything even close to this amount of ammunition for ukraine. mr. mykhailo, how would you characterize the reasons why our... western partners, well, let's say this, are constantly delaying the provision

of weapons to ukraine, they count on the fact that on at some stage, putin will go to freeze the military conflict or the war along some lines, and will have to negotiate a peace, albeit a temporary one, and they do not want to get involved in this war, or there are some other reasons, that is, our western partners do not have time ... for the military-industrial complex of russia, if we compare the potential of the members of the nato alliance and the russian potential, can we now say that the arms race that putin is leading, that putin is winning in this arms race so far? i would n't say so, in reality putin is not winning, unfortunately, the general situation wins, again not determination, but undecided. and the cowardice, i would call it that, of our western partners,

it even now makes it possible to feel some superiority of russia, that is, in fact, russia is now prevailing on the battlefield with the same ammunition due to the fact that it is possible to use such a conglomerate of north korea, iran, china , and everyone participates in this system, in their own directions. some supply, for example, attack drones, some supply ammunition, like north korea, some provide raw materials, microelectronics, supplies other components and in addition provides money to russia, because russia sells oil to china, earns yuan, and then starts this system, it is these yuan that spin and allow the production of ammunition for russia in north korea, that is , i would not say that it is military - the industrial complex of russia. is doing so well, it's

uh, it's not just the indecisive policy of our western partners who allow this system to be financed, this system to operate, and against this background there are really a lot of reasons why our western partners can't ensure the same effective functioning of the western, let's say, defense-industrial complex of this system in the united states. there was its own turbulence for six months, but i have the impression that while there was turbulence in the united states, the european partners also expected for some reason that now, and suddenly ukraine surrenders, suddenly ukraine will not leave. this six months and will start talking about negotiations, and then it will be possible, in principle, to freeze and end the war, and then there will be no need to start full power of the military-industrial complex, nor support ukraine by spending billions of euros and so on, but ukraine

saw, the united states, again due to internal political reasons, was forced to make a decision to allocate 61 billion. and in these conditions, it can be noted that literally the last few days show that the countries of europe and the european union have begun to actively join in allocating aid, literally every day there are news: spain, portugal, belgium, sweden and so on are allocating, great britain, france are allocating new and new packages of aid to ukraine, it seems that everyone finally understood. this year, ukraine will not give up, that is, at least until the end of the 24th year, it is necessary to help, after the 25th year, the end of the pre-election struggle in the united states will be seen, but in the 24th year, russia did not manage to convince our allies , that ukraine may surrender, it was not possible to break through the front, it was not possible

to ensure russia's superiority on the battlefield, even under the conditions that china is also actively involved in supporting russia, economically. and in terms of raw materials, microelectronics and so on then, i said, so i think that now the situation will change, but these six months were really very, very difficult from the point of view of aid, well, today, by the way, there was information from czech partners who said that in fact the czech initiative is very poorly financed, that is, the first shells are already on the czech initiative, that is, i will remind you, this is a purchase at the expense of investments from the european union in third countries, very little money has been allocated for ammunition for ukraine outside the european union, that is, the first shells will be allocated in the nearest days, but from those countries that have declared their readiness to finance this initiative with 1.5 billion euros for a million plus

shells, very little real funds have been allocated so far, and today the czech side called on those countries that expressed a desire to... finance the czech initiative, still fulfill their promises. mr. mykhailo, on the same background, the discussion is being conducted, it continues, and today, obviously, and tomorrow this discussion will continue about whether the ukrainian army has the right to strike on the territory of russia with western weapons, weapons of our western partners. to date, 10 countries have declared their position. that the ukrainians can use these weapons, but obviously, one of the main decisions that can be and that will put these dots of hope, it should be the decision of the united states of america, our main partner, and

our biggest partner, as washington's decision to provide such an opportunity to the ukrainian army, how will it change the situation at the front? well , in fact, the leader of the western world, the leader of nato, who actually provides 80, about 80% resource and military plan, the alliance has a categorical, radical influence on such decisions, well, for example, on the use of weapons, western weapons against russia, and for now, again, about this indecision , i would like to say that the indecision of the biden administration is... playing is just as bad and has a bad effect on the decision-making by our other allies, that is, if we were to imagine the decision of the united states, the biden administration that ukraine of course has the right to strike on the territory of russia, because well, i will just now illustrate what it looks like, that is, on

at the moment, for example, there is a certain group in the direction of sumy, and so far they have not crossed the border e. these servicemen are russian, their equipment can be, say, 500 m from the border, and you cannot hit it with american or other western weapons, when they cross the ukrainian border and occupy part of the territory, it turns out that now it is possible to hit these russian soldiers and armored vehicles, so what is the logic, that is, the united states, they stimulate russia to attack ukraine, well, it turns out that way, that is, when russia enters the the territory of ukraine. and they are simply invited, come to our territory, because the americans say so, and then we will have the right to fight with you, and while you are in your territory and prepare... your group, carry out coordination, position artillery, pull up others troops, we have no right to strike in this

territory, that is, until you occupy our territory, we cannot, we cannot destroy you, complete nonsense, complete delusion, and frankly, i cannot justify or explain, argue, even if wanted such decisions of the united states, of course, have a destructive effect on the position of the alliance and on the position of other countries. nato members and non- nato members helping ukraine. that is , the united states must be categorical and absolutely clear here. if, according to the un charter, ukraine has the right to strike russian territory in self-defense, because they are simply climbing and demonstrating that they simply want to occupy other territories, not only the territories they have occupied, but also other territories from other directions according to all international norms, ukraine has the full right to strike with any weapon, and here the united states is showing an absolutely

incomprehensible position, frankly, i can't explain it. thank you, mr. mykhailo, for the conversation, it was mykhailo samus, a military expert. friends, we continue our work live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms, and throughout the broadcast we are conducting a poll, we are asking you whether putin will dare to ... the issue of nuclear weapons, yes, no , everything is on youtube quite simple, if you have an opinion, please write in the comments below this video, if you are watching us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote if you think putin will dare to use nuclear weapons, 0821 381, no 08021382, all calls to these numbers are free, vote at the end of the program, we will sum up the results of this vote, and we have oleksiy in touch. people's deputy of ukraine, first deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on energy and housing and communal affairs economy mr. oleksiy, i congratulate you and

thank you for being with us today. greetings, glad to be with you. thanks as well. let's talk today, mr. oleksiy, about the situation in the ukrainian energy industry. it is clear that the russians are striking and will obviously continue to strike our energy facilities, but. today there was information about the increase in electricity prices, for some reason the mass media reported on this, citing some of their sources, rbc of ukraine, ukrainian pravda, in there are some sources in the government, and they say that from june 1, the government plans to increase the electricity tariff by 80% for household consumers who consume more than 100 kw per month, well, for such household consumers, the tariff will increase from 2.64 kopecks

to 4 hryvnias, 80 kopecks. for consumers who consume less than 100 kw, the tariff will remain unchanged at 2.64. can you explain to me why ukrainians are being informed about this by some unnamed sources in the government through mass media, can't the minister of energy or the prime minister of ukraine make it clear... explain that people are waiting in 2 days, you can ask a counter question, sergey, and where is our decision-making center located, i think it is on bank street, and i think so, i am even sure, i am convinced, and you are convinced, and everyone , who understands how the ukrainian government and politics are organized, understand that the final decision is made exactly on bank street, and i revealed the secret to you in the office on the fourth floor, then it is only in the only office there, you explain to our tv viewers that this is the office of the president of ukraine, well, of course, of course, that is, that is

, the final version will necessarily either be approved or not approved by the president of ukraine, and then it will either become a decision of the government, or it will not become a decision of the government, well, this has been known for a long time, well, for a long time it's a pity, we saw whole epics of our time there with water tariffs, which were initially set there, then there was indignation on the part of the center there... their decisions were canceled as shameful and so on and so on, that is, what i am leading to, i do not say good or bad, i'm just saying one thing, i would really be, well i would like it to finally be recognized officially, even legally, you understand, and for us to clearly know that we do not need to listen to what the minister of energy or the prime minister himself says, that their decision is so perfect, and then we will we... wait for what the first person will say, and either trust or not trust this decision, let them justify it somehow, let them show us, or, or if such blind faith does not

need to be checked, then we will simply trust without... checking , you understand, because to me, as a specialist, i consider myself not only an analyst, er, cybernetician, state as an activist, excuse me, yes, well, and an experienced professional person, it is very difficult for me to explain this, both from the point of view of energy, and from the point of view of economics and energy, because you understand, yes, there is the technical state of the power system, and there is the financial situation. on the power system, and these are two different things, they live their own lives, they absolutely do not correspond to each other, but from the point of view of making state decisions, i completely agree with you, but we still see a discussion, it is not clear between whom, but i want you to calm down, well, to a certain extent, it is better, like that, like there, you'd rather have a bad end, a terrible end, than the horror of infinity, tomorrow there will be

a government meeting, that's for sure, i don't know the time, i would really like to... know the time, because i asked for this government meeting, i directed the prime to the letter, i say: please invite me so that i have the opportunity to see the grant and ask questions, but i myself wonder whether they will be invited or not, but tomorrow, i think, the decision will be final, whatever it will be, or as you said , everyone already knows these magic numbers, 4.8, 2.64 up to 100 kw, it’s like that, well, there is, or there may be another solution, honestly, i i will say that it can be... if there is such, well , public dissatisfaction, maybe this bar is not 4.8, but the forecast there is less 3.96, well, what am i leading to and this and that justification will not be any, only this will be, well, yes so to speak, as you looked at the ceiling, what passed, then passed, what passed, then did not pass, you understand, mr. oleksiy, but it is clear why

these shortages of electricity are increasing. it is necessary to recover after shelling, so what is the reason for this? well , look, i say it again, the technical problems are obvious, something is definitely needed to restore the lost capacities, a key question arises, i did not hear the answer to this question, but according to which financial scheme, at whose expense it should be, because when i hear that the government is going to restore the destroyed at the expense of the tariff. energy, i want to say, it's nonsense, it's absolutely wrong, it shouldn't be like that, because the tariff works completely differently, you understand, and putting your costs into a one-time tariff increase, that is , shifting everything to the fact that the population will restore something, destroyed stations, hydro there are transformer substations, that's for sure wrong, it's not that the barn is full,

you see, recovery must take place at the expense of attracting resources. financial or from the state, or rather not either, but from the state budget, from external borrowing, donor support, loans from international financial institutions, and so on and so on, and the tariff must cover the cost of this process, but this, if it is stretched over time, yes, and this money must be given for 10 years, let’s say, why do we suddenly have to pay for all this at once, you understand, i no longer... i say that the question definitely becomes, stands, and the state undertakes some kind of commitment to restore this energy, because there are also many questions, and therefore all the arguments that have been going on lately, i accept it, i will tell you honestly, this is my vision, i tried to find at least some logic there , some kind of cost, but when i read the government's letter , they tell me that the cost of electricity there

from the energy atom there is hryvnia 0.7 kopecks, and this... they have 70 kopecks , the cost of an energy atom for some reason increased by 2-3 months, you understand, and why they are at 4.8 there is no economic grounding, because if you count the cost price, then 3.8, 3.9 are closer to my figure there, i am ready to prove it to the government to anyone, who arithmetic was taught in high school, and i call it today. what the government is trying to do is to impose an energy tax, a military-energy tax on the population, the consumer, during a state of emergency in the energy sector of ukraine, and, note, i am not saying, well, maybe during a war, the price of war increases, in that