0 dw would or sports, all of our scoring. we say they were about never giving up sports flies every weekend on d w. after months of speculation, the long anticipated ukrainian counter offensive appears to be under way. what will count as victory and on what time table could targets extend as far as russian occupied crimea? my guess this week on conflicts known as ukrainian deputy prime minister, all the stuff you need to know who overseas, ukraine's integration into the e. with nato. we have seen a massive loss of on the side of the old, the russian army, which has not been prepared. let's say, uh for that. what more does she need from partners to future proof ukraine's

defense? and what does she think might convince putting the times up for his invasion deputy prime minister stephanie to know welcome to conflicts down greetings, berwin ukraine claims to have already read, taking a number of villages. i made reports of intense battles along the 600 mile front line with russia. are you satisfied with the early stages of the offensive? i thank you for this. uh for this question. uh it's um, uh, it's early to make any, any for costs, but the, the stage uh, there is a number of things that we can confirm that mostly in the zip. what is your income son, dejan, which of the solve and far the ukraine, russian fundraising mission is mostly concentrating on defensive measures to keep their, their, uh, their, their alliance while or you move on. skim done. yet screech on. they're doing the attempts of offensive measures which has not been a successful over the over the re sundays. meanwhile, we've faced

a mess of miss solid tags throughout the, the whole territory of ukraine, and especially on these 10 party ukraine. the miss all attack over the last night has in all the directions at been targeted and reached civilian and residential buildings in somebody's yeah, in the, in the product. if uh, in the, in the low ground scribe loop out schooled lists of, of ukraine would the people who, who died and face the consequences of error stripes of many of them have been wounded. so uh uh, additional it to the military have gone through the types of measures was still stays at a mass of consequences of um, uh, air strikes, target, the gaze, civilian population and the counter offensive. it's a chance to show your western backers that you can really deliver now on gain

successful. keep the money the weapons flowing. is this a must win moment for ukraine? ah, well festival, it's not a kind of deal with the eastern, with the west and the world to justify the military support for ukraine. we have to understand that we're talking about the war of the full scale war, which has taken place in the center of your up. so i think that throughout the period of time since the beginning of this. yeah, we did our best to prepare ourselves for a concert types of measures which are being implemented to, to some extent, at this stage. so the 1st and foremost is to be successful in the battle field and make sure that russian on forces are withdrawn from ukraine. them territory, all the others are be the 2nd stage of decisions. but i think that it sounds like a military support is the major sent out to the whole world and our partners that,

that there is a trust and support for ukraine for our victory. you meet with nato, a and e, you representatives, what are they telling you what, what are their expectations, and what are your expectations as ukrainians? what would count as victory in this counter offensive? well, i think it's really important to understand that there is a same goal and one understanding of the victory and it's black and white. that means as clear as the in everywhere we can have been reading in the history books on the victory victory is ending the war with the restoration of the territorial integrity of sobriety of the crate and the restoration of the rules based on that in a different i'm sick, one says fast the victory on the battle field is the, is the extremely important. and then political settlement bringing back russia to responsibility for the crimes ensuring the compensation and reparation mechanisms.

but also making sure that ukraine is uh, provide that with the security guarantees as a part of the new security architecture in europe. i think that this understanding has not been changing over a 475 days of war and will not change if we have a target to prevent. no, it's free and russian and to hold those who committed the cried a call to more so metal us are saying, the cutting off crimea from russia could be terminal to pollutants version. is that the best case scenario for this counter offensive? what can you most realistically achieve in the next days, weeks, maybe even month to? well, experts do not spy the word expert. do not. experts do not take political decisions and experts do not bear. this is tory, create a responsibility for by the experts are not dying and suffering from, from be a,

from the mess of the attacks against civilian population. so it's a, it's always good to have the righty of the opinions. but we are sticking 1st and foremost to the reality. so at 1st and foremost, we are concentrating on the mass of the plans related to uh, to the occupation of for the east and sell the parts. so ukraine and following that, we will start planning everything which is needed to end the war of militarily and proceed with the political a set of decisions which is i'm trying in the piece for me, loves the landscape which has already been on a stick to buy all 27, e u member states, but also b g 7 group. it's expected that the counselor offensive could come at a very high cost for your forces, especially in these early stages wash. it has spent months lang mine fields taking bunker, setting out concrete barriers for tags. is the public prepared for heavy human

losses? are your forces prepared or? i think we should also be clear about the very important element that out not military people. civilian population is also massively suffering from the war and the work crime, some direction said duration. so the mass of long last think i'm sick one says on the explosion on because i guess is going far beyond the just a uh, what are the areas around that you're somebody, jen? it might, if this is a mess of ecological sequences, we do not still able to give a clear assessment on the consequences to the operation of the separation of clear parkland. we would have a mess up by mess of the environmental consequences and everything related to an epidemiological situation, being ukraine following the, the outflow or the word. and, and this is covering

a thousands and thousands and thousands of solid enough people around ukraine, not taking up families on ukrainian people who have lost their loved ones that and it's not necessarily only be on forces. so there is a full consensus among ukrainian people, but if this war is not ending with victory, this would be the war. and then you create as a country and regarding the consult cut down collapse that you've been referencing there. how big the set back is that not only for ukraine, but also for the counter offensive? how are you seeing it to uh well, uh, a, i'm not the, the, the, the military person uh, for sat at the i can not truly go into details of the, of the, of the planning go several months. so far we are fully concentrated on basic dating, the consequences off uh for this uh, explosion uh, deliberately done by russian federation. and we have seen a mess of law so,

so uh on the side of the russian army which has not been prepared. let's say, uh for that uh, which is another uh, with most of the broken chains of command would then be on pull. so some of the russian federation and understanding that the live of the human being, the line goes a soldier of russian news, nothing to, to the russians elsewhere. i'd like to ask you about moscow's accusations that ukraine is behind a range of aerial attacks on target, inside of rushes, borders, and recent weeks. for example, near the northeastern border in belgrade, also in moscow and russian occupied crimea. how much do you or the government know about these incidents to uh, well, uh there are like 2 of this things that we have to have in our minds pressed to inform us that nobody has been hiding behind. let's say the, the, the,

the operations may, the 3rd 3 of the russian federation. the says, the a special. com. but beside them comes this big problem. the citizens of the russian federation, who named themselves but a ration, but found them the and the visa is a all this information. secondly, it's a very important to understand that. and the worst case scenario for action for duration is to admit that their own borders are not protected and their own citizens are sending again russian federation. and that they're not able to control their borders and not able to, uh, to mitigate about the, the mess of rice off of people in the, in this area. so russia would never re, pigeon eyes that they said like that. and it would always be grade, blamed of that to our understanding is, is that, of course, a ukraine is back in the anything like that. but uh, recognizing your brain as a,

as a mess of military power prevailing over russia is the 1st step towards their defense, a new crime. and you've done assessed on it there as well. you've denied responsibility for the incursions within russian territory, but the question is, do you support them as well? again, i think that the very fact of this occasions taking place on the territory of the russian federation and the russians, claiming the responsibilities on ukraine as the 1st step towards the defeat of russia. doors that are very condition of their incapable of taking the military and that security a sense of so for us, it's a, it's a, it's a good sign of russian incapability. zaleski has been doubling down. meantime, on ukraine's push to join nato, calling for a strong signal at the nato summit in vilnius in july. if a clear invitation to ukraine is what he's calling for do for me to. and literally

there's no, there's no, any objection for this political invitation to type nice. um, so then let me ask you, we, so then let me ask you this. i mean, here's the words of the landscape. he said recently, how many ukrainian lives is one sentence at the vilnius summit worth? what is that one sentence that you want? that one sentence for me, no allies. the ukraine is invited to join the data and the modalities will be identified. taken into account the security situation. there is however, in the backdrop division in nato on when, or how to provide a time table for nato membership. is that also something that you would need to see? well, this will be subject for a, for discussion. at this stage. we do not even have a lead go and legal for my the which there could be a place. there's discussion. so lack of political commitment is something that we say some this moment. and basically,

i think that we're reading this 2nd now as if putting just put in is still say, think over the table of the nature assignment as it wasn't book credits of 2008. and this, any, i'm big u t on political invitation to, for ukraine, would be read by russia as, as a signal that there's still a room for forcing you prayed to negotiate another means for months. and this is not the signal we want to hear. we want to lead us to send over the video summit. bilateral security pledge is made by individual countries are being floated as a possible step now on toward ukraine joining nato, france recently. back to the idea. how do you see those efforts? is that the best you can hope for as well again, where we're splitting the political process and the actual decisions from ukraine joining the nato. it might take some time. it would require additional efforts on interoperability. and so

a timing on the security situation ending the war and etc. throughout this period, we have to start in vase thing is in our defense and learning the lessons from the war and preventing russia from having a hunger with the 40 or without him, to give the answer to the question that any aggression is possible. that's why security guarantees are the major instrument at this stage. it is possible we have a trust horse who reliable strong partners who have been supporting you friend, militarily. and this supports should be on the strategic basis. and this should be a signal also for the defense industries to be able to adjust their production based on this security guarantees. because the worst so last time. but our security guarantees from, from nato and nato partners even worth having even, it's not, it's a ton of collective or an individual basis. i mean, because you've had assurances before, i'm thinking back, you know, 19942008. and it appears to have meant nothing.