the decisions of the ukrainian armed forces and in general it is known about national security and defense. do those who are currently in power need this knowledge? as for the highest helmet of power, they do not apply. they completely ignore this. and as for the middle and lower levels of this power we actively cooperate and i provide both assistance and consultations and i myself practically take part in the training of certain e-e units regarding the preparation of us e-e proof of war with the russian federation thank you, mr. generals, for including the tv channel on the air espresso this was serhiy kryvonos, former deputy commander of the sso in 2016-2019, reserve major general, friends for those who are watching us live now on social networks, please like our video, subscribe to our

pages, and also watch our broadcast e-e on cable networks subscribe to our social pages so, friends, we have mm now is the time for a conversation with ihor lapin, an officer of the armed forces of ukraine, commander of a special purpose battalion of the armed forces of ukraine, a major of the armed forces of ukraine mr. major good day good health to you i am glad to see you on our broadcast i wish you health but i am reporting that at the moment i am busy with other issues and the battalion commander is a different person so life goes on and we continue to work on different fronts thank you i thought you wanted to correct that you are already a lieutenant colonel, that's why i wanted to apologize, let's hope that soon you will be a lieutenant colonel so, mr. igor, let's talk about a topic that has been discussed for the past few days. this is a publication of the investigation washington

a post about how ukraine was preparing for war and the explanation of the ukrainian leadership m.m. i remember our broadcasts at the end of last year. you talked a lot about the possible attack of the russians from the side of belarus, since large exercises were held there, the event of 20-21 was concentrated great russian forces and great britain were joined there participated in these exercises, how do you now perceive the washington post investigation, especially zelensky's explanation that he specifically did not want to tell people about a possible attack that the ukrainian leadership was warned back in september 2021. now this topic is quite popular to discuss. but what if we had been warned or if we hadn’t been warned and whether i wanted to warn or not and what would it lead to? well, i’ll tell you

this for me personally, nothing would not have changed, and i am sure that for the lion's share of the population of ukraine , these warnings would lead to absolutely nothing, that is why it is said that there could be a fire or not a panic. well, let's speak frankly at that time, for example, those people who believed me whom i spoke that there will be a war, they did not leave, no one left, no one left for anything, because you know how she still hopes that and here it will bring. and in fact, to my deep conviction, there are public statements of the president that we are preparing for war and that they would allegedly cause panic to be honest, i don't believe this, because our people are such that they don't panic until the last moment. as for the other points, which i drew attention to right away, the question is not the same. ukrainians should decide, not what. here's what he did there . good or bad. i look there on the internet,

in social networks, there are already such battles. what did he do right, because we would panic, or did he do wrong, because we would not change anything? once again, i emphasize the main thing that we spent this time on. i remember very well the statement of the minister of defense that there was no need for money for the armed forces of ukraine, there were 50 billion left at the end of the year on the 21st, they had to be redistributed, and this is what reznikov, the skipper of the parliament, said about this: in we have enough for everything and the money went to the roads, but you know, that's exactly what i paid attention to, you know, asphalt and bitumen from belarus do not fit into the 152 caliber, and they did not help me destroy the enemy near popasna under bakhmut, because for one and a half thousands of projectiles that the russian e-e battery placed in positions on my platoon support point where there were not many people sitting, this is what i will tell you. it is possible for the listeners, it will be interesting for the spectators, it is

somewhere about one and a half kilometers . 1,500 goes there shells of 122 caliber, for example, or 152 caliber of russian artillery. and we answer 15:20 shells from the personal reserve there or the commander of the highest rank and so on, you understand why it was necessary to spend time and not on a warning or not a warning, it is possible not to warn, it was like that how did he make the president good or bad? it is not important for today, history will tell, but what did we spend this time on, this is the second question, again, you know. i know that the economy depends very much on heavy industry i know that the production of tanks requires metal, and metal is metallurgy, and metallurgy is the economy , as they say, income is the revenue part of the state budget, it is so that it is easier for people to find their way around, this is what starts the economy, and

buying bitumen in belarus starts the possibility of quick returns and so today's phrase about 7 billion lost money, you know, it is a bit cynical because i met this war near the gustomel airport, and i would not want us to be exchanged for lost billions, maybe some profits and i emphasize once again that starting the economy is not only bitumen from belarus, starting the economy - this is production, this is heavy industry, this is jobs, not foreign companies in the construction of roads or suppliers of materials for these, for this construction, the 152nd caliber was purchased en masse, the 155th caliber nato standard was ignored en masse in our country only bohdan fat on 155 nato caliber and before the war we bought czech danes with

old soviet caliber and we are raking out ammunition now all of europe has raked out everything there was that soviet ammunition, and it was getting less and less because russia was blowing up warehouses at the time when russia was blowing up warehouses in bulgaria in the czech republic with this soviet weaponry on which we trained our armed forces. they are taking a wounded person from donetsk region to kyiv, it is very good that there is a good road, it is probably good because it is delivered faster and will not be shaken on the road, but there could be fewer wounded people, so there is a mistake in this that needs to be paid attention to now, and not what he warned or didn't warn, and that's why i'm sorry for that, and maybe you know that i'm not involved in politics during the war, and maybe we really need to be united, but we don't need to turn our heads from the weak to the healthy right now

, the problem is not in the warning, the problem is where we spent our time, this is the main thing. well, the main thing is how during this period of six months of the great war , how our economy was reoriented, also because , in wartime, when people predict, western experts predict a long-term war, then the question is that the west will not help us for a long time. it is obvious that we still need to restore our production, including the defense of defense complexes, which have pierced weapons, which have been made into cartridges and the same projectiles . wartime requires not only certain restrictions, and wartime requires restrictions not only for citizens and for officials, budget reductions, reductions in official staffing of ministries, it is also necessary to

review well, there must be some savings, well, look regarding the redistribution budget, this is of course the full responsibility of the second government of zelensky, which is in charge today, and in this situation it is the responsibility of the authorities. of course, they have more information than you and i about what is happening now in the state economy and so on, of course. it would be more interesting if, of the potentially possible the occupied regions of donetsk took the production to a more dangerous place and could reorient it and start it there and so on so that we could produce what we need for the war but again in this time has already been spent and today this production is located in the occupied territory, we have lost it and based on all this, we really need to reorient ourselves, you know there is a little big difference between a state of war and a state of war,

this difference is not only in the collapse of some, let's say, democratic er freedoms er citizens, the difference is that how economic processes in the state will work, well, live with the thesis that everything is for the front, everything is for victory, this is during the war. today, we are at war yes, i understand that this can give our foreign partners a reason to break contracts because of the state of war . as for the economic processes, well, we grow bread, you know that this year is probably the most expensive bread, the bloody bread in ukraine for many years that we have lived . on one side, the field is burning from above, planes are flying to cover and the combine harvesters are working below, and

you know them. glory to those citizens of ukraine who collect bread. well, but this is not the main part of the economic income of the state, as usual, today it is possible. well, it is economically unprofitable to manufacture one's own weapons because it is given to us by our partners for free, but then i have a question . at the moment i cannot make a recommendation - i can comment in more detail from an economic point of view. i am not an economist and an expert in economics, but the fact that these or other sectors are working in safer places is already a good sign because people need to eat, people need to earn money the same volunteers, somewhere in parallel, they have to earn food for themselves, as they say, and have the opportunity to volunteer to help the front. therefore,

the economy really needs to be started, but once again, it is naked, economic processes are started for the account of setting up production, not buy-sell , because if there is literally one thesis for us, you know that there was a period, eh, so that you could bring a car without customs duty, well, these same cars did not arrive at the armed forces of ukraine. these cars were bought by individuals. of course, it is possible, well, how much millions or billions of dollars were taken by the citizens of ukraine to europe to buy cars at preferential prices without customs clearance and bring them today to the car market in the city of lutsk, and they are standing there in bundles of hundreds and this is buying and selling. is this about starting savings? is this about the export of currency abroad ago such miscalculations of the government on the one hand, it seems that they should have done well so that people could bring a car for the armed forces of ukraine and not clear it through customs, and on the other hand, well, i recently watched the

investigation of your fellow journalists we imported maybachs and so on into ukraine without duties, and what did it do for the economy, except for the export of currency, which is already lacking in the state , because we really have problems, and so on. again, i do not see the government's negotiations regarding debt restructuring or debt cancellation, well , in the end, if the european partners see that we are fighting with the largest army in europe, one of the largest armies in the world, and today we oppose and protect the boundaries of western democracy, then the issue of ukraine's debt obligations can somehow be resolved so that we the currency itself was not spent on interest payments and so on. naftogaz will go bankrupt today. excuse me, winter is coming soon, and everyone says we warn you. it will be a hard winter. that ukrainians are somehow preparing for that hard winter, that is, the government that

is doing so that the economy and economic processes in the state can be stabilized, i have not heard anything about negotiations regarding the cancellation of debts or the suspension of interest payments on loans in general for the period while we are at war against russia, have you heard such negotiations, literally, maybe journalists know more than the military. but i haven't heard that. this is what we need to say when we talk about the state's economy. well, in fact, there were reports that ukraine will conduct restructuring negotiations foreign debt and this will help save 6 billion dollars, but ukraine asked creditors to postpone payments on foreign debt and we

will see what the results will be. the day before, sigmenturk reported that ertagan will invite zelensky for talks with putin, it is being observed as reported by this agency, it is being observed that russia is ready to soften its tough position on the issue of direct negotiations between the head of the kremlin and the president of ukraine, apparently, during the negotiations with erdoğan on august 5 in sochi, putin hinted that he may meet with zelensky and, as sinantürk reports, now to stop the war russian the party stated, first, the leaders can discuss and determine the road map, then the delegations can start the work of bringing this road map to life eh, do you believe, igor, that zelensky and

putin will soon sit down at the negotiating table and the product will begin. as cnn turk says, the road map of what this road map could be, look for me personally, any negotiations with russia should last no longer than automatic ones. you understand that any negotiations that will be held on to today, russia already wants these negotiations for her it is vitally necessary because russia no longer actually exists , that is, the state is theoretically the father father, even they have it, even the economy can still withstand the sanctions because they are avoiding them well, but the question now is not about the question of freezing the conflict on those borders where the armed forces of ukraine stand today and hold, as they say, civilized democracy, the civilized world from russian aggression, freezing those who are the biggest betrayal that can happen today, because russia will use it as usual. listen, let's

be aware of what would we didn't talk to russia. whoever didn't talk to russia, starting from there, i don't know there, er, nagorno-karabakh, georgia, ukraine, donetska, donetsk region, crimea, what did it give us and what did it give to anyone yes, in the 14th year when we were weak, we used this time to strengthen the army, and even though we have what to fight today, well, roughly speaking, this is really a fact, launched missile programs, the same not the one that sunk russian ships and launched alder and so on. that is, i will not be we even used the ability to criticize as much as we could, that's all together, including me and all of you who voted for or against, it doesn't matter if we used it as low as we could freeze the conflict today after all those of deaths that russia has brought to ukraine is it for ukraine is it for russia spasatelnyj that circle this spasatelnyj circle will be for russia because we have the

concept of russia shelling peaceful cities so she is shelling peaceful cities russia is softer that they can soften they can soften the yakshits as soon as they leave for the borders at least until february 23, as soon as they pay all the compensation, everything they destroyed in us can be theirs. that is, they say we give, putin comes out and says i give the command, we leave and start counting the money, let's sit down to the negotiating table, let us get our soldiers out of the territory of ukraine so that the partisans don't wink at them in crimea or anywhere else, you understand, well, this is a negotiating position, but we need to hear it from russia, well, russia is not doing this, they want a freeze on those borders, instead, they promise us not to promise anymore or not to do anything anymore, well , i apologize that they can promise us to soften and what to soften to resurrect half of the people from buchan or gostomel that they can

soften to resurrect those military personnel who died, you know there is a risk that putin and zelenskyi will sit down at the negotiating table and if zelenskyi's team continues the direction of the solution, if zelenskyi's team agrees to freeze the conflict, he will not be forgiven, i'm just saying how it is for him as a statesman, as a politician , as a president no one will forgive us. because today there are no established war veterans, the main established war is in this terrodefense of monaco, here in stalin, by the way, about the investigation of your colleagues in this situation. we have no established war veterans. people want wars in us. victory, any negotiations now ukraine should only conduct from the point

of view of the winners of the war otherwise. it will be difficult to go somewhere there somewhere there again in a few years to start again russia has not left the territory of ukraine, it has not completely withdrawn. this will be the first sign of goodwill after it, you can be really frank, not like on the snake one when we broke them with the help. the same one with which they left snake island out of good will. and this will already be the first negotiating position for russia, so let them adopt this position and withdraw to the border by february 23, and then we start thinking about the road map, and today, well nothing will change from the rearrangement of terms, our boys will not be resurrected, you understand, and we will not finish the enemy if we sit down today for the negotiation

process and freeze the conflict, we cannot freeze the con this is putin's first request we should not go for it, and any negotiations in this context are it will be, well, it will be a disaster for the state, for the existence of the state of ukraine, meanwhile, mr. igor, minister of defense oleksiy reznikov, in an interview with the voice of america, told how many combat-ready forces are on the borders of ukraine, let's hear mr. reznikov for the latest according to the reports of our military, these are about 115 so -called battalion tactical groups, of which 105 seem to be real, yes, or another method is used 10 for recovery, well, in total, it is probably up to 135,000 people in human terms, plus or minus, but we need more i repeat once again that it is absolutely a mixture of such a cocktail there are mercenaries and private companies that they have and

pseudo-mobilized and driven out of mobilized students with the fact that in the occupied territories there was debt and razglar and who else is not there. well , including professional military so today to talk about the real fighting spirit of the supposedly second army of the world, and i certainly wouldn’t dare, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stop them . under no circumstances should the enemy be underestimated , but it’s definitely not the second army of the world, that is, 135,000 on the borders, that’s about the same amount as there was at the beginning of the full- scale offensive, as far as i remember, on the borders, i will correct a little at the beginning of the full-scale offensive, the block there is about 150-160,000 e. ukraine

they don't have, we remember, all those tank columns that don't exist, really, they don't exist anymore, that's right, there are no shock groups, there are no elite paratroopers, it 's because instead of kalashnikovs, some of our guys ran out with molotov cocktails against paratroopers armed to the teeth, you understand therefore, one cannot underestimate their rather large amount of artillery and the use of a barrage of fire. this is exactly what russia is doing in donbas, and we see that every day we hear about some small, but nevertheless partial successes of the russian fire at the moment, every day we hear and see how they give certain results, the fact that according to our data, according to official data, we destroyed more than 40,000 russian servicemen. well, you can also

add here one to three at least three times - these are wounded, that is, this first wave of 160,000 well, we finished after that, we recruited 140,000 more russians. these are the ones we are fighting with now. is there no, for example, kherson region, the burned bridges in the back speak of the demoralization of the personnel of this 12-13 thousand group of russians on the right bank of the dnieper, from whom the generals moved to the left bank, who remain there waiting for the counteroffensive of ukraine, which is currently taking place with the help of holy hummers , hypercars and artillery you understand, this is a demoralizer for russia in that direction. and you

say that they are demoralized there under the avdiivka or under the sands or near the bahmut. and i would not say that they are so demoralized there because they press which means they are still fighting, that's why you can't say that, because it's an underestimation of the enemy, it's the most shameful, what could it be, what happened on the eve of the invasion, i will never forget the absence, as it were, of the strike groups at the time when i was on your on the air that girkin took a slav without armor, but he took him with a small number of people, that's why this situation is demoralization, i don't think it's entirely appropriate, demoralization is a partisan movement in the occupied territories, it's demoralization when they are afraid, demoralization is when cars are blown up collaborators, this is also demoralization, this is all that leads to the demoralization of the personnel of the russians who today fight against us on our territory, the missiles they release do not demoralize them,

let's not forget that on the side of belarus we said that not so long ago that all the belarusian btgs are being recruited there somewhere about seven thousand personnel today with the help of russian money we already say that there are about 13,000 personnel on the territory of belarus, five more battalions of tactical groups have been added to that well, let's say so we we see that underestimation can lead to buchi. therefore, we must simply fight and transfer it to the military rails, and once again i emphasize not to curtail missile programs, but to deploy them despite the fact that our western partners are helping us, but we must rely on our own strength in this situation. well, let's go don't forget about the reformation that needs to be done anyway even now during the war in the armed forces of ukraine i am talking in the context of the configuration listen well be strong everyone as they say god give us all health but winter clothes

have already sewn for the number of personnel that today, as they say, under the gun in ukraine, in our armed forces, in our national guard, and so on, everyone already has supplies in warehouses, or volunteers are sewing again, because i see that the volunteers were looking for body armor for us, i’ll say, at the beginning of the war and today they are starting to sew clothes, that's why i emphasize once again that freezing the conflict is one thing for us, let's say so to the killer, and underestimating the enemy can lead to even greater losses, let's not forget that the russian economy today more alive if she had died, then there would have been a council of republics; if there had been a parade of republics, then russian propaganda would have blamed everything on tsar batyushka and his miscalculations, and let's say the absence of tsar batyushka. this is demoralizing, because today they are fighting for the tsar and the fatherland, and the absence of the tsar will sprinkle this army that's why there are things that can globally demoralize the special composition of the

russian army today. well, you know , let's say it like this. but as i agree, the hordes fight harder than the russians, the collaborators, they fight harder than the russians, they are local. they know the territory during artillery works, they are crawling, they are crawling while the artillery is working on us, we noticed them, we threw people at them, they crawled back because the russians are retreating, the horde are not retreating, but what is the complexity of this process. yes, i wouldn't risk it, they are still fighting. the main directorate of intelligence of the ministry of defense predicts that in the next few weeks it will be hot at the front and they are talking about august 24, independence day. that the russians will do everything to spoil our holiday what can you expect from the russians, the russians need some victories, they need some victories for

their own consumers, it doesn’t matter that they are so happy to announce that they have captured a village and are blowing themselves up in the mass media, based on this situation, which i see as a military man in the kherson region, we will them to bombard with artillery, the almighty heimers will cut off and not give them the opportunity to restore the bridges, and such demoralization of the special forces may then lead to the fact that if we continue to bombard them with artillery, they will begin to pour down and it will be our victory that can shake tsar putin of russia from the rings, we need to have some alternative victory at this moment so that something closes the routine of perhaps dissatisfied people who will appear there in russia in their political system and here in this situation i completely share the opinion of andriyusov that they will stir up something, and let's say they will do something grandiose in order

to have some alternative picture for the victors there , just in case, if their troops fall under kherson of those reflections thank you from television from kopeevo thank you mr. igor thank you for the conversation it was igor lapins, a special officer, he is an officer of the armed forces of ukraine, a major of the armed forces of ukraine, a people's deputy of ukraine of the eighth convocation thank you for the conversation, take care of yourself and your family friends, this was a program, the verdict conducted it serhiy rudenko, we will meet with you on monday, for now you can like this video on social networks well, subscribe to our social networks and read our news on the website espresso tv broadcasts of the espresso tv channel continue, watch espresso news and euro espresso programs for ukrainian refugees in europe together on our channel