one house is not from the edge, the state and the city do everything possible to give cheerful warmth, it is our job to preserve it, unite with neighbors, insulate your house and your apartment, check the electrical wiring, take care of alternative means of heating, draw up an action plan in an extreme situation, help each other, we will overcome the winter together, the event could giving ukraine more weapons would speed up the de-occupation of ukrainian territories, said the public secretary of the parliamentary committee on national security and defense in an interview roman kostenko says that now ukraine needs offensive equipment, tanks, more jet artillery, the work of western partners in this regard continues about the course of the

counteroffensive . there, if the world is silent, then every small country will understand and defend itself. it will only be able to have mr. kostenko's nuclear weapons. i welcome you to the first channel of public broadcasting. thank you found the time to talk with us, eh. i will make a note for those of our viewers who may not know that you are not only a member of the verkhovna rada and the secretary of the verkhovna rada committee on national security and defense, and also a participant in the russian-ukrainian war, you took part in the defense of the donetsk airport in 14-15 years, after february 24 of this year, you took part in the defense of mykolaiv, as it were. by the way, you are now combining the work of a deputy and a participant in hostilities, well, we

see that now, for the first time, there is an opportunity for committees. online and i don't need to go to kyiv all the time, mostly i spend part of my time in... let's say in the south. yes. where specifically, in the south? that's why i try to come more. you can work remotely, in particular, and to work on bills. votes that concern in general or economic blocs or in general issues of security and defense, so there is no other way out. you have to combine the fact that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of mykolaiv, you coordinated special forces lieutenant colonel of the security service of ukraine, what is your direct involvement if we are talking about the events at the front, well, let's say so, i talked about the fact that i coordinate a special unit and somehow i also talked about the fact that at one time i gathered

guys with whom i once crossed paths in the war or in peaceful life or in the special services, and when the war began, they moved to mykolaiv , they elected mykolaiv together, then they joined the armed forces. so where am i now engaged in, in addition to the political activities of the deputy i help the command and locations and the main administration, yes, there is a lot of work, in particular in the southern region, the plus is the coordination of these units and the guys who have already been pushed to constantly criminalize the armed forces of the special services, and work with them. well, work with the civilian population, and in particular, the new information we are also working at the front . well, let's say that every day when i wake up on the map, the location of our troops is there, and i have

15-14 km left to my village. hostilities, so i already said that the main task is to liberate the homeland, and from there to liberate all other populations and points throughout the country until the end, your homeland is kherson. if i'm not mistaken, i want to ask you about the situation in the south, after all, a lot it was about the fact that the information about the counteroffensive in the south became as if a distracting maneuver for a successful counteroffensive in the kharkiv region, but in the meantime there are reasons to believe that the counteroffensive in the south is also taking place, we see reports that some small settlements are vacated, how is the situation progressing with this now, how is the counterattack progressing, i won't say that it was a diversionary operation, i think it turned out so easily, we just

managed to develop success in kharkiv oblast, and here, well, the enemy really reacted to what he saw that we were accumulating here troops and i see that it is quite important for us, i have drawn many troops here and well , there were heavy battles, in particular for the bridgeheads, and even the fact that we did not liberate the entire right-bank bridgehead , they advanced, they expanded it, this is a great success of our armed forces, our command, the supreme commander, the commander, in that we have created the conditions for further operations if this is happening now , battles are also going on now, and the enemy is trying to take important positions for himself in order to obtain in the future, and our troops are the first to take positions and advance at the tactical level, wherever they have the opportunity, well, they are also occupying positions in order to have the opportunity to counterattack in the future. i am not saying that it will be shorter the day after tomorrow, but we understand that we are all the same

we will have to free our territories and from what positions we will start and a lot may depend on the success of the entire offensive operation, in your opinion, these are the constant strikes on the city, what russia is striving for, she did not succeed in capturing mykolaiv, as she captured kherson at the beginning of a full-scale invasion. theoretical methods are precisely the shelling of the civilian population, because where they shoot only objects of civilian infrastructure or at all lived at home. yes, civilian houses, that's why russia uses such tourist tactics, trying to break the will of the local population and er, the soldier who er, defends between the cities. exclusively, they are

for this, some other, let’s say, military tasks in this or consequences after they will need strikes, well, there is no military logic in this. it’s just the destruction of a civilian city there great of the regional center, which they were unable to capture even though they had already entered it, but thanks to our soldiers and our special services, it was liberated and is now there . there are those who will begin to direct their mobilization not just for retention and capture, because i think that they have the south, that's why they are right-bank bridgeheads, and putin also gives the command to hold, yes, time, trying to ask there mobilized some parts or pulled up other territories in order to have the opportunity to

advance south is very important for them because it is, first of all, the opportunity to connect with those kved republics that they formed, the same transnistrian as they call the narodna respublika or pridnistrov' yes, and cutting off ukraine from the e sea, that is why for them it is strategic . that they are not feasible due to the fact that ukraine is putting up strong resistance and our partners are helping us, or putin doesn't see it. i think he has these plans and the battle in a week may still be ahead, so they will uh-uh shake it up we must be ready for this, that is why i have repeatedly said that the southern bridgehead is on the right bank, it is quite medieval for us , and in order to secure

the south in the medium and long term, we need to destroy it and become defensive along the dnieper, this is such a task did i understand you correctly, that according to you , there are officially 300,000 newly mobilized russians, according to some data, there may be much more, and they can be used in the future for an offensive in the southern direction, in order to try to capture mykolaiv and possibly odesa in particular i think, first of all, they will try to desire donetsk region, because they can and must. they need at least some minimal victory, they have not yet achieved any of the goals that were set before them, and they have not achieved their imaginary goals. territorially, nothing, but he is at the borders, so initially they will press on, and try to hold the donetsk region in order to pay . look, the so-called

ldmr . they will be able to, if we can, they will terrorize us to leave , they will be able to release part of the troops and then continue in some other direction. i think the south is very important for them. and we must now do everything to work on prejudice the ukrainian army can repel such a number of newly mobilized russians, of course . and we will agree on a part, i'm sure. but of course, for this, quite a lot of work must be done to prepare this army, to train commanders on motivation, and the most important thing is to work with our partners on armaments, because well, yes i am not saying that we are throwing hats at the russians and politically holding on to some objects there, it is not for ukrainians, we protect the lives of each of our soldiers , but we also understand that budget wars are not won and we understand this and the soldiers who receive treatment understand

it, but they must be minimal, they must be equipped with modern equipment, modern technologies, and in this, of course, we must talk to our partners, our diplomats must ask, and you know when we say the word ask. well somehow it sounds to me, you know, somehow, it is not quite correct that we are asking as a country, but but i, analyzing this whole situation , everyone listens to us and in general, we must understand that no country in the world would attack the russian federation, because this is exactly the resource height of a tank, for example , more than 20,000 medics and other equipment. it would not be able to stand up to the russian federation on its own. therefore, there is nothing shameful here, we are not only fighting for our land, but we are fighting for

democratic values, he should understand this, and now he is at a conference with our partners , there is a moldavian man wearing robes and sajkis, all this understand, maybe not everyone is talking, someone somewhere is dependent on the russian federation, but no one is going into an open confrontation with ukraine there, and everyone respects what we have already done, and everyone has a completely different attitude towards ukraine, mr. kosta. i would also like to ask you regarding these threats by russia with nuclear weapons, we have heard the statement of vladimir putin, but we have also heard the statement of the ukrainian military intelligence, and from this statement, and from the words that the black sea region may suffer, it looks like the intelligence is considering the possibility of using these nuclear weapons by russia, you will correct me, but i am still interested in your opinion. do you consider this perspective to be real? look at the relationship with the russian

federation. i call it a war with the russian federation . losses are the first and second when there is such a person as putin, who , let's say, is very worried about his personal authority, when he loses, we understand that he is capable, can be capable of this, of course there are people who can or will harm me. i think but hmm. we must consider it. we must consider it. what could it be? i am not talking about any strategic or operational uh. these are the charges as we say, but at the tactical level. we must understand that putin can come to this, but for this we must be will develop uh well circumstances yes when they will lose they

will understand and when they will retreat there we must understand that it can be let's say so i am not saying that it will be but we are not here it does not work i already have sound logic and analysis when well, for example, before the war many analyzed that russia cannot attack there because they will be imposed sanctions because they will be there with groups in the world . along with this, even when they were in the states, they talked about the fact that we also need guarantees here, but the guarantees are not just there in words, but of course. it would be better if our diplomats agreed on some more serious guarantees. well, within the framework of the same budapest memorandum which was given to us. of course, you can talk a lot about it in any way. who um. some say that it was not ratified

there . interpretation of this process, because i also told the americans look, if the whole world just closes its eyes now, god forbid, russia will use any amount of these weapons, there is one artillery projectile, it will be used, if the world is silent, then this will completely change the schedule, everyone geopolitics, every small country will understand after that no one will be able to protect it and defend itself it can only have nuclear weapons and we must bear it, we must talk about it, and well, our partners understand it, so i think that it will be much cheaper against the russian federation alone than than then to oppose the appearance of nuclear countries there, and then it is not clear where the world will go, our partners agree, but of course the decision will

be made on the facts. you must already be talking about the fact that russia can take such a step in the event of a retreat of defeat, you can already read in the western press that such a defeat well, in fact, such a retreat was also the retreat in kharkiv oblast, if we model this situation, since you yourself admit that it is hypothetically possible under what circumstances it can happen, is a failure in the kharkiv region enough for this? i say it again it's unreal, it can be anything. this is the kind of person. i think we've already seen who can wake up tomorrow and, er, realize his ambitions, those which from my point of view, exclusively from mine, how can he do it if we start vacating all our territories and

go to the borders are already ours. there, in 1991, according to our constitution. then, when he has no choice, he can inflict such blows . yes, i just don't want to. we were concentrating on this so as not to scare people, but oh well once i say that which country has nuclear potential has already shown that she doesn't have any gals and that her pretext for war can be made-up devices, we have to understand that hmm, we have to prepare for this, let's say so. therefore, there can be, er, any er, pretext that will push russia into a corner. at the very end, i want to ask you about weapons. as a person who directly participates in hostilities, you are obviously aware of what weapons are the most important right now. you were recently in the united states, and you obviously also talked about some priorities for ukraine.

we hear a lot about that now. that ukraine needs tanks or according to your estimations. this is really what we need to insist on now. there is no single type of weapon that would be able to help us concretely turn the tide of the war in our favor, and tanks are one of the types of weaponry, because i will tell you more in we have a lot of mobilized soldiers who need to be put on equipment to complete new brigades, if i didn’t say it yet, but the offensive equipment is tanks , tanks. yes, what kind of support is there, is there infantry on combat vehicles, so now we need armored the equipment is, uh, tanks, it's armored combat vehicles, or armored personnel carriers, or combat vehicles, such bmws to support these tanks, how much are they capable of uh, uh, breaking through the enemy's defenses. if we say what else, well, of course, we need rocket artillery

, hummer has already shown its effectiveness let's say that we are talking about various things of building up already those weapons that we have, this is 155 mm towed artillery, to 150 mm self-propelled artillery - this is arsezon or heimers was raspberry 280th - it needs to be built up there and of course, uh, to attract those soldiers who have already been mobilized and, of course, on some new types of weapons and avram and leopards are modern tanks that we need for er liberation of our territories er among western observers you can find such an er point of view that the west gives ukraine exactly as much weapons so that it does not lose, but not so many weapons so that it wins, yes, that is, it constantly limits the possibilities of ukraine. do you agree with this

assessment ? the war and the return of our territories directly proportionally depends on the number of weapons provided to us, they will give more, we will release er, faster, i am sure of it and they will give more. they want to believe in us, there are diplomats, well, they promise, they promise, and we do everything for the world, do not focus only on ukraine, as it were we wanted it, and great geopolitics also plays a role in the fact that, well, how quickly these weapons are coming to us are also coming, that's why we are doing everything for this, our diplomats are doing it for this and our diplomats need to balance not only the united states britain and ukraine and this triangle. well, there are our partners from poland, eastern europe, but also in the whole world, you need to work somewhere because of the dust , to be somewhere, to promise something to your loved ones , to negotiate so that we put sticks in our wheels, in particular, with supplies, so that someone there is not so

close wives from the russian federation, this is a very difficult, uh, path, and our diplomats are doing it right now. not bad if there was at least one war in the world less on kostenko i thank you very much for this conversation thank you soon no city women this is the cossack city of izyum where one of the oldest buildings of slobozhanshchyna is located the transfiguration cathedral here was the center of the famous izyum regiment the first holodomor the place did not survive thanks to the active fight against pro-regimes in the second world city twice

found itself in the center of fierce battles today raisins again on the line of fire fallen and in the evening but ready to stand for victory unconquered ours agronomists examine every piece of land to choose the best places for crops, our bankers find funds for sowing work on a thousand hectares, drivers of gasoline trucks deliver fuel throughout the country every day so that brave combine harvesters and tractor drivers in non-mined fields perform daily feats, and railway workers deliver the fruits of joint

labor to every corner of ukraine agrarians, we work tomorrow, victory, weapons on the field, medicines, equipment, whom to list, leave this choice, you want to contribute to the defense of the state, but you don't know how invest in military bonds, support the cess now, buy a military bond worth 1,000 hryvnias , dollars or euros and return your funds with interest. let your money already work for our joint victory together with the cess, the number of deposits is unlimited, a child on the bons.gov.ua website, the rules of this warm country in winter, no house is safe from the edge, the state and cities do everything possible to give cheerful people warmth, it is our job to preserve it,

unite with neighbors, insulate your house and your apartment, check the electrical wiring, take care about alternative means of heating are difficult in an extreme situation to help each other let's beat the winter together i started working in the 90s before everything could be archived in online databases and worked in russia and the region before but my area of ​​expertise is the middle east, the balkans and africa but you know, if you, as a javanese , have enlightened 18 warriors already, you begin to see certain

patterns. i witnessed three genocides in my life in bosnia, roland and the massacre of the yazidis, an attempt to deprive the ukrainian people of their language and culture this is part of the strategy of putin's plan, when i was preparing for this interview, i watched your speech at tet in 2013, then you talked in particular about the feeling of the beginning of the war, this is the first impression, fear, shock , surprise, when you worked as a military journalist, what was your feeling when you learned from the news that hostilities begin somewhere, you will probably have to go there or cover their conflict; b. polonsky, i think the essence

of my speech at tet was to explain to people who have never been in combat zones how how quickly wars come to some countries and how quickly a country can fall apart. i think it is extremely difficult for people to understand, say in the united states or in some parts of europe . foreign invasion of the country they have never experienced a full-scale war so i tried to explain how wars happen and how they destroy the structure of society how banks suddenly close there is not enough food, and in some places where the cities are under siege, there is also not enough water, and people are already being sent to fight, almost every family loses someone, in fact, this conversation was about losses and the fact that war always brings a sense of great

losses. how did you manage to effectively immerse yourself in the local context if the country to which you are going to cover the events is far away. the culture is unfamiliar to you here, the civilians suffer the most from the war, so i think i always wanted to write about people far from political vicissitudes from the negotiations and from the united nations organization from everything that happens at the international level about the people on the ground, how they survive and how they send their children to school, let's say in velepo, syria, where the children were educated at home for years, how people manage to get food , how resourceful they can be be, for example , during the siege of sarajevo, people learned to make cheese from rice because for 3.5 years they lived only on humanitarian packages. so these stories were

the most interesting for me of all and they really reflected how people lived and that's what mattered to me, i wasn't interested in traveling with the american or british military. i always thought it was much more interesting to work in a village or town, to visit the local community or families and learn how people live and how they cope with this situation and in this way i felt that i could really capture this supposed resilience that ordinary people have during the war in reality . usually i study the local culture, but the language is another matter. it is clear that i could not speak 18 languages, although i admit it would be much better when i would speak ukrainian sokhili if we were perfectly understood in arabic or farsi. but often this is impossible, so i relied on the help of local

journalists, and in a certain sense, it was the best way to work, because these are people who have a good command of the situation on the spot, they know the country very well, it is completely different things will be a local journalist when your own country is at war, for example, how do you feel now when ukraine is the last war and ukrainian journalists are doing incredible work foreign journalists will never be able to do it yes, but they are able to do something else, which is to add these stories to the context of maybe past warriors , past experiences, and also present it in a larger global picture, which i think is important because sometimes if you are in the epicenter of history , this is lacking, it happened to me many times, for example sarayev because i was so immersed in a bubble during the siege that i didn't know what was happening in the outside world after that,

an important thing about the work of international journalists, and it seems to me that what you do is also important here a war on other continents in faraway corners of the world is understandable for its local audience, let's say for the americans, probably in this context - it is very important for ukraine, because this is another one of the wars that has been going on for some time and will not end in a couple of days, how to support the interests of the foreign audience to such long wars and no bigenia at the very beginning of the invasion of ukraine, there was a huge appetite for any information, about four thousand international journalists came from there, who immediately rushed to lviv and kyiv and, of course, were others who went further south and east to cover the events on the front line, but many of them had no experience preparing reports about the war or ukraine