from the fact that she ivana barbok, minister of foreign affairs of germany this is how they took her to kharkiv with a warning, that is, no one goes to russia at all, a high-level german politician actually came to kharkiv all the way to the borders with the russian federation and held her conversations there. i also wanted to know what happened with subscribe to our non-networks to ours to our tv channel in social networks read the site espresso.tv youtube telegram instagram instagram facebook twitter everywhere has everywhere we try to report promptly objectively, all the information that was conveyed to me is even better. you can support us on youtube. there is a special option so that you can donate and support us. become a sponsor of espresso and we will work together to our common victory. now for your attention, a news release from my colleagues with ukrainian editors in the city of news good evening we from ukraine welcome to the broadcast of bbc news ukraine olga palamaryuk is working in the studio and today in the program battles in soledar have the armed forces of ukraine really

lost control over a part of the city and there is a risk of an encirclement in the soledar district of the donetsk region, the ukrainian police are looking for two volunteers from great britain, what is known about their fate, and the european union promises that ukraine will receive all the weapons it needs, what europe is preparing in the event of further escalation on the front , not a day goes by without shelling, the russians today hit kherson for according to the report of the head of the regional administration, the projectile hit the yard of an apartment building at the point of arrival , a whirlpool was formed, which immediately filled with water, a local resident was injured in total during the past day, the region

was shelled 46 times under attack also mykolaiv oblast russia shelled the city of ochakiv with an explosive wave, more than 200 residential buildings, administrative buildings, objects of social infrastructure were injured, 15 people were injured, including a two-year-old child at the same time, as reported by the cr nens tv channel with reference to data from us officials and ukraine, the intensity of russian artillery shelling decreased by 75% in some areas. however, publication sources do not yet have a clear or unambiguous explanation for this phenomenon and the most difficult situation remains in the east, bakhmut, a city in the donetsk region, a direction for which heavy fighting has been going on for the past months, losses are occurring on both sides, numerous analysts of the new york times have analyzed the situation in and around the city and write that the defense of bakhmut has become for ukraine a symbol of national struggle, and the

ukrainian command has to adapt to the new realities offered by the enemy, precisely the sub-russian masses of manpower that go into frontal attacks, according to analysts, the tactical value of bahmut causes great doubts, but now this battle is the most enduring for the entire duration of the war, it has great strategic importance for both sides, but the russian command, after numerous failures near bakhmut, decided to direct the main attack on soledar, located only 20 km from there, british intelligence has been reporting for the last few days russian troops and mercenaries of the wagner pvk achieved tactical success near soledar, the ukrainian side allegedly controls part of the city - this is not confirmed, however , ukrainian military correspondents report that russia really succeeded to complicate the supply of the armed forces in soledar, and president volodymyr zelensky confirmed that the assaults of the russians here are bordering on insanity . bbc correspondent higuchaga will tell more. the situation

in the east of the country is extremely difficult . president zelensky said this the night before. the ukrainian side declares that even more mercenaries have arrived there. therefore, it is extremely difficult for the ukrainian forces protecting this city. president zelensky in his address said that almost all of soledar was destroyed, there was no life left in the city, soledar is located not far from bakhmut, this city is one of the main areas of combat operations of russian troops in this part of the country, fierce battles between ukrainian and russian forces are still going on there, also this morning the ministry of defense of great britain reported that russian forces and mercenaries from wagner's group probably after four days of very fierce fighting took control of most of the soledar there were some statements about british tanks what is known about it

this information comes from britain. it has not been confirmed yet. but if it happens, it will be the first delivery of tanks by a western country. it would be very symbolic and it can obviously put some pressure on some other countries that are still thinking of providing similar equipment to ukraine and are worried that russia may consider this as an escalation, well, in his address to the ukrainians, president zelenskyi said that the situation in soledar is particularly difficult there, everything has been destroyed and there are almost no whole walls left, but what did russia want to win there, zelenskyi asked what exactly let's try to figure it out with an expert, contact us , military analyst oleksandr kovalenko. i congratulate you on the broadcast about the successes under soledar, now russian sources are actively appearing. and british intelligence, in principle, also confirms this, do you know what is happening there right now? i congratulate the situation

near soledarov really very difficult and it is complicated primarily because the russian occupiers have concentrated there a large number of forces and means to understand that there are in fact not only units of the private military campaign agner but also units the first and second army corps of the so -called lpr and dpr, as well as the support of all these units and the assault units, is provided by the artillery of the regular troops of the russian army . that is, it is infantry-artillery . what are they aiming for, what is the goal, in my opinion, and of tactical and strategic importance in this location right now, and there is no decisive soledar, that is, they are spending a lot the number of resources in order to temporarily occupy some area, and then

make a big victory out of it, most likely because now in russia there are actually no large-scale epic victories . this is the most true record of a tactical group battalion in galicia minutes, that is, there has never been such a thing in modern history. he and conflicts, and russia became the first to lose a battalion tactical group so quickly, and in addition, bakhmut is already more for more than six months, it is in a situation of constant offensive operation, but the russian army cannot occupy it and take it under its control, that is why they can exchange a small amount, that is, spend large resources to occupy a small town such as solidar and to present it as some kind of great victory and can

we say that the key role is played by the psychological factor, that is, there will be a seizure of some city in ukraine and show it to the russian public. as an element of their propaganda, they will try to demonstrate that they can seize something and they have the potential for it, although here it is interesting. here is what, in order to concentrate their efforts specifically on soledar, and the russian occupiers were forced to withdraw part of their units from bakhmut. near bakhmut, they rehearsed part of the units in this amphibious assault division, which in terms of the fullness of the units, they were not fully staffed, so they are now covering four wagner soldiers, they felt it again after all, quite serious losses because they were not ready to fully engage in hostilities in such a composition. therefore, in fact, they

continue to spend resources exclusively for the sake of some propaganda element and not some tactical one. moreover, not to mention the strategic importance of these actions. well, instead the new york times writes that in previous major battles, the ukrainian military command tried to avoid direct confrontation with the enemy. well, we see that the current reality dictates other rules and the armed forces are changing the strategy of conducting the battle. will the ukrainian army have enough strength to hold the bakhmuts ? part of the city or even took the city surrounded, it is not so. moreover, in the northwestern location of the city itself

, the lines of defense of the armed forces of ukraine are already located, therefore and in fact from the center these are the lines of defense that will meet the russian occupiers of the armed forces of ukraine. they have always demonstrated much better and professional skills in urban warfare than the russian troops, and therefore, if such a task is set to drag the russians into urban battles, then these battles are for soledar can last for weeks, or a month, even more than a month, but it all depends on what exactly will be the task, what if there is a task to preserve the maximum number of personnel and to occupy the lines of defense already outside the city limits. well , they will do it, we understand that because there is actually nothing left of the city itself, although in fact the first

wave of mobilization has not yet officially ended in russia, so can the new arrivals significantly change the situation at the front? in general, do you predict that russia will be able to collect half a million mobilized people, as it is supposed to be a repressive country, they can collect 500,000 , there is nothing stopping them from doing it. another question. really the effects of this mobilization of the next wave or the continuation of the one that started back in september a-a they must mobilize 100-150 thousand a-a people every month, i.e. exactly this number why because every month we always have meaning that they have losses of up to 50,000 killed, wounded, and captured, and

it must be somehow compensated for in the combat zone, so this amount of 50,000 is the basic amount of compensation for losses that must be monthly everything other - this is already a resource that can be used to plan some kind of offensive operation or to form some kind of strike group, but this amount still needs to be provided with something er-er with equipment a-a body armor, helmets, weapons, and so on, namely the logistical support of the russian occupiers for today huge problems, of course. thank you, oleksandr kovalenko, a military expert, and we talked about the situation at the front and at the beginning of the new year, military aid to ukraine has changed , heavier armored vehicles have appeared, this is a significant step but there is another meaning in the plans for these deliveries, they

can be a kind of guarantee of the arrival of more serious equipment that kyiv has long wanted to receive, so far this delivery is not happening for political reasons, not even the repair of western battle tanks until now . real taboos have been imposed. the day before it became known that britain is considering the possibility of supplying challenger 2 tanks for the first time, the issue of supplying leopards remains open, and in the meantime the president of the european commission, ursula von deryan believes that the partners should transfer western-style battle tanks if ukraine asks for it. such a statement was made by the funders at a briefing with the nato secretary-general, toltenberg and the head of the european council, sherlo -michel. at the same time, nato warned against underestimating russia and repeated again that it is necessary to be ready for

a long war in ukraine and let's talk about international support adds more to the air the guests are oleksandr kharak, an expert at the center for defense strategies, and hanna shelest , the director of the security studies program of the ukrainian prism. i welcome you on the air. i hope that together we will be able to understand more easily what processes are taking place in the high offices of western european capitals. well, the first question i have is the same for both of you: why countries the west is afraid to give tanks to ukraine so well, we understand the fear of escalation, but here is this red line, it is constantly moving and it is already very far from what it was, for example, a few months ago but still, what precautions still remain , how to work with them. kyiv is nice. let 's start with you. i think that the simplest answer will be because tanks are primarily perceived as offensive weapons

compared to the same ones, even highmars, which we understand very well that even better ones can impress sometimes than strains and then the task is still in ukraine but in fact very often we presented them as defensive weapons and a lot of types of weapons that ukraine received before that were presented to the public in europe as protective defensive and politically, it was easier to sell, let's call it a very simple vocabulary, but it is such a picture and almost involving the country in the war, which of course technically does not correspond to this sense, but it is political. this was the main leitmotif of all the speeches that were heard among the opponents it is the same question. i want to ask you, oleksandr, what do you see as the reasons? so why is the west afraid, and there is definitely a question of

escalation . they don't want to be the first country to supply tanks, and that's why we hope, first of all, on the diplomatic efforts of kyiv and our polish friends to form such a certain coalition and come out together, and not just push germany to agree to hand over the leopard or actually the cheetah to us, but i would say more one point, at least regarding germany, because despite the fact that crazy progress has taken place since february 24, 2022 , that germany has actually returned its foreign policy strategic ship to 180°, but i remain certain such nuances. well, as they feel guilt before the jews for the holocaust, for some reason they also feel some guilt and do not want to escalate the actual situation in relation to the russians, despite the fact that most of the second world war was, let's say, terrible crimes and rather

, the number of dead was actually on the territory of ukraine and belarus, not the russian federation. therefore, this is an internal warning, it remains. i am not talking about the personal factor, since the majority of germans are more than 50%, i am the arena of ordinary germans, they are for the supply of tanks, most of the representatives of the coalition that is currently in power is in germany, they are in favor of the supply, the only one is the counter supply, is the chancellor hesitating? let's put it this way, psychological nuances still play an important role in the thinking of the germans. i hope that if the british provide the first ones, then real tanks are not what are called tanks and the french provide us and this will be the overcoming of this psychological barrier. well, it still seems that we are seeing such a game

of hot potato. so, if you can call it that, the americans say we will give tanks. if tanks are somewhere, germany should show leadership . germany says we will give, but we do not want to be the first. france gives light tanks but presses to berlin, berlin, again, no. you are the first. and what is this avoidance of leadership, a bad question for you. why does no one want to be the first, and here it is difficult to say whether they want to be the first or not , because, first of all, they certainly do not want to fall under russian propaganda. draw the main enemies and russian propaganda will be directed at these and those countries that you are escalating, it is not us who are escalating the situation on the battlefield, but from a different situation here , each country still has its own arguments , they are not the same, a ton of berlin about the german very oleksandr said well, and the americans, for example, very often when they choose which weapons to provide to ukraine, they

make sure that it is not only with them, that there are either ammunition or repair parts or something else from other european partners in order to ensure the maximum provision of everything that is available to ukraine at the moment, they do this with absolutely all types of weapons that are transferred to ukraine as much as possible and unite resources in european countries around them, and therefore here i think that for us it is not necessary to say that it is simple flipping potatoes, and it is worth understanding the logic and reasoning of each of these countries that are still hesitating. well, i want to develop this idea a little. yes, alexander turns to you, the elephant turns to her, washington is now such a locomotive of the military of support for ukraine, paris and berlin, on the one hand, seem to be in the shadows, but on the other hand, they have a deeper and longer history of relations with moscow, what role do the

germans and the french want to play and what role do they not want to play? the fallacies of the thirty-year policy and strategy in the russian direction in germany. supporters of moscow have taken such a step since soviet times, and not the christian democrats, who, let's say, were more atlanticists of their time, but still, there are certain nuances in terms of self -perception and the perception of one's own leadership position there, i also want to say that well, for sure in contrast to the british, who use pr opportunities quite well. yes, and we know that johnson is such a favorite of the ukrainians, despite the fact that germany has actually done much more in general. i mean how to support us through

i apologize for the jeslov programs, so it is directly on the bilateral level, that is, they lose a little and there is definitely criticism of the tanks themselves or the marders there until recently, and actually this is a key point for france. this is macron’s desire to be the leader of europe. he saw an opportunity to promote his new ideas. defeat i mean the idea of ​​strategic autonomy uh, it means this dead brain of nato uh, constant contacts with putin that without russia , the security system of the future is impossible, but now it seems to me that even in france they have realized that russia is not the country with which you can build a common european home and common security, and they will also slowly change, well, actually, this consciousness of awareness and a change in strategy takes time. well, hanna, today we heard that the eu and

nato signed the joint declaration on cooperation of the eu is a political and economic union nato on the other hand a military one what does this declaration mean and what does the signing of such a document tell us about, you know the last 10 years it is impossible to separate these organizations purely yes, first of all, nato has not been a purely military organization for a long time. there are many and important political issues, and not only at the moment, and the european union has been looking for its place in strict security for the last 10 years, especially the last few years, let's remember pesco, for example, yes strategic cooperation specifically in the military sphere regarding developments or military operations eu teachers or battlegroups are so-called, that is, combat groups that are on duty. well, the strategic autonomy that i just talked about oleksandr, but much more, starting from 2014, one of the first such

declarations was signed during the tognat itself, and the russian war provoked the two organizations to look at how they could complement each other due to the fact that the majority of members are the same, so that resources are better spent, how can you divide who deals with cyber security of the best who protects critical infrastructure who will take on disinformation who the cyber sphere or where we can accumulate joint efforts because, for example , we know about how nato engaged in military education all these years in ukraine and now we hear about the fact that the european union is creating a new mission specifically regarding military education in ukraine, the question why and because for many european countries there are also neutral ones, it is easier to do this and nata can accumulate its efforts on for some reason, everything is more about the direct training of our e-e in the military on the territory of their countries. well, for example, yes, the training of such a plan is important. two organizations are

currently trying not to compete, but to find energy for the maximum the effective use of your potential, yes, alexander, the next question for you, if possible, we also hear that the russian envoys in europe have become more active, they are working through their channels to sow. this is the narrative, as if russia is ready to freeze the status quo. do you see these signals and do you know what is going on in moscow, well, first of all, the russian federation is , let’s say, a special service under which there are some state institutions, and as a special service, they are engaged in definitely subversive activities, propaganda of operations, er, that means operations we influences and actually they have been doing this since the 14th year, they are active against us yes and now, of course, taking into account the bad things at the front taking into account the fact that uh, the same terror that is actually

happening in relation to the civilian population of ukraine, i mean missile strikes they they do not give that result, of course , all they have to do is try to somehow undermine western support, and that is precisely why they constantly say, well, there are certain signals that we are open to development, but ukraine has to, uh, means to agree with the situation on the ground, which means that we we have to give up our territories illegally occupied by the russian federation, of course that is not let's say so with the pure heart of the russian federation to agree on something. moreover, they are not in the situation where you can dictate certain conditions to us. yes, we didn't win, but surrounded, we did not lose to agree to these humiliating, most importantly, absolutely unacceptable conditions from the point of view of the future existence of ukraine , and that is exactly why such signals should not be considered, and i really liked the reaction of all western countries except hungary regarding this

information operations of the russian federation about the so-called christmas truce or cease-fire or definitely that they did not intend to do this and we know this not only for uh let's say so 8 months of this war well i have i apologize 300 how many 18 days of this war but for 8 years + 300 + days of this war that it is impossible to trust russia, that it uses any truce, any negotiations, solely in order to ask for itself on the ground and then seize even more territory , so it seems to me that currently ukraine can be satisfied with the perception in washington, berlin, paris. well, i am not talking about the baltic countries, poland and britain, but the understanding that there is nothing to talk about with putin, only by supporting ukraine, they can achieve advantages on the front, and then russia expected its offensive company to collapse or they will understand that there is no further there is no

point in continuing, and then they can put forward certain , let's say, diplomatic conditions. well, i want to ask you a final question. on the battlefield, that is, power speaks now. but is there still room for diplomacy, if possible , in short, there is always room for diplomacy, but the question is what exactly do we want to achieve with this diplomacy, and of course in this case, when you go to negotiations not as someone who has no there is strength left, and how is the one who wins? you also have basic negotiating positions, of course, an order of magnitude higher and better . thank you for such a comprehensive conversation . we are on the air, thank you, thank you, and volunteers from great britain are being sought in donbas,

andrew beksha and christopher perry disappeared on january 6 near soldar, the men left kramatorsk and on the way to soldar, contact with them disappeared, both of them helped to take people out of shelling and saved more hundreds of civilians now the police are looking for men, but the british foreign ministry advises its citizens not to go to ukraine about men who saved strangers at the risk of their own lives . save the girl oksana, this footage was also taken on friday, a guy from the english city of cornwall published this video on the internet about his volunteer activities in ukraine within a few hours, christopher and his friend, 48-year-old british volunteer andrew bagshaw , disappeared. they were helping to evacuate civilians from under soledar, on whom the russians recently focused their attacks,

since then no one has heard or seen them, and the ukrainian police is collecting information about them. this 28-year-old young man has been in ukraine since march . last year, during this time, he saved hundreds people, i have never met christmas in the war is very strange. but somehow you forget that it is christmas because it is nowhere to be seen. the british foreign office recommends its citizens to avoid trips to ukraine and urges them to leave there because of the risk to life. the parents of the andrew beg show released a statement in to which it is said that they love their son very much and are extremely proud of what he does helps people who find themselves in difficult circumstances for russia british prisoners are a valuable part of the exchange fund in september during the exchange of prisoners of war five britons have been released now in the city

where the british volunteers disappeared ukraine is strengthening its position and their parents are eagerly waiting for news about their sons sss for today more stories search on our website bbc.ua and on our pages in social networks and we are on the air again tomorrow at 21:00 good luck and take care of yourself six sports music education free people have a choice choose what you want on megogo