to endlessly sow panic , informational and psychological operations, of course, the situation is not easy, of course, information from the front when different good and bad information is coming from everything, good and bad information is coming from everything, but i urge you and professional people urge you to keep calm and trust reliable sources of information, do not panic at matches well, we panicked, you know, she left most of us on the 24th because we had to act and we were saving ourselves and saving ukraine like fighters. it will help with a sober mind. thank you. we will meet with you tomorrow, and now for your attention i offer a news release in new colleagues from the ukrainian editorial office of bbc news in full. good evening. we are from ukraine. greetings on the air of bbcineus ukraine . olga palamaryuk works in the studio in london and today in the hundred defense program oleksiy

reznikov, we asked him about western weapons for ukraine about the counteroffensive and the situation at the front russia announced the complete capture of soledar, the ukrainian authorities do not confirm this, instead they say that they are continuing for the city battles and the private military company wagner as a russian group of mercenaries came out of the shadows and prigozhin began to strengthen his influence. the russian ministry of defense announced the complete capture of the city of soledar, as if on the eve of january 12, they managed to establish control over the settlement. russia assures that the capture of soledar was made possible thanks to constant fire damage the enemy's assault and army aviation with missile

troops and artillery of the russian army group, the information about the capture of the soledar is also confirmed by the american institute study of the war in its report, however, the ukrainian side refutes this, as the spokesman for the defense forces of the eastern direction, serhiy cherevaty, said, fighting is going on in the city, and the information that the ukrainian forces have left the soledar is not true, according to him, the enemy forces prevail because they threw the maximum number, but our forces are still fighting in the same place, cherevat added, also told the general staff in the evening briefing that the battles for soledar are continuing and that the situation in soledar is difficult, but controlled, they also say in the ministry of defense in ukraine, the russians are trying to capture the city in order to gain control over the transport routes, and so this will help them transfer their equipment and equipment to bakhmut, a place that the russian army has been trying to take for more than four months, minister of defense oleksiy

reznikov told about this in an exclusive interview with the bbc, according to him, ukraine should to prepare for a new offensive by the russians already in the spring, the head of the ministry of defense is also confident that ukraine will join nato in the near future , for the first time in a long time, the russians seem to be succeeding to advance, has ukraine lost the momentum of its own moment, it is clear that they suffered a defeat in the kharkiv direction in the kherson direction and they had the opportunity to concentrate their forces in one place, they changed this strategy by trying to identify one place and make a breakthrough in it, because they vitally need at least a small victory for the population of the russian federation, the second reason is the conflict between the owners of the private military company and the command of the russian army, bakhmut and soledar, under the responsibility of the pvk, and they want to prove

to the kremlin that they are better than the regular troops of the russian federation, we see changes in the russian command that indicate that the conflict between them continues severely, and he was personally responsible for the massive missile strikes on the ukrainian civil and energy infrastructure, maybe it was a good strategy for him, but he used all the strategic reserves of cruise and ballistic missiles such as the iskanderkha 555 caliber and others , their strategy will change. ukraine has been gone for a week, they continue to shell kharkiv, zaporizhzhia, donetsk , kherson region with s-300 missiles from mortars and artillery, but these are short-range weapons, they can strike any day tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, iran with drones or political missiles on kyiv, lviv, odesa, vinnytsia, but they they don't do it every day anymore because their opportunities have decreased that's why i

think they changed their strategy changing the deaded what will it be now daewoo try i think they will try to accumulate their forces, weapons and at the end of february or the beginning of march, they will launch an offensive in a certain direction in the east or perhaps in the south, let's go back to the question of what the russians can do, you said in december that they could plan a second offensive from belarus, i said that we we have to calculate all the risks, because we have 2,500 km of border with unfriendly neighbors, including 1,200 km. these are the borders with belarus. you talked about such a possibility to arise and settle it. yes, this is a possibility. i think they have different plans to attack ukraine from the north with from the south-east. but which direction is more convenient or easier for them? and what is the situation with

ukraine ? the resources of the rammstein club more than 50 countries are our allies in the war against the kremlin does ukraine have all the necessary weapons for the next stage during the war it is never enough but i am satisfied that our actions that we started a year ago brought results last november year i only asked to give us wall games and the answer was that it was impossible i could only joke about joken patriots not balty patriots but now we have stingers and enlo and star streak we have artillery of various types of

caliber 155 mm we have already been promised combat vehicles marder and bradley we also have anti-aircraft systems isti and we will have patriots after our military comes training we also have anti-ship missiles like harpoons and so on that is we have a lot of modern nato standard weapons that means that ukraine as a state and the armed forces of ukraine or our security and defense sector became nato members de facto not de jure but de facto not de jure bati-factor because we have weapons, we know how to use them, we have the required level of communication with our partners and i am sure that in the near future we will become de jure members of nato, what a contradictory statement you say that ukraine became a de facto member of nato as a contro

ventulator , why is this fact contradictory? said that nato's strategy for the next 10 years takes into account that the main threat to the alliance is the russian federation, and he also explained that there is only one army in the world that has experience in how to defeat the russians, how to fight for the russians and how to drive them out of their territory , and this is the ukrainian army. ukraine forces is here more with how many you so, what are the other reasons needed to invite ukraine to nato ukraine here enail yes and imeyshen e you mentioned about weapons tanks may also arrive text and this discassobol question tanks in the discussion i i am sincerely grateful to the president of poland angela duda from leopard, this means that the window for discussions with partners about the transfer to modern tanks can be opened, it can be not only leopards, but other systems, we will already decide which tanks will become the main ones in the ukrainian armed forces, the perception of the event was such that any

tanks given to ukraine will lead to escalation from russia i hear about these fears of escalation every week and every month for me it is a kind of protocol statement i am sure that we will get tanks fighters and weapons with a range of 300 km you are not worried how can russia respond to this my country in my country there is a war what more escalation can happen they are attacking our cities our hospitals kindergartens schools they are killing civilians children this is an army of murderers rapists and looters what else can be the level of escalation they are here in the driver country, i want to return to the question of the counteroffensive, winter slowed down the pace of ground operations, in addition

to what is happening in the east, after the end of winter, this operation will renew the roots here, according to the laws of war, spring is the best time to to renew offensive attempts, it works for both sides, that is why we understand that they will be ready to launch an offensive and we must be ready to attack. it was the minister of defense of ukraine oleksiy reznikov. but what does de facto membership in nato mean, while only membership in the alliance guarantees protection article the fifth principle of collective defense, an attack on any of the member states of the alliance is considered as an attack on all of them. ukraine in nato fedyshyn, there is a grain of truth in everything, the war brought nato and ukraine closer at the beginning of the

conflict, the army of ukraine had mostly old soviet equipment, today it is becoming an army modeled after the nato army, it uses nato equipment and standards, but not only equipment, of course, but also training, exchange of intelligence receives help with other things such as disinformation cyber security and so on one of the aspects of nato membership is military-operational interoperability conflict - it has accelerated than it would otherwise and of course, basically, member planet is not a de facto part, but a de jure part, the fifth article of the treaty, guaranteed security, when nato undertakes to come to the defense, we are still far from that, nato makes it clear that it does not want to be part of the nato conflict they have very consistent position that it is not going to participate in the conflict, and of course, aid is provided to ukraine by individual countries on an individual basis. also, this aid comes from other countries such as australia and

south korea, as before, but on the other hand, when the heads of nato countries met at the summit in madrid in june of last year, they made it clear that the door to nato membership remains open, the promise that nato made back in bucharest in 2008 remains, that is , there is no deviation from this, but this cannot be done during the war, the previous expansions of nato took place in peacetime and then nato entered into a dialogue with russia about a possible offensive for which the russians are preparing ukrainian intelligence warns of a new direction of the russian attack zaporizhzhia may be us also the opinions of the british special service there say that in recent weeks russia has strengthened the defense of the fortifications in the occupied part of the zaporizhzhia region, especially between the cities of vasylivka and orihiv, and maintains large forces in this sector, that is, preparations are underway, but a

major ukrainian breakthrough in zaporizhzhia would call into question the viability of the so -called russian land corridor connecting the rostov region of russia and the annexed crimea and part of the zaporizhzhia region was occupied by the russians at the beginning of the war, however, despite putin's statement , it was not possible to capture the entire region of russia, so can the zaporizhzhia area become the hottest on the front let's try to figure it out together with my colleague , a bbc correspondent, a whole black man. hello oleg, have you researched this topic? first of all, explain why russia might be interested in this, and what's more, it might try to go on the offensive to capture zaporizhzhia. hello , indeed, even the military command of ukraine already calls zaporizhzhia the next direction after donetsk is a priority for russia.

in other words, we understand that both our side and the russian side consider the zaporizhia region as a possible next hot front like this a bridgehead for active hostilities, as of now, i spoke with the spokesman of a ukrainian group that works in this direction, and he already declares a certain activation of the russian troops, in particular, near gorikhov and gulyaipol, these are cities that have intensified in the territory controlled by ukraine shelling, there is intelligence information about a certain accumulation of forces and means of the enemy. that is, we can conclude that there are already beginning some preparations for active actions in zaporizhzhia. well, but i remember that not so long ago there was no information at all that they were blowing there

yes, your fortifications. actually, this indicated that an offensive is probably not planned in this area, but i wonder what has changed, can the russian military from the defense move to the offensive, really, the russians have built a very powerful line in this direction. by the way, so has the ukrainian side and here is an interesting point that each of the parties expects that the enemy will be the first to attack, even as they explained to me the military plans of the siyans is that it seems that ukraine will attack melitopol and the russians will fight back on their the conditions will leave forward to the north to zaporizhzhia and the donetsk region, that is, there are such certain calculations when they do not just gather a large force of the military and attack the catch

. defense, but at the same time, they are accumulating strength for the attack. well, could the result depend on who is the first to go on the attack, or is it not so important, you know? i think that right now, there is a certain game of nerves, and each error is expected from the parties er, we see the enemy, for example, that er, russia is already there announcing a certain movement er near gulyaipol, for example, about the capture of some villages , that is, russia is starting to take such small steps in the offensive direction ukraine so far so far direction is on the defensive and in such a waiting position. well, literally in front of you. so we listened to an interview with the minister of defense reznikov, and he says that already in the spring , a russian offensive is possible, in particular from the south, so how likely is it that the russians

will choose zaporizhia for this very reason direction, you know, it seems to me that the probability is high enough, and these are my thoughts that are confirmed by the intelligence data, the data of other military formations, the fact is that in this direction they have the most prepared positions for offensive actions, what are the alternatives the kherson region will have to force the dnipro. and this is a very difficult task and in fact it is not being carried out. the kharkiv region has also already tried and failed to advance from the north . in zaporizhzhia, there are certain areas of the front where you can try to advance and break through the enemy's positions, it will also not be easy, and i personally hope that the russians will not succeed. but nevertheless, there is more variability there. that is, there is a larger front there, there are certain areas, so to speak. the offensive

has a chance of success. that is, i agree with mr. rezny here that the offensive will most likely be in the south, and most likely in zaporizhzhia . immediately it is suggested because the ukrainian command is preparing for such possible development scenarios. well, as explained to me, at the moment, all the movements of the russians are being monitored very carefully, and what is being done specifically is not giving the russians the opportunity to form powerful long- range groups, for example , air and missile strikes places of deployment, these are logistics centers such as tokmak berdyansk and melitopol and zaporizhzhia, where in the last two weeks there have been about, i don’t know, ten. maybe a little less missile strikes

precisely at the places of deployment of the russians, that is the ukrainian side is trying to defeat this offensive mood of the enemy, so far using long-range missile weapons and aviation, that is, tracking and trying to disperse the enemy's forces, to prevent the formation of this shock fist, it is clear . .ua material this is the name of the new point of impact why exactly the zaporizhzhia direction can become the hottest on the front and not the actual one follow the updates interestingly verified and the main main objective information always on the website bbc.ua this was the bbc correspondent oleg chernysh. thank you, colleague, do not prepare for offensive actions. the kremlin may also have another reason for the russian army's failure to achieve any significant results in recent months, and the situation in donbas, where the

fiercest fighting is currently taking place, confirms that russia is ready to attack at any cost, even at the expense of a large number of victims, including among mercenaries, the private military company wagner claims that it was thanks to their mercenaries that they managed to activate the front, in particular, how they they insist on capturing soledar on their own, a statement that contradicts the position of the russian ministry of defense, but who are these wagnerites? bbc correspondents tried to understand and explain this. i warn the world audience that some of the footage in this report may shock. echelons are sent to death, but the bloody battle with bakhmut in one is really unique here, the troops of the nation state fight with the private army, wagner's group, and the black shed brutal

their tactics are cruel they are devoid of any morals they have one simple goal to kill or die mercenaries came out of the shadows to lead the russian attack on this part of ukraine they suffered huge losses but also captured the territory they lead and the man yevhen is handsome he is called putin's cook now he at the head of a huge private army which he claims captured miss soledar and once again i want to emphasize that he says that again i want to emphasize that no other units except the pagner took part now this is disputed statement, but wagner's key role in this war is beyond doubt. they were involved in this conflict from the very beginning. in 2014 , we first heard about wagner's group, which operated in crimea and helped the russian army

and the russian state to annex it back in 2014. russia did not declare about his invasion of ukraine, someone had to do this work for her, and it was wagner's group and pro-russian separatists who acted in crimea and donbas in the interests of the russian state. since then, the wagnerites have expanded their activities around the world, their tactics, they honed during the civil war in syria, they also fought on the left. but they were most active precisely in africa, where they supported regimes, as they believe, in exchange for control over mineral resources . africa they effectively traded security in exchange for shares in oil

diamonds and important rare materials diamonds and critical wormate wills most of its existence wagner operated in the shadow eugene prigozhin even sued people who claimed that he led the group and then last year when russia's invasion of ukraine stalled, everything changed during the russian invasion of ukraine. they did not want to be there and there was no need to pretend that they were operating in the legal field, they opened their headquarters in st. petersburg and made public statements. prigozhin began to travel around russian prisons offering pardons

in exchange for participation in the war, they believe that a huge number of such recruits die. bakhmut is called a meat grinder, this is what those responsible for the search for dead soldiers saw. with their own eyes, the picture has changed . they are sending this mobilizo despite this wagner continued his attack on bakhmut why what they are trying to achieve uh the ultimate goal is obviously to capture as much territory as possible the more territory zawagner then stronger they become and go his idea his ultimate goal is to become a hero a man key to the

conflict to resolve the conflict and at the same time have more power to strengthen his own position in the future vladimir putin appointed valery gerasimov a man with whom prigozhin had conflicted in the past to lead russian military actions the power games of the kremlin and wagner on the battlefields of ukraine, tens of thousands have already died, and it is true that many more will die. well, while personnel confrontations continue in moscow, the west is strengthening the military support for ukraine is still the same three nato countries, france, the united states and germany announced their intention to transfer their armored vehicles to ukraine, which have been known since the cold war: bradley marder infantry fighting vehicles and a mx10 rc light tank at the same time, ukraine has been

trying to get from germany and other countries for several months nato these are the leopard tanks that are the subject of heated debates during a meeting in the format of the lublin triangle in lviv, polish president andrzej duta said that warsaw had decided to allocate leopard-2 rototanks for the armed forces of ukraine, however, poland cannot transfer them, only it can only with the agreement of the manufacturer, that is, with germany, the official berlin has not yet agreed to the transfer, the biggest issue at the moment is the tanks, ukraine needs them very much, the british government has shown that they are being considered, the polish authorities have stated that they want to send the mouths of the leopard tanks are german tanks, which the ukrainians have been asking for months, the problem is that the germans do not want to give permission for this, even if the poles are ready to provide the tanks they need berlin's permission, berlin has been very, very hesitant about this in the past. it really depends on washington and berlin to be able to agree to

shake hands and say let 's do this, but the american president himself is in trouble because of classified documents that were found in his private residence and in his office, which he used in the past documents related to the period of the vice presidency of biden and here the main detail such documents should be archived according to the notice among the found files of the us intelligence report and materials of briefings on ukraine, iran and britain, biden's predecessor had similar problems in august last year, a dozen boxes with secret documents were taken out of donald trump's residence, although the white house insists that these cases should not be compared , but still, biden found himself in a difficult position, explains a bbc columnist in washington sarah smith, after president biden admitted that he kept classified documents in the garage of his home in delaware, next to a

vintage sports car, he had a lot of explaining to do about the classified documents near your corvette what were you thinking my cows here in a closed garage ok not on the street people know that i take classified documents and materials seriously i also said that we are fully cooperating with the investigation by the department of justice this week it was revealed that classified documents were found in an office in washington which biden used after he left the post of vice president in 2017, so biden's lawyers decided to search his residence in wellington. where they found a small number of documents, they were immediately transferred to the department of justice . 2018, the fbi found hundreds of classified documents in donald trump's estate, then president biden called trump's actions irresponsible and uvanske, now we find classified documents in two places in the public domain - this

is another mistake of the biden administration, which interprets the law differently based on your political beliefs general the united states attorney has already appointed a special prosecutor to investigate trump's actions, now he has appointed another prosecutor to investigate biden's actions if the ball is an emergency request the appointment of a special prosecutor on this matter, this appointment will highlight to the public the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters white house insists the biden dossier case is not as serious as the trump dossier saga but parallels continue to emerge in both cases secret materials were kept at home and now a special prosecutor has been appointed to investigate, this means that this story can stretch for months and overshadow any plans of biden to run for office in 2024, the white house is sure that a

thorough check will show that the documents were not moved on purpose, and as soon as they were found, they were immediately transferred properly, and that's all for today, look for more stories on our bbc.ua website and on our social media pages, we will be on the air again on monday at 21:00 good luck and take care of yourself , join the community with a ukrainian view of the world, become a sponsor of the espresso youtube channel, and this is access to exclusive content , personal thanks, pinned comments , special icons and the possibility of personal communication with the espresso team is pressing