[000:00:00;00] are also involved in these operations in order to destroy the horde, the enemy, directly the company in which, i have the opportunity to serve, here is the bpl company and we are also monitoring the situation, preparing for operations in order to impress the enemy, the task, well, i will say certain theses , maybe there, they are not known in the media, but the defense of avdiyivka is in fact managed by one of the top officers, i will not name his name, a hero of ukraine, truly a hero of ukraine, here, avdiyivka has been holding a full-scale war for about a year and a half, and the task ahead, in principle, before all fighters stands the next, not just to hold the position, but to inflict heavy losses on the enemy and defeat the enemy, so that the enemy is demoralized, and well, the next wave is to inflict on the enemy

what you asked the spokesman about. the general staff, well, they have something to lose, they are already attacking the enemy, so the task is to hold on and break the enemy, break his infantry groups, there are a lot of them, they move around in such small groups, but there are many, many of them and they stick straight again at the level of the area, but the boys impress them, impress them by all means, and plus, a large accumulation of equipment, ranging from simply different bmps, to matali, which help, pull, damaged equipment , ending directly with tanks, yegore, and you shared with us at the beginning your vision of what is happening in avdiivka, you say, it is hot there, numerous the forces of russian troops are present, and what do you associate this with, what could suddenly happen, that russia concentrated

such a... large number of troops right near avdiyivka near avdiyivka, you know, this is a good question, by the way, i recently thought about this over him for a second, literally for a second, why, because if i were some kind of expert there in kyiv, i would connect something , i would think, the task of a soldier and the style of thinking of a soldier is to fulfill his function, but frankly there is none here does not think about it, but why did they leave, and why now and so on, well, as you know, they used to say there , yes, in my russian, i have no idea what, what, what are their plans, what is their plan, it is not clear whether it is possibly related to the geopolitical situation, there is an aggravation on the eurasian continent, now they understand that the attention of the international community is scattered, so right now it is necessary to strike, is it possible, it is connected with the weather conditions, here, but i will say

about the strategic importance for avdiyivka. avdiivka provides us with full fire control of donetsk, that is , the enemy cannot feel normal in donetsk, because the entire perimeter of donetsk is simply fired from the territory of avdiivka, well, the suburbs of avdiivka. and the second point, the enemy understands very well that donets is a sacred city for them, a city, a place like crimea, in principle, if they lose donetsk or even a part of donetsk, it is a very serious pain for them. is it such a political blow and now you are showing this avdiivsky isthmus, this is actually the gate of our attack on donetsk, that is why the enemy understands it, it is strategically important for them to make attacks and offensives there, and in principle before this they always did it, but here they were unsuccessfully, it’s true, but they had such waves, but they actually fought there every day,

but compared to past battles, now this attack, it is enough, let's put it this way, enough, it is quite tangible and powerful, and who, who represents the russian army in the avdiyivka area, you say that it is numerous, can you now, if of course you know, how prepared these fighters are, these are some special units, i’ll say it frankly, we are prisoners there, well, i haven’t directly communicated with the prisoners, although they are already there , but i can say that they are not those mobs, chmobics, some kind of scumbags, but here , they may once have been, but those who survived, they were fired upon, they were prepared, they trained, trained in combat, i would underestimate the opponent here, because well, i would emphasize that this is all very, very serious, moreover, they have some volunteers there who are supplying them, for example, fpv drones,

they learned to fly fpv drones. therefore, i cannot say exactly who is from which region yet, but believe me, the enemy should not be underestimated, they went through this war, many of them fought in other directions there, now they have been transferred to avdiivka, so they are very, very prepared. another thing is that there are a lot of, well, such trashy mistakes in their command, sometimes unfavorable positions, but that’s another matter, in short, with regard to our adversary , that person, that orc who is fighting against us, i would emphasize once again , i would underestimate them, yehor, such a question, but tell me in what condition the ukrainian military is in as much as it is possible, of course, to tell, what is the general situation at the front, what is their emotional state, and what is lacking in the armed forces of ukraine in order to break , well

, let's just take it now, the situation, avdiivskyi direction, yes, turn the situation around to your advantage, and look, i’ll tell you directly, well, for example, literally 30 minutes ago i was talking with our fighter of the attack uav company and we were watching a video of how our... i looked, well, the impression of enemy equipment and such, damn it, this should have been us , like, well, we should have done this, we should have done it, but don't worry, we will still be able to do it, we have it here and there tomorrow or the day after tomorrow there will be our combat sorties, i don't care about everything, in fact, of course it was felt there and it is felt somehow fatigue and so on, but in the armed forces it is really, well, fighting, everyone understands that the task is to defend their land and defeat the enemy, everyone has already learned to fight, believe me, there are guys who were there as miners, it specialists,

programmers, teachers and so on further, have already become the best operators of bppl, the best bomber operators, and well, to fight, they have learned, know how and are already doing it very... very cold-blooded , as far as security is concerned, you know, well , of course, if you compare it with a year and a half ago, it’s heaven and land, provision is also in a sufficient number, we also have a sufficient number of weapons, starting from there, and howitzers, equipment, cover for heimers, and then ending with, well, just everyday certain needs, the only thing, of course, that is lacking is dominance in the air, that’s not a secret, but i would like, well, not that even there, at least there are not enough to the parity of our planes, and the second point, well, i would like, of course, more bull, ammunition and drones. drones now play a key role in everything

you can, for example, you show there anything, hymers, hailstones, mortars, without drones, effective impression is impossible to make adjustments, to make confirmation of impressions for the defense of our infantry, dro. different types are not needed, well, i will say for my unit, fpv drones, of course, are now considered the most effective weapons for forging orks from positions, because the exact impression, because the thermobolic charge is there, and so on, and the more of these drones there will be of course of various kinds, of course we will work much more efficiently, egor, i thank you very much, i will only add that today was meeting, and volodymyr zelenskyi was in brussels at the headquarters, we will talk about it in more detail now, and if we talk about air superiority, a number of countries have even announced specific, well, more or less specific deadlines for the delivery of aircraft to ukraine, we are talking about that

we will talk further, thank you very much, we are always glad to see you on the air, yehor firsov, a serviceman of the armed forces of ukraine, a paramedic, joined our live broadcast, thank you, and now about the benefits. in the air. denmark intends to supply ukraine with f-16 fighter jets already in the first half of 2024. as the minister of defense of the country stated, the first f-16 fighters from denmark will be in ukraine no later than the first quarter of next year, that is, by march or april. the specific date of delivery depends on the rate of training of ukrainian pilots. the danish ministry of defense did not say exactly how many fighter jets kyiv will receive. but it is known for sure that this is what the danish army is armed with. there are 43 f-16 aircraft, and the netherlands has approximately the same number of aircraft, both countries, let me remind you, announced their intention to transfer fighter jets to ukraine. well, in addition, belgium announced that it will transfer f-16 aircraft to ukraine already

starting, here already later, from 2025, and these statements were made against the background of the visit of volodymyr zelenskyi to brussels, where he visited the nato headquarters today, and by the way, this is his first visit to the headquarters of the alliance since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of brussels. in particular, there was also a meeting in the ramstein format, where zelensky received assurances from allies that support for ukraine would continue despite the difficult the situation in israel. we will talk a little later, but zoryana stepanenko followed the events in brussels, she joins our broadcast. zoryan, my congratulations, we are waiting for details from you. good evening, vlasto, well, everyone learned that volodymyr zelenskyy is not even officially in brussels, when he was on his way here to the headquarters of the nato apartment, where he really is for the first time since the full-scale war between russia and ukraine, and today a meeting was held here in the ramstein format, already the 16th, but also. for the first time with the personal presence of a ukrainian president, moreover, against the background of another war that

began in the middle east. speaking before the ministers, zelensky compared hamas, which attacked israel, which has long been recognized as a terrorist organization here, i mean the eu and the united states, with russia, more precisely, its president vladimir putin, and said that the similarity is that they are trying to keep free countries are being held hostage so that ukraine can continue to retaliate against russian troops, zelskyi said. a few things, it's air defense, long-range weapons, artillery, and the reduction of aid, he noted, carries the risk of the third world war. there are priorities, air defense systems, different issues, not just words, we are already transforming things and we need them in very specific geographical points on our land to save energy networks, to save people, grain transit, to save this route for africa, for asia, for the world, it is therefore important that the missiles are large. ranges or ranged weapons, it doesn't matter what you call them, the problem

is how to get them, these weapons for one thing, we need to push russia out of our land, the issue of supplying american attack missiles - said the head of the pentagon after the meeting was not discussed, however, this ramstein was accompanied by a series of announcements about new batches of military aid to ukraine. germany, which also, as you know, keeps its taurus, allocates another billion euros of aid and in it... patriot eist t air defense systems and also a dozen leopards, three cheetahs, and a half dozen armored vehicles, and they will be delivered to ukraine in the next several weeks. britain has announced that it will allocate 115 million euros in aid for demining, as well as servicing western equipment and strengthening the defense of key ukrainian infrastructure facilities. also, ammunition, winter uniforms and sleeping bags for the military from canada - 95 million euros. from finland, which, as you remember, traditionally does not reveal

the contents of its package, and 17 million euros for demining from norway, denmark, together with other countries, gives more than 147 million euros for the maintenance of military equipment, also demining equipment, this is me listed not all countries, there are still announcements about military aid packages for ukraine and the head of the pentagon, you remember, he traditionally presides over these ramstein meetings, announced a package from the united states. 200 million dollars for ammunition for anti-aircraft defense systems, as well as artillery shells, anti-tank weapons, and equipment for countering russian drones. this coalition continues to make history with our unity and steadfast support of ukraine. therefore, do not doubt that the united states will support ukraine as long as it is needed. you have to be ready for that in winter, the kremlin will again bombard ukraine with winged aircraft. and drones, we should expect putin's forces to deliberately and

insidiously target ukrainian cities, civilians, and critical infrastructure. against the background of events related to israel, which supports many of ukraine's partners, its support will remain, they promise , as it was and along with the netherlands and belgium, an air coalition that will take care of f-16 for ukraine and pilot training from now on. and the united states, going back again to the news we heard today in the headquarters of nato and in the ministry of defense of belgium, announced today that starting from 2025, they will send several of their fighter jets to ukraine, without specifying how many. zelenskyi, separately met with the belgian prime minister here in brussels, who, according to the results, announced that belgium is creating a special fund to support ukraine in the amount of 1 billion 700 million euros, which is filled with taxes on russian assets and payments in this country,

according to alexander theoretically, dekoro can start from this fund the very next one year he also said that the eu is very close to sanctions against russian diamonds. well, as for the ramstein meeting, coming back to it, it ended. the minister of defense of ukraine, rustem umyerov, has yet to talk to us, so to speak , we are waiting, and in the meantime, we spoke with the minister of defense of estonia at the nato headquarters, rfe/rl has an exclusive from the fields. this is already the 16th meeting in the so-called ramstein format , only with the personal participation of volodymyr zelenskyi, but the background is also that another war is going on in the middle east. so to yours opinion, how it will affect the short-term, medium-term and long-term perspectives of support for ukraine from partners and allies. i believe that there will be no change for ukraine, because we also heard from secretary austin that the united states will continue

to help ukraine, and we also heard from other countries that we will help ukraine as much as necessary, so it is important that we do not mix these topics, but we must also understand that of course russia would like to show and push us all to the middle east. they use all means propaganda also to show that there are some western weapons in gaza, etc. so, it is also our responsibility to focus on ukraine and support military aid for it, especially as winter approaches. do you see any signs that fatigue from ukraine is approaching? i hear it here and there, but i don't see it in this contact group. obviously, in some forums in the media, you can read it. this is also one of

the narratives that russia tries to present in zma, what the west feels about the war, etc. i don't see it in this group, i see solid confirmation. a firm commitment to help ukraine and i believe that when this group is so united, it will also go to every government, and we will continue to help ukraine. and nobody is pushing ukraine to negotiate with russia now? no. well, i will repeat what was already voiced by my colleague zoryana stepanenko. the united states will send a new $200 million aid package to ukraine , as you may have heard, us defense minister lloyd austin said during a meeting of nato defense ministers in brussels, he confirmed that the new package will include, among other things, air-to-air missiles and means to combat russian drones, and this aid package will be financed from

funds that the pentagon previously saved due to an accounting error, but as for further support for ukraine, discussions about that have especially intensified against the background of the war in israel , just the day before , us national security adviser jake sullivan said that the us has enough resources to support both ukraine and israel at the same time. so it is better to support ukrainians, as they firmly oppose russian aggression and do so on a permanent basis. and we have the budget to do it. we also have a budget to provide israel with what it needs. and we decide. we reject the idea that the united states of america cannot simultaneously support the freedom, freedom-loving people of ukraine and support the state of israel. well, sullivan also confirmed that the administration of president joe biden plans to submit an aid package to ukraine, as well as

an aid package to israel, to congress for approval in the near future. he did not comment will it be a joint request, as the american press wrote about the day before , as the washington post reported. by combining aid for both ukraine and israel in one package , the white house hopes to win the votes of so-called far-right congressmen who oppose aid to ukraine but support the allocation of funds to israel, according to several people familiar with the discussion. , this is a big question, and we will now try to find an answer to it, maryana budzherin joins our broadcast, senior research fellow at the belfer center, harvard kennedy school, good evening. good day, good evening, maryana , please tell me, and i am wrong, are there no contradictions regarding support for israel in the congress and in particular among the republicans, in principle, unlike regarding aid to ukraine? yes, this is quite true, in fact, the relationship between the us and israel is very

long-term, for decades, there is a very close military cooperation, yes, so this is not a reaction to which. to some crisis that just unfolded in the middle east, and we know let's say, the israeli lobby, in the best sense of the word, is very active, that is, representatives, lobbying, the interests of israel in washington, and also on the state government there is a signed memorandum of understanding between israel and the united states on military cooperation, and there are specifically highlighted the figures of military aid, the yakuza undertakes to provide the united states with military support for israel. somewhere around 3x5, almost 3.5 billion dollars a year, that is, there is a very,

if stable, developed base, traditions of this cooperation, as well as the legal basis, yes, this cooperation, which if now in the congress, simply no one, no one can and no one will want to resist, and therefore it seems to me that the actual association of aid to ukraine... and israel, this is a positive , it is positive if the development of events for ukraine, maryana, well, you know, in some sense, in some sense, perhaps such a cunning initiative, a cunning trick on the part of the democrats, but let us unite and then the republicans will have no choice, they will vote for the united package, but whether it will be possible to implement this one initiative, well, we'll see, yes, but in fact, as in ukrainian politics, in american politics. politics also has many different tricks, which may not be entirely clear to those watching from the outside, why everything

happens like this, but here it is a matter of their internal politics, how they negotiate, what kind of bargaining takes place there both within congress and between congressmen and the presidential administration. so, i'm just going to, you know, explain... in more detail for our audience, there is no american political disputes about aid to israel, but there is a dispute about aid to ukraine, what size, how much, when, in what term, and now the white house is trying to combine all this into one package and vote, so to speak, but do i understand correctly , that until the house of representatives elects its speaker, no voting will take place at all, that is how it looks, that is, now this crisis and this issue, it is actually focused on a certain internal crisis in the house

of representatives, so we will see how events will develop , here it is obvious that is imposed that the presidential elections in the united states are approaching, and also that, well, if you trust the polls that are coming in now, public support for ukraine is partially decreasing, yes, that is, some time has already passed, it is not clear how much this the war will drag on, and here it is worth noting that this formula , by president biden, that ukraine will be supported as much as it is needed, it is somewhat blurred, and for many us citizens, this kind of infinity of help, it is actually interferes with formulating any specific opinion regarding the support of ukraine, that is, if the president said that until ukraine wins, and in

order for it to win, it is necessary to provide a as soon as possible, this is somehow a clearer message, yes, and this is a long-term, stretched formulation, that as long as it takes, how many 10 years, 20, yes, this is a little alarming to such an average... my citizen, that is, you should not consider this, this decline in support for ukraine, as only the reluctance to support ukraine in principle, i will tell you that here this thesis, we will to support as much as necessary, it also worries the average citizen of ukraine a little, well, who follows this topic, i just want to support your thesis about the drop in support with numbers, it was a poll that reuters wrote about, so these are the data for last week, as of last wednesday, the poll showed that only 41% of respondents

agreed with the statement that washington should provide weapons to ukraine, while 35% disagreed. if compared with the may survey, then 46 americans supported the provision of weapons, and 29 were against. as what do you think will be the future of this dynamic? i'm interested, well, that is, the downward trend is obvious. yes, support, in the usa, well, from the usa, ukraine , ukraine with weapons, but i am interested to actually see whether the events in the middle east, or the events in israel, again, the renewal of this, well, these horrors, yes, crimes, against civilians population that we see in the middle east, or would it again restore interest in general in these events also in ukraine? yes, because we see a very similar picture in the middle east which pictures that have also entered

the infospace here in the united states already. a year and a half or more, yes, that is, it is quite possible that the events in the middle east will increase interest and increase support , regarding ukraine as well, do you think so, or maybe on the contrary ukraine will have to compete with israel, for attention from the usa, and possibly others donors, and i understand that israel is out of competition, i do not think that there will be competition here. and here it is obvious that the ukrainian diplomats should try not to bring this topic to such and such terms, yes in these definitions, i.e. either we or israel, here it is necessary to rally together and use this unity, unity in the fact that we protect our land, our civilian population, so we

are actually fighting on the same front. together, together with israel, i think that such and such a message would be more appropriate here. i will remind you, we, i, i reminded you about this yesterday, but i also noticed that today, when volodymyr zelenskyi was in brussels, he repeated for the second time, for the western audience, this thesis that hamas in israel is doing the same thing as russia is doing in ukraine, that is, volodymyr zelensky is trying to put an equal sign between russia and hamas, but i'm not sure if washington sees it the same way, that you...' to what extent is this a correct communication strategy on the part of the ukrainian authorities? well, obviously, these are quite unequal international actors, yes, these hamas militants, obviously they are very well armed, yes, they support them, the iranian government supports them, including, yes, they have

a very extensive network of their own, their representative offices and agencies, yes , around the world, but this is not a state, well, with the world's second largest army in the world with nuclear weapons, that is, here, here it is not entirely correct to draw such an equivalence between those two actors, but i think that what president zelensky means is that some such axis is being built well, the actors who absolutely level any standards leads. hostilities, any norms for the treatment of the civilian population, yes, this is russia, iran, including hamas and their various proxies, and perhaps china somewhere in the future as well, yes, that is, here it is a question of not only of the conflict itself, and how that actor behaves, actually already in

combat, and how much he despises any rules, the rules of behavior in war. i have one last question, and it's about the election in the united states, right? you must have heard, a few weeks ago, i think it was a week or two, andriy yermak invited all republican candidates who intend to fight for a seat, for the status of a presidential candidate, to kyiv. obviously, we are talking about more of those who are radically determined to continue aid to ukraine. well, how about you have now assessed the communication, or the desire for communication, of the ukrainian authorities with such republicans as donald trump or ron desantis, or ramaswamy, also, by the way, that ’s enough, radical messages about ukraine are coming from his mouth, and what should it be now this communication or relations, what kyiv could do now to turn it not

against itself, but, so to speak, to strengthen itself. those republicans who are still criticizing aid to ukraine? well, the invitation to come to kyiv is the beginning. it is difficult here to orientate, in fact, what can be done in this , at this stage in the election race, in order not to present ukraine as one that embraces one of the sides in the internal affairs of the united states, that is, here it is necessary... very to carefully maneuver, we know that in the end, very rarely the american electorate votes on the basis of foreign policy issues, it will primarily be a question of domestic policy, although it is already becoming obvious that the issue of us aid to ukraine , it is all it will be politicized, it will still become one of the issues

of the election campaign. and that's why