it is somewhere around $500. during a day of work, a daylight, a group of pilots releases about a dozen of these drones at the enemy, then the cost is $500. guys, they are raising money for these drones on a volunteer basis for donations. in addition, the russians have learned to counteract our fp buckets quite well. by powerful means of reb, one of the drones, a group of cold fighters misses a few meters from the target, but already on the second attempt they hit the russian observation station by murom m, there to the right, i see, i see, i see, right in the eye, right in the eye, guys, right in the eye guys, right in the eye, from dawn to dusk , only this group of cold fighters fired 13 shots at the enemy. with the onset of darkness, the guys

stop working, because unlike the russians , the guys do not yet have shock quadcopters with night vision cameras and thermal imaging cameras. stanislav kuharchuk, vyacheslav romodan, vitaly bilskyi, details of the intermarathon tv channel, the only news. our stanislav kukharchuk wrote his material on the day of the armed forces of ukraine. as you can see, the soldiers celebrated the holiday under heavy fire on the battlefield, as did their comrades on other areas of the front. courageous, prepared, motivated, capable of mastering non-modern equipment in a short time, if only it existed. the armed forces of ukraine have proven that they can stand up to a stronger enemy, and kyiv is in three days and russia is here forever only to the long-winded slogan of propagandists. but was ukrainian like that? army at the beginning of the invasion, how

the war changed the army and whether all trends are in our favor, ihor levinok explained. technologies. one of the most noticeable changes: the number of military personnel has increased significantly. a full-scale invasion of russia forced military-political leadership to announce mobilization. according to the ministry of defense, approximately 700,000 soldiers are currently serving in the armed forces. at the end of 2021, there were 246,000 of them. we have. today, a massive, fairly massive army, which, uh, has, well, actually, only a few, a few countries in the world. weapons that were not even dreamed of, the large-scale invasion and successes of the ukrainian army accelerated the supply of weapons from western partners. the arsenal of the ukrainian army has been replenished with modern weapons on an unprecedented scale. from the javelins and

enlow to advanced hymers jet artillery systems and nasams arisa patriot air defense systems. the ukrainian armed forces have become a training ground, perhaps it sounds unfortunate from one side, but on the other side, there is no escape from it. a country that is waging a war, it is forced, of course, to become a testbed for testing new technologies and techniques. and we show that we are capable of doing a lot. serious steps forward and upward, in terms of mastering those techniques that exist and in terms of their modernization, in accordance with the changing conditions that arise however, even western experts note that ukraine's military capability is strengthened not only by the supply of western weapons, but also by the talents of ukrainian commanders. what we have already seen many times during this war. this is great general leadership, great civilian leadership.

extraordinary leadership at the tactical level in the ukrainian military, so we need to not lose patience. in addition to new equipment , the ukrainian military is also mastering new technologies. a vivid example is the war of drones. let's not forget that we have seen far from it individual cases when ukraine surprised with abilities that no one had even guessed about before, or was it considered that certain technologies are in the initial stages? developments. the most striking example is the sinking of the cruiser moscow. so we just have to watch what other trump cards ukraine has. during the year at the front, in conversations with army men, i asked them every time about the state of the ukrainian army, because who else can give a real assessment with an internal view. everything is not bad with us. this is for the country. everything is not bad with us. we are not perfect. in everything is not perfect for us in the war. in the rear, everything is not perfect. we have everything everywhere. ideal, because

we are at war with the second country in the world, i say, who thinks that they are bums, they are zero, they can't do anything, welcome to the pancake, the 54th brigade, after the start of the great war, the armed forces became an institution that enjoys the highest level of trust in ukraine. according to sociological data, 96% of ukrainians trust the army. it may sound trite, the army has joined the people. however, it is the army officers who emphasize that during the war with russia, ukrainian society created a certain aura for the armed forces and often has high expectations. society has inflated requirements for weapons. forces of ukraine. of course, everyone wants everything to end as quickly as possible, for the shelling to stop, for the boys to return to their families, but this is impossible due to the current circumstances. we

need a victory so that there is someone to celebrate it. weapons and weapons and the main potential of the ukrainian army are people, they plan and execute. both defensively and offensively. army men say that in order to bring victory as soon as possible, ukrainians should regularly replenish the army. you don't have to be to be indifferent and not entertain illusions that i have donated to the armed forces there, i am holding an economic front there, a cultural front there or some other, as it has become fashionable to say, you have to be honest with yourself, if you ask. to your children, you will be able to answer in the future, dad, and what were you doing when the russians came, without a doubt, the ukrainian army became one of the most capable in the world, some experts note, the zsu is far ahead, even from the average

nato army. ukraine showed itself to be very stable, extremely brave, but at the same time we have to be careful about everything and not by ourselves. yes, ukrainians fight well, and strangely enough, this also has problematic consequences, a citizen, after all, of any country in europe, when they saw that ukraine was repulsing the enemy, they had a different feeling that russia is not so terrible in fact, and we can easily handle it with one left hand or one little finger. one should not particularly worry about what is happening in ukraine, ukraine has stolen russia's weak points. after all, the great war with russia fundamentally changed the ukrainian army, and there are a lot of these changes. the armed forces, de facto , are switching from soviet types of weapons to western models, the management system

and the planning system are changing according to nato standards, the very structure of the armed forces is changing, where ukrainian soldiers have gained a lot of combat experience. ihor levynok, chernetska, bohdan savrutskyi, details, tv channel inter, marathon, edinnyi news. ukraine invited f-18 fighters, apache and black hawk helicopters, as well as transport planes to the united states. according to reuters , kyiv is also counting on several types of uavs and the tet air defense system. ukrainian representatives handed over the entire list to their american partners during the armed conference in washington. he followed her progress. anchenko, as well as according to the vote in the senate regarding the support of ukraine's own correspondent in america dmytro. let me remind you, the day before, there were not even votes for bringing biden's hundred billion dollar package into the hall, which also includes money for ukraine. so, how

serious is everything and most importantly, what are the prospects of making it to christmas, dmytro anobchenko is now in congress and will tell all the details. dima, i congratulate you, please give me a word. and sash, well , the main thing is that i hear here on the sidelines of the congress that there is enough time for the senate to vote, since there is still the whole of next week, before the senators gather for vacation. moreover, with regard to the vote that failed the day before, they say here absolutely openly that it is not about you and me, that it is not about ukraine at all, but rather about internal quarrels, you know, about such a political tug-of-war between the democrats and republicans, which has always been and, well, probably. it will always be, that is why i have to explain here that in order to approve this document , 60 votes were needed, fifty yeo-democrats, and i always said on the air that there should be no problems with voting in the senate, and i say it now, because there were many more republicans, senators, republicans than 10

pro-ukrainians, those who publicly said here on the sidelines, this is how we will vote, however, we must not forget that there is, in addition to the ukrainian part, the part for taiwan, parts for tel aviv, another part, exactly in this package, a part for strengthening the borders, this is a fundamental moment for the republicans, the democrats insisted that this money was not in the proposed document, and therefore did not gain the votes of the republicans. however, i am talking about this in such detail so that you and i simply understand that this is not about ukraine, this is not against ukraine, this is such an internal, intra-political situation, which in principle has a good chance of being corrected, even next week, there is such a small procedural trick , if you know how the regulation works, how if the rules work here, then you have to pay attention to it, the fact is that even the leader of the democrats in the senate ... at the last minute voted against this package, and this is a vote against, it gives him the opportunity at any minute to bring a new document to the

the senate is considering a document in which it is possible for the democrats and republicans to agree on the borders, most importantly on ukraine, and several sources confirmed this to me, there was no dispute at all, the dispute was on internal issues, that is, there are good chances, especially since, as confirmed in the white house , to the negotiations now president biden personally joined and had a conversation. were on the sidelines of the congress, now we have official confirmation from the white house, we can talk about it on the air, that the president personally holds closed meetings with congressional leaders behind closed doors, and even called another senator and convinced them to vote in order to support ukraine. i also want to say that the day before, president biden also addressed the americans, made a special televised address from the white house, where he spoke precisely about the ukrainian issue, about the need to support ukraine, and let's listen to a fragment. please, this cannot wait, congress must approve additional

funding for ukraine before it goes on christmas break. this is clear to everyone, and it is very important to take this step in the first place. it is clear that now more attention is on the senate, where they could not vote the day before, however, most likely, more questions will be precisely on the lower house, which is controlled by the republicans, on the house of representatives, and with it there is... one more moment, according to the schedule , i checked it, they had to go on vacation on december 24, well, i just looked at their schedule before the broadcast, i see that after december 17 , the congressmen have not scheduled a single meeting, that is, there is a feeling that they want to go on vacation a little earlier, this narrows the window of opportunity for that , so that the lower house could also vote for the ukrainian package, and in order not to depend on this probable possible delay, now... in diplomatic sources i even hear that plan b is being developed, and there are several components, and one of them - this

just to resuscitate lendlis, you remember that the congress just approved this document, but it so happened that with the beginning of the new budget year, its term expired, and now i hear that they are going to simply even, maybe in the next few days, renew the term of validity of this document in order for ukraine to have a reserve, well, i have to explain here, regarding lend-lease, i actually heard... both in the administration and in the pentagon that most likely this option should still be kept as a reserve, well, look, because the money that ukraine received under the program pda, i.e. by presidential orders , they did not have to be returned, the weapons that were supplied, ukraine could dispose of them and not even report what happened to them, if it will be with lend-lease, then it will be necessary to pay for what is supplied, if this the weapons are damaged somewhere on the front, then it will be necessary to report in great detail, to reduce the bureaucracy. that is, in the grand scheme of things, this mechanism lasted for a very long time as a spare, and now they want

to revive it, maybe i even hear that they should write down a list of what ukraine is lendlease can get it if, if this package is delayed a little here in the congress , well, there is another option, which i heard from the military, that the pentagon even thought about the possibility of redistributing the military budget, that is , some money that was supposed to be transferred to other genders for that , so that they can be used for ukraine. this does not require the permission of congress, it can be done personally by lloyd austin. that is, summarizing, well , the situation is unpleasant, of course, we would all like it, including me, to be faster, however the situation is not critical, and there are still good chances, there is still next week, at least here in the senate. next, president zelenskyy addressed both the senators and the representatives of the american defense industry, this happened just during the meeting that began yesterday, which continues today, and sasha, about whom you spoke, and at which the ukrainian side just in closed mode and voiced this arms

request, i would like to note that this arms request is rather for the future, i.e. not for the coming months, but it was really announced that ukraine wanted to receive, well, the president speaking, addressing the audience, just spoke about the need for this support, which cannot be interrupted, let's also listen to a fragment from his speech. i am also grateful for bipartisanship. the support of congress in both houses and for reliability in relations with the united states, and for the support of many americans. we strive to continue cooperation, we are interested in our common interests. efforts at the same time, ukraine does not want to depend only on partners. ukraine aspires and can really become a donor of security for all our people neighbors as soon as he can guarantee his own safety. we can really do it, it's completely realistic. well, as for the package, just these days the negotiations, in particular here in

the congress, were conducted by top ukrainian government officials and top politicians who arrived in washington. conducted negotiations with representatives of the senate, and with representatives of the lower house and even with the speaker mr. johnson, the biggest skeptic, what was discussed behind closed doors, what are the prospects, the chairman of the verkhovna rada told about this in an exclusive interview in our program, and just now, please watch the interview with him, there are all the details. the reluctance of the us senate to support biden's hundred billion dollar package at this meeting was not a surprise, even for the lawmakers themselves. after all, there were rumors that the republicans, due to internal quarrels , would not vote until the votes were cast, were on the sidelines long before the voting day, and as it turns out for the ukrainian delegation, which held negotiations on the capitalist hill, convincing them to support kyiv. all of them, democrats and republicans, are interested in the issue of ukraine decided before christmas. it is clear that

there is a whole series of bills, one or another , that are being submitted, they will not technically be supported there, but it is not ... that there will be no support for ukraine, so what i heard today, especially during the last meeting with speaker johnson, they are determined to solve the ukraine issue, because the support for ukraine is total, they are looking for a form in which this support will be carried out, i really hope that just before christmas they will find this form, because not finding it meant would give a false signal to allies in europe and moscow. the question is who will hear this signal, or will the boys hear this signal of support. on the front line, whether the ukrainian people will hear this , or whether this signal will be addressed to moscow, and putin will continue to do everything to pump up support for ukraine, i was assured by all my colleagues that support for ukraine remains a very important priority for the united states america. speaker of the house of representatives mike johnson, the conversation in the capitol of ukrainians was, in particular, with

him directly. on the eve of this meeting , he announced three conditions under which the lower house can vote, and the key one... among them he called transparency, that is, a clear understanding of how american aid is spent, and top officials flew to washington to ukraine just in time with clear proposals, such as this transparency, ensure accountability, because ukraine has nothing to hide. i explain to everyone that perhaps the most important thing that we have gained during this period of the war is the issue of trust in each other, and we are very interested in this issue not fading away, and therefore we are absolutely open, we want to be transparent on all issues, on reporting. according to approaches, according to our vision, according to our plans, according to the goal facing ukraine, but we, as you rightly say, that this is a two-way street, and the speed of the ukrainian army's advance depends on the speed of the transfer of appropriate weapons to the ukrainian army, and we are ready to visit for every cent invested in the ukrainian army. moreover, stepanchuk admits that his presence in the delegation, which includes

andriy yarmak, rustem umerov, and others government officials, this is a desire to show partners that the parliament... and he personally, are ready to be the guarantors of this transparency, regarding arms supplies and financial assistance. we have a whole series of new software now that allows all interested parties, both at the congressional level and at the administration level there, to control the spending of those expenses that are transferred to ukraine for military aid, for humanitarian aid, for financial aid, that's why i came here with a special visit so that they could see that i am the speaker of the ukrainian parliament. i i guarantee from the ukrainian parliament that this transparency will be at the highest level. as a team, that is, the parliament and the government and the office of the president, ukraine is also represented at the arms conference, which is going on right now, gathering both the american military and representatives of the defense industry of the united states, the level of representation from the us is very high. lloyd austin, secretary of commerce gina raimondo,

special representative for ukraine ms. pritzker, according to which the states are ready to create a single office, combining from all government structures in order, while the war is going on, to establish direct cooperation between kyiv and representatives of the military industry of america, and as a result, to accelerate the supply of weapons and establish joint production. the speaker of the verkhovna rada tells us the same thing. this is a defense forum, where we will specifically talk with the weapons manufacturers, with our other partners, about what exactly ukraine needs in order to change this game change, to change the rules of the game, because here... war, which is trying to impose russia's ukraine is a war of attrition, it is 100% not suitable for ukraine, that's why we raised all the questions about kams, and about petria. for added protection and a whole host of others, i am deeply convinced that these messages have been heard. the relationship with the united states throughout the war was and is a partnership, even with regard to

operations at the front. the pentagon advises, consults, offers certain plans, but the decision is always up to ukraine. the same goes for the broader picture, the strategic vision of how events will develop in 2024 both at the front and in the country itself. since congressmen are already eager to hear it from the biden administration. and this is a necessary condition to gather votes in the house of representatives, ukraine offers the white house to develop this plan together. i think it's time for both sides to sit down and come up with a common plan. ukraine is ready to present a part of its plan, how we are ready to move next year, so that there is complete transparency in terms of speed, in terms of required resources, because any process, it takes care of three main resource components, it is a resource of time. resource of finance and a resource for people. we are ready to write out each block and present it to our colleagues. ukraine provides issues related to

courage, courage, and human resources, because we have a highly motivated army, but at the same time, we want our partners to guarantee us all issues related to financial resources, weapons resources, and everything else. and then we will win the main resource, which is the resource of time. i think it's just that complex. that is why not only i am here today, but andriy, the head of the administration of the president's office, is also here yermak, here and the minister of defense rustem meru, in order for us to comprehensively explain to our colleagues the need for such a very important balanced approach. from washington. dmytro anobchenko, serhii koval, american bureau of the inter tv channel, united news marathon. support ukraine as long as necessary. this thesis is regularly repeated by western leaders in... in their speeches, if we talk about amounts, then at the beginning of the full-scale russian aggression, ukraine received almost 92.5 billion euros of military support from

partner countries. such information was made public at the kiel institute of world economy. however, recently, according to the data, er, according to their data, the level of financial aid has decreased significantly, while half of the budget deficit... the state plans to cover it precisely at the expense of foreign donors. what sums we are talking about, what we will do if we do not receive all the money, see further. ukraine's funds for the war, western funds for the country's viability. in this mode, kyiv has been cooperating with foreign partners since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of russia. last year, western aid for of ukraine amounted to 38 billion dollars. next, according to the ministry of finance, the budget deficit will be approx. 41 billion. the government hopes to close it with the help of external financing. ukraine expects 19 billion dollars from the european union, 10 billion from

the united states, almost 5.5 billion more from the international monetary fund. at the same time , the cabinet of ministers is negotiating financial assistance with canada, norway and south korea. ukraine will need all possible support from its partners. the ambassador of ukraine to the united states said about this on suspilnogo. oksana. we need funds from the european union, we need japanese funds, and we need funds from the international monetary fund. why? because we understand, despite all the absolutely heroic efforts of not only our defenders, our business, our cabinet of ministers, which is trying to collect this funding as much as possible, we understand that we have a funding deficit, which our partners help us close. a little less than half of the required amount from donors for the next year is the funds of the european union, which have to arrive within the framework of the new ukraine facility mechanism. this program of support for ukraine for

a total amount of 50 billion euros is designed for four years. the european parliament supported the creation of this instrument. now it's up to the eu leaders. so far, hungary is against it. the fate of this package will be decided by the european council in a week at the summit. it is necessary to look a little not only at... the west and the east, if we analyze the state budget of russia, which has already been approved, then in the 24th year they will increase defense spending by seven times a sevenfold increase in defense spending is absolutely a clear signal from the west that they are preparing for a long war not only with ukraine, because they fought us for two years with a different level of spending, but they are definitely preparing for... progress in other countries that including nato, and if , god forbid, this happens, then the countries of the european union,

the united states will pay... an extremely high price, which will not be in euros and dollars, but in the human lives of their soldiers. european leaders are making efforts to ukraine received the necessary funding from the eu for the next year. one of the options is to fill the aid package for other eu members without involving hungary. although eu leaders do not lose hope of persuading hungarian prime minister viktor orbán to change his position. last week, the head of the european council, charles michel, went to budapest. viktor orbán is meeting with emmanuel macron in paris tonight. if ukraine does not receive the necessary funds from the event, it will not be able to fight effectively - says lesya zaburanna. in any case, the government should close all protected articles of the budget, social expenditures, pensions, wages. plan b exists, but ukraine is not focused on it. we will probably talk about it, as i say, a professional plan, about redistribution

of the budget and it is possible. any military expenses, the funds that were provided for there, should be directed to cover the protected. in addition, these are internal borrowings, and this, strictly speaking, at the expense of own resources and reserves, which will lead to inflationary processes. in parallel with economic aid , western countries finance the support of the armed forces of ukraine. the governments of european countries increase national budgets taking into account these costs. the netherlands pledges 2.5 billion euros, norway - 600 million, denmark - 500, 2 billion 700 million, great britain. our strategic responsibility is, first of all, to support ukraine in this war, as long as it takes. russia is strengthening its position, trying to seize the initiative. this means that the situation on the battlefield remains very difficult, but this is not an argument against support, on the contrary,

it is an argument for more support. european union intends to create a military aid fund for ukraine worth 20 billion euros, designed for four years. it is also planned to be approved at the summit next week, subject to hungary's agreement. iryna ivanova, oleksiy shmatov, details, european bureau of the inter tv channel, united news marathon. and also about international support. qatar can become a mediator not only in the return of ukrainian children kidnapped by the russian federation, but also in the issue of the release of civilians. hostages and prisoners of war, this was reported in the office of the ombudsman of ukraine. it is through the mediation of this state that ukraine has already implemented the return of children abducted by russia three times, including the last eight small ukrainians on st. nicholas day. how do the children feel, do they have families and under what circumstances did they enter the territory of the aggressor country? about all this in an exclusive interview of my colleague yaryna markiv with

the representative of the verkhovna rada. of human rights dmytro lubinets. greetings, mr. dmytro. on st. nicholas day, ukraine managed to bring home four boys and four girls. the first question is, actually, do you know? you, how are the children in general? yes, i know, i personally met them yesterday at the border, talked with them, with their relatives, with their parents. when they realized that they were in ukraine, everyone began to feel as positive as possible. you know what... it's interesting, every child who came to us, passed this kp, let's say this, each one said: "good evening, we are from ukraine", each one, and immediately passed, started to communicate in ukrainian , did they have time have they already been examined by doctors? we returned to kyiv early in the morning today the children will undergo an examination procedure,

first of all, these are doctors, the second is communication with psychologists, and the third is communication with employees of our institution, with representatives of the ministry of social policy, that is, to understand what they need help with. have you already told your colleagues what is known in general about the families of these children, do they have families, are they from big houses, and under what circumstances did they end up on the territory of the aggressor's country? er, these are all children who have families, have parents, they ended up in the temporarily occupied the territory of ukraine, some of them were in the territory of the russian federation, one girl was even in the territory of belarus with her mother, again i cannot disclose the details, but i will say that they did not end up there out of their own will, but they all came home out of their own will , regarding orphans, the most difficult issue, and...