helps to understand the processes taking place in ukraine and the world. vitaly portnikov, khrystyna yatskiv, andriy smoliy and invited experts based on facts give their assessment and forecast of the development of events. if you want to understand how our today will affect our tomorrow, watch the saturday politics club, every saturday on espresso. congratulations, the real front program is on the air and i, taras berezovyts, am with you. today in our program. chief of staff sirsky named the main priorities for the armed forces of ukraine.

russian mercenaries were destroyed in the north of mali pmc group wagner. the israel defense forces launched an airstrike on beirut. sabotage in france. who disrupts the olympics and why? and also the protests in venezuela and russia's military anti-western coalition. on july 30 , the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, colonel-general oleksandr syrskyi, during a conversation with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of the united states, general charles brown, said that the priorities for ukraine remain the achievement of air superiority and the expansion of opportunities to strike enemy targets, regardless of their location. the american edition of the wall street journal , citing its own... writes that the united

states has agreed to arm f-16 fighters with american-made missiles. more details about the situation at the front, further in the plot. the situation at the front remains difficult and tense. the russian federation is trying to advance as far as possible and seize new territories of ukraine. as of august 1, the enemy occupied timofiivka and advanced near krasnogory. panteleimonivka, ivanivka, zhelany, vesely and new york, the analytical channel writes about this deep state. military expert oleksandr kovalenko says that currently the most acute and extreme is the turkish-pokrov direction, which is for the occupiers a common plan for the 2024 offensive campaign. and the pokrovsky direction, separately, if we single it out, it is the most dangerous section of highway 05-11, along which the russians advance. movement, they, after

capturing the settlements on the progress, wolfish and cheerful, they try not only to advance, but also to expand the flanks, that is , the northern and southern flanks from 05:11, and in addition to everything else, they are trying to move along the southern part from luzovatskov along the kozeny torets river, and this is due to... the fact that in this way they are implementing the format of forming the northern face, the northern flank from 05:11, a-a , precisely in order to realize these goals, they were forced to suspend their, their movement and their assault actions in the area of ​​the uzdvyzhanka, i.e. in the direction of 05 04, therefore the cutting of the main logistical artery from pokrovsk to...

kostiantynka and yar times, for now can say that they have suspended. at the same time, exactly in the turkish-pokurovsky direction, the russian army is trying to implement several tasks at the same time, - says the expert. the first task is to reach the left bank of the vovchya river and the karliv reservoir south of 05:11, they did not succeed now, push to the left bank of the vovchya and in the novoselivka area. of the first umanskyi and yasnobrodivka, especially some phenomenal movement does not take place, in turn they try to fulfill the second task, this is the advance at 05:11 in the direction of pokrovsk, and this also requires them to use of the relevant resource, they have not left the goal of exiting at 05 04, so they keep a vozdvichenka to the relevant resource in order to initiate assault actions when it is convenient for them. and at the same time they try to press

in the area of ​​the turkish agglomeration, not the turkish one itself, only some assault units can break through there, which are immediately neutralized. but this also requires an appropriate resource, that is, the russian command is simultaneously trying to implement four combat tasks in the turkish-pokrov region, and they are unlikely to be able to implement the four combat tasks with the resources that are concentrated there in the near future, by the end of summer or there in september, and so on and so on. according to oleksandr kovalenko, the russians do not have sufficient forces and means to close... the issues with pokrovsky, vozdvizhenka, the turkish agglomeration, and turkestki itself by the end of the summer. especially since now the turkish agglomeration is entering a rather difficult period of assault operations for them, they are beginning to rest against local natural and also artificial obstacles. this is primarily if

we are talking about the southern part of the agglomeration, this is the new york area, this is the kryvyi torets river, and in addition to kryvyi torets, it is also... precisely the areas where the industrial zone is located, the industrial zone is quite difficult, such difficult locations for the russians to carry out assault actions the same applies to the eastern part of the turkish agglomeration. considering this, the expert believes that it is unlikely that the occupiers will be able to open the sumy and kharkiv directions as well. they will, as before, use sabotage and reconnaissance group, they lack even human. nor a mechanized resource, yes, we are now taking a strategy of defensive actions, we are now responding to our actions, they correspond to a defensive strategy, but at the same time we are exhausting the enemy, gradually from a defensive type strategy, we will move to a strategy

of offensive, counter-offensive actions, cautiously , step-by-step, but all this will depend on how the exhaustion of the enemy will occur and, accordingly, at what... precisely at which moments on which bridgeheads the system of counterattacks can begin, which will gradually turn into a full-fledged counterscum. on july 28, a rebel movement called the permanent strategic framework for peace, security and development, which operates in northern mali, claimed the destruction of dozens of government soldiers and mercenaries of the russian wagner group. later it became known... about the destruction of almost 80 russian mercenaries, including several commanders. the defense ministry of ukraine noted that after the events in mali , russia's authority on the african continent will significantly decline. more details about this incident in

our story. the tuareg rebels were defeated a group of wagnerites in the african republic of mali. this was reported by reuters on july 27. it is noted that during two days of fighting near the algerian border, the rebels lost two of their soldiers, and another 10 were wounded. however , dozens of wagner's soldiers and mercenaries were killed and wounded. as reported by unian with reference to the russian forces in the private military company wagner, they confirmed the death of their commander during the defeat of the umali column. fighters of the 13th assault detachment led the group from july 22 to 27. fierce battles with militants on the outskirts of the village of tin zautin serhii shevchenko was in charge of the call sign pond. on the first day, his group destroyed most of the islamists and put others to flight. however, the radicals were able

to regroup and increase their numbers to a thousand people thanks to a sandstorm. the death of nikita fidy, a well-known propagandist of the russian gray zone channel, was also confirmed. who went to mali to do a series of reports on the activities of the malian army. the russian media predict that 20 to 50 people could have died as a result of the fighting on the malian-algerian border russian servicemen. however, as the bbc writes, this number may be much higher. the bbc contacted the former serviceman. pmk wagner, this source says at least 82 mercenaries were killed. another person who was in malia, with whom the bbc used to communicate, stopped contacting him, a memorial candle appeared on his mother's page in the vkontakte social network.

on the second day , the losses in this african country will be actively discussed in chat rooms of relatives of former mercenaries. it is known that the malian rebels managed to damage at least one mi-24 helicopter. the main directorate of intelligence of the ministry of defense of ukraine also confirmed their involvement in the defeat of the wagnerites. thus, his representative andriy yusof stated that the rebels in mali received the necessary information that helped them to carry out an operation against the wagner pmc mercenaries, he told about this on the air of the telethon, the public reports. the rebels received the necessary information and not only the information that allowed them to conduct a successful military operation against russian war criminals. we will definitely not talk about the details right now talk, there will be a continuation. representative gur noted that now the world has seen the real potential. the army of the russian federation and the wagnerites. at a certain

stage, they developed very active activities in the african direction, not only with their mercenaries. they tried to solve geopolitical and economic issues, change or support certain governments. and today the whole world sees that this is no longer the same potential and russia's capabilities are far from the same. and this means that new orders and counting on them as a tool for solving problems in the region. will be less. yusov also commented on the position of the malian rebels to hand over the captured wagnerites to ukraine. he noted that this is sensitive information, but everything that ukraine does takes place within the limits of international law and the necessary procedures. the defeat by nomadic berber tuareg tribes of wagner's russian convoy was a powerful blow to the reputation of the russian privateer. which companies, and not only hers, but also the russian war machine in general.

the fact that the tuareg most likely used the help of foreign special services, which guided them and prepared this lightning ambush, it became clear from the very beginning. in the end, all doubts were dispelled after the official statement of the representative of the ukrainian military intelligence, yusov, that the turegs received the necessary help from the guru. that . it was possible to organize such a lightning ambush and destroy more than 80 wagner militants, including many leaders of this criminal group who participated, including in operations in the ukrainian donbas, is a great victory for the tooregs, who, as you know, are competing for the creation of their own state from pro-russian regime in mali. also, one should not discount the influence of france, which had... its representation here since the 18th century, and in the end, under pressure from russia,

was forced to withdraw its troops from all african countries. after 2021 , russia firmly took the place of the french. under the leadership of vatashko chovik wagner, yevgeny prigozhin, he managed to build a huge empire that drained gold, money, and drugs from the african continent. ticks, as well as diamonds, on which his whole was actually built a criminal empire, which later after the death of prigozhin began to be torn to pieces by russian generals, in particular, the already removed from his position the minister of defense serhiy shoigul. a powerful blow to the positions of the wagnerites may also lead to the fact that the leadership of this private military company will be forced to withdraw some of its mercenaries from the territory. of ukraine to strengthen its representation on the african continent. in any

case, ukrainian military intelligence won another important victory. and not only military, but also an image one, because, as we understand, war is not only a war on the battlefield, but also a war in the information space. in the evening of july 29 , the israel defense forces. launched an airstrike on beirut and kissed it. the target of the strike was hezbollah commander fuad shukra, who is believed to be responsible for the deadly rocket attack on the town of majaal hams in the dutch highlands. also, on the morning of july 31 , it became known that one of the leaders of the palestinian group hamas ismailani was eliminated in tehran, the capital of iran. this further increased fears about... looming war between israel and hezbollah and iran in addition to the already existing armed

conflict. more about the situation in the middle east further in our story. the israel defense forces, during an attack on the capital of lebanon, beirut, eliminated the most senior military commander of the lebanese pro-iranian group hezbollah, fuad shukra. the israel defense forces announced this on july 31 on x.'s social network. according to tzahal, shuker is involved in attacks on israel, killing children, and was responsible for hezbollah's modern weapons. shukar has led hezbollah attacks on the state of israel since october 8 and was the commander responsible for the killing of 12 children in majdal shams in northern israel on saturday night, as well as the killing of many israelis and foreign nationals. he was also responsible for most

of hezbollah's most advanced weapons, including precision -guided missiles, cruise missiles, long-range anti-ship missiles and uavs. israel's defense minister yoav galland announced the elimination of the top militant. the blood of many is on the hands of fuad shukr and said muhsin israelis tonight we have shown that the blood of our people has a price and that there is no place beyond the reach of our forces in this regard. israel struck the lebanese capital as revenge for. the killing of israeli children that happened the day before. so on july 27 , a rocket hit the stadium in the town of majdal shams, located on the dutch heights controlled by israel. children and teenagers were there, 12 of them died. israel blamed this terrorist attack on hezbollah, which has been constantly shelling the north of israel for many months. in

hezbollah rejected these accusations, saying that the missile was not theirs. at the same time, reuters reports, turkey has said that it can enter israel to help the palestinians. this was announced by the president of turkey, recep tayyip erdogan. we must be strong so that israel cannot do these things to palestine. just as we entered karabakh, just as we entered libya, we could do the same to them. there's no reason why we can't do that. we must be strong so that we can take these steps. erdogan did not specify what kind of intervention he is proposing. representatives of the justice and development party also did not provide details about erdogan's comments. israel, in turn, did not remain silent, as the politician reports, the minister of foreign affairs of israel, israel-kas, demanded to exclude turkey from nato because of their threats.

in the world, turkish president erdogan's threats to invade israel, his dangerous rhetoric. foreign minister israel katz instructed diplomats to urgently engage with all nato members, calling for turkey's condemnation and demanding its exclusion from the alliance. on the night of july 28-29 , unknown persons cut the cables in electrical cabinets, which resulted in damage to the network of communication operators in the territory of six departments at once. france, and even before that, on july 26 , on the first day of the opening of the olympics , a large-scale failure occurred on the french railway. france's national operator sncf has announced a series of intentional damages on three railway lines. in addition, it became known about a letter with possible traces of the plague, which unknown

criminals sent to the head of the ministry of internal affairs of france gerald de mardeno along with threats. french investigators are leaning towards the version that left-wing extremists are behind the sabotage. more on all this in our story. in france , acts of vandalism are arranged during the olympic games. thus, in nine departments of the country, unknown persons cut fiber optic cables that provide broadband services throughout france. this was reported to bloomberg on july 29. a number of fiber optic cables carrying broadband across france were cut overnight in the latest infrastructure attack countries during the olympic games. the french telecommunications federation said fiber-optic cables were cut in nine departments in total, including ardèche, haute, boujduron, drôme, araux, vaucluse,

marne, meuse and oise. it is noted that the provider used alternative routes to serve the client. although redirecting traffic may have resulted in slower speeds. other operators also said their networks were affected. they also work on redirecting traffic. a representative of the prosecutor's office of poryzh noted that law enforcement officers are analyzing the situation with regional colleagues. and although the olympic games were not affected by the damage to the cables, this is the second sabotage of french infrastructure in the last few days. on july 26, saboteurs cut and set fire to specialized kono fiber optic cables are essential for the safe operation of the rail network, as reuters reported that day, 100,000 people were unable to board their trains and another 150,000 faced delays but eventually reached their destinations. perceived attacks in on friday damaged infrastructure along

lines connecting paris to cities such as lille in the north, bordeaux in the west and strasbourg in the east. another attack on the paris-marseille line was foiled. on july 29, the movement of all trains was restored, french interior minister gérald armanen said that france is inclined to the possibility ... that far-left extremists are behind the sabotage of the railways on the eve of the opening ceremony of the olympic games, reported in reuters. we identified the profiles of several people - dermanein said to the french tv channel, adding that the sabotage had signs of far-left groups. large-scale sabotage that literally shackled france after the opening of the paris olympics. they also testify. about the failure of french counterintelligence, although a russian agent who worked under the cover of a chef in a

michelin chain restaurant, with the surname gryaznov, was detained the day before, french counterintelligence did not manage to prevent acts of sabotage and sabotage. whether the french leftists independently joined the participation in them is a question to which the french must give an answer investigation. however, no... it can be ruled out that they acted under the leadership of the russian special services. well, so far the summer olympics in paris have firmly earned the reputation of being the most scandalous. starting from the opening ceremony, which upset many christians around the world, and ending with the general background on security issues. many olympians were robbed, including members of the ukrainian national team. on july 28 , another presidential election was held in venezuela. after the announcement of nicolás maduro

as the winner in the country's capital, caracas, it began mass protests. the police and military opened fire. there are wounded and dead. according to information from the local cec, maduro allegedly received 51% of the vote. instead, his main opponent, edmundo gonzalez, and opposition leader maría corina machado said they had received voting results showing gonzalez with more than half of the vote and the real winner of the election. interestingly, these elections are part of an agreement between the united states and the ruling regime. last october, the maduro government and the opposition for mediation of the usa concluded the so-called barbados agreement. according to it, part of the sanctions were lifted from venezuela, in particular, on the export of oil to the united states. instead, maduro pledged to hold democratic elections.

sanctions were indeed lifted, but later the president of vnsl began to play tricks. on the one hand, with the help of administrative resources, he prevented the leader of the opposition coalition one platform, maría corina machado, from running in the elections. and corina joris, and also tried to mobilize his own electorate with the help of ura-patriotism, stating claims to the territory of neighboring guyana. such actions almost led to an open armed conflict between the two countries. many democratic countries in latin america expressed doubts about the fairness and transparency of the elections and called on the venezuelan authorities to provide written confirmation of the results of the vote count. what did maduro not do? it is not surprising that the election results were immediately recognized by maduro's old allies, russia, china, iran, serbia,

as well as the socialist regimes of bolivia and nicaragua. according to analysts of the institute for the study of war, the united states of america, russia is trying in every possible way to demonstrate its success in creation. of the anti-western military coalition allegedly led by her. this time, the celebration of the navy day was used for a more militant effect. how it was, further in our plot. russia used navy day to showcase relations with a number of non-western nations as part of efforts to create a purportedly russian-led group of nations to unite against the west. it was reported. institute for the study of war. ships of the navy, china, algeria and india took part in the main naval parade in

st. petersburg. and representatives of the 31st state, including azerbaijan, venezuela, vietnam, cuba, libya, myanmar, syria, qatar, uae and south africa, took part in the events in st. petersburg. analysts also note that russian deputy defense minister alexander fomin met with chinese navy commander hujong ming and myanmar navy commander wingtein to discuss further naval cooperation between these countries and the russian federation. and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov met with the minister of foreign affairs on july 28 of malaysia by muhammed hasan and agreed on the expansion of russian-malaysian diplomatic contacts. it is also noted that the russian federation has recently intensified its cooperation with a number of these countries, including venezuela, cuba, india and vietnam. as noted by the russian service of the bbc in the russian federation , there were no ships in the defense ministry at the parade until the day

that ukraine claimed damage or destruction during the last year of the full-scale invasion. during the broadcast of the main naval parade in honor of navy day, only two ships of the black sea fleet were shown. it was a corvette mercury, which from 2024 performs tasks at the russian military base in the syrian tartus and frigate admiral hryhorovych. but the black sea fleet itself was mentioned twice during the reports. fleet commanders to the commander-in-chief of the navy. according to the announcer of the broadcast, servicemen of units and formations of the black sea fleet were currently on combat duty to protect the southern borders of russia and were performing tasks in the course of a special military operation. at the same time, none of the ships, which according to the statements of the ukrainian side, were damaged or destroyed in the black sea over the past year, including forces contributed from other navies, has not been demonstrated. according to

journalists' calculations. since 2022, the ukrainian military has attacked more than 20 russian ships and auxiliary vessels of the russian federation, at the same time, the british ministry of defense confirmed that since the beginning of the war, ukraine has damaged or destroyed 26 ships of the black sea fleet of the russian federation. also in april 2024, the spokesman for the naval forces of the ukrainian armed forces, dmytro platenchuk, reported that during the full-scale invasion, the black sea the russian fleet lost about a third of its ships. if we speak in the language of numbers, we can say about a third, but a qualitative indicator is also important, so there is a lot to work on. first of all, this concerns cruise missile carriers, which the russians have in a dozen areas of the black sea. naval exercises conducted by russia have become the largest since 1970. it was then that

the soviet... and union held large-scale naval exercises dedicated to the centenary of the birth of the leader of the world proletariat vladimir ulyanov lenin ocean-70. however, the difference between training then and now is also striking. at that time , the naval forces of the ussr used about 100 warships. now their number has increased to 300. however, the main difference between this year's exercises and the previous ones is that the black sea fleet of the russian federation does not take part in them, and this happens for obvious reasons. more than a third of the combat personnel of the black sea fleet of russia were decommissioned by the ukrainian defense forces. in addition, the black sea fleet of russia was forced to completely leave the harbors of the occupied crimea and move to novorossiysk. the satellites also recorded the beginning of the construction

of a large russian naval base. on the territory of occupied abkhazia in ochamchir, where the russians plan to build a huge naval port that will be protected from attacks by ukrainian naval drones. dictator putin's main ambition is to demonstrate the ability of the russian navy to counter the combined fleet of the united states and its allies, primarily in the pacific region. it is where russia has its two largest. allies china and north korea. by the way, the russian and chinese fleets recently held a joint naval parade in st. petersburg, and also participated in a joint patrol off the coast of the philippines, which is the largest ally of the united states in the region, after japan and south korea.

i conducted this program for you. major of the armed forces of ukraine taras berezovyts.