we are trying integration and will continue to try to walk normally and thereby help our poor people. remembering and honoring those who defend our state is the duty of every ukrainian, you can express your gratitude in many ways, with warm words, sincere hugs and, of course, donations to support the defenders. tetyana golonova, yulia belska, espresso tv channel.

join the ranks of the 100th separate mechanized brigade of the armed forces of ukraine. protect yours. the result of their work is our safety. they, the boys from volyn, proved that everyone can be a warrior, strong in spirit, they appreciate the ability to stand side by side with their brothers and sisters, all the way to holy victory. anyone who pilots a uav understands it. prepares, treats, repairs,

rolls kilometers of roads, fills piles of documents, significantly strengthens those who cover the enemy with heavy fire and return meter by meter our native land, join the ranks of the hundredth separate mechanized brigade of the armed forces of ukraine, let's keep the line together. greetings espresso viewers. today we have a special guest. a real hero of ukraine, a soldier to the bone, lieutenant general serhii ivanovych naev. mr. serhiy, i congratulate you. before we start our conversation, i want to introduce you to the audience. serhiy ivanovich was born in vinnytsia, studied at the moscow higher military school. after his studies, he served abroad and headed a motorized rifle platoon in germany. in ukraine, ukraine,

he gave more than 30 years of his life to the armed forces of ukraine. in 2014, serhiy ivanovych headed sector b. and this, friends, for a second, including the battles for the donetsk airport. later, sergey ivanovych from 2015 to 2017, he headed the eastern operational command. since 2000, the 18th deputy chief of the general staff of the armed forces of ukraine, and from 2020 to 2024, the commander of the united forces of ukraine. in october 22, serhiy ivanovich was named one of the most influential military men of modern ukraine. despite such a remarkable career, serhiy ivanovich, you were fired for some reason. and i... i remember on february 11

this year you wrote that you learned about your dismissal from the mass media, how did it happen? well , it turned out that my position is subject to replacement by higher officials officers and belongs to the appointment of the president of ukraine. i arrived during the performance of one task, and i was sent... a messenger message that a decree had passed on my dismissal, before that , my management did not hold such conversations directly with me, and i later clearly proved to the management that i i would like to continue military service, as long as the war between the russian federation and ukraine continues, every military specialist should give yes... to the defense forces, i

remember, in january 24th, you invited media to show. training and preparation for possible invasions from the north, it was in volyn, then it was in zhytomyr oblast, i went to this shooting, and i remember, i don't know if it took place, but it was also planned in sumy oblast, at that time it seemed strange to me that such media activity, and now that we know that you were fired shortly after that, it occurred to me... that you, if you did not know, at least suspected that you might have been fired, and therefore decided to report to society about what now at the border is happening, or this yes, the fact is that after

completing tasks in the east of our country in june 22nd, i took over responsibility for the north of ukraine, well... work on preparing for defense began, when i took over the northern operational zone it was not so many anti-tank mines were laid, there was a lot to work on in terms of defensive lines, and it was also necessary to control the state of training of the troops, and my attention was focused on these tasks as the commander of the operational-strategic group of the battalion. north, that is, it was the work that was directed in order to increase our capabilities, our direct defense capabilities. as for the coverage in the media, it was due to the fact that every ukrainian

who lives in the territory of volyn, rivne, zhytomyr, kyiv, chernihiv and sumy regions, as well as the bogadukhiv district of kharkiv region, he... understood that there are defense forces here , that the defense forces are strengthening defensive lines, positions, carrying out demining of the area, and also carrying out training of troops, so that every ukrainian is sure that he reliably protected, i believe that strategic communications, which are components of the comprehensive support of any military operation, should also be developed, and communication strategies include work with the media, therefore, in military affairs, all aspects should be given their due . mr. sergey, why do you think you were fired? well, there are reasons on which

decisions were made, and decisions were not made by me. why were they fired, or why were they given the opportunity. in the future to be in the army at the disposal of the minister of defense of ukraine, this all decisions of the military leadership. i am a soldier of my army, i, when the enemy's aggression against ukraine continues, my place in the armed forces of ukraine. could it be somehow related to zaluzhny's resignation? well, there were rumors that there would be a change of command in... in military affairs, well, there is no such understanding as a command, a command of a dedicated person there or a command of another military leader, there are regulations on military service, all military personnel must serve in accordance with these norms and rules that have long been prescribed, if a different decision is taken,

as a military man, i have no right to discuss it, i have to fulfill it, but my desire is to serve the ukrainian people. summing up this moment, no one came up to you and said that serhiy ivanovich, we want to dismiss you from the position you hold, such issues were not discussed with me, of course, what is your current status in the armed forces of ukraine? i am a serviceman of the armed forces of ukraine, an active general, i am at the disposal of the minister of defense of ukraine and i perform tasks that... are assigned to me by the general staff armed forces of ukraine. that is, we can now calmly talk about the situation at the front? well, don't worry, we can talk about any topic, but sometimes there are moments that

are due to the appropriate mystery. therefore , looking at questions, but i am always open to communication with the media for more than a month. operation in the kursk region. we advance on the enemy's territory, but retreat on our own. i want to understand. to what extent it is justified, what is the reason, what is the purpose of this operation, would it not be more expedient for these forces that are now are used in kurshchyna, attract the east of ukraine? well, any military operation, and this one in particular, comes from a political goal that is determined. this political cop was voiced by a councilor. mykhailo padeluk, later the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of ukraine, he outlined the strategic tasks

of the kurdish operation, directly, whether it would be appropriate to use these forces in the east of our country, it was decided by those military leaders who made strategic decisions in order to achieve political goals is it appropriate or not? let's put it this way, the best solution that will lead us to total victory, such solutions, they are limited by resource provision, resource provision, first of all, this is the latest technological weapons, military equipment, and accordingly prepared and trained personnel, which is necessary for the ukrainian army, therefore if such a resource is sufficient, then we will win... and in all directions, but now the relevant military leaders have made such a decision,

it was announced that this military operation should distract the enemy's forces from the east, to at present, such a significant transfer of enemy forces from the east has not taken place, a little more than 40 thousand enemy personnel have been transferred there, but we will see how it ends. this operation, will we believe in the armed forces of ukraine and in the wisdom of military leaders? one of the main problems in ukraine today is mobilization. how do you assess how it is going now, how it was going in 23? well, now there have been corresponding changes in the legislative field of ukraine. changes to the relevant laws were adopted, in accordance with which it is currently underway

mobilization, that is why the mobilization in the 23rd and 24th years is different, by my profession and training i am a commander who was responsible for the use of the armed forces of ukraine, therefore the issue of mobilization, equipment, staffing with military equipment does not belong. within my competence, but as a specialist in the military field, i can answer this by saying that the differences are due to changes in legislation, and what would you like to change in mobilization? we need to make sure that every ukrainian follows his calling composition of defense forces, so that everyone who joins the ranks of the armed forces of ukraine is motivated. and other constituents of the security and defense forces was the same as at the beginning of the invasion, when at

the call of the heart, queues were searched at each rtcc, but this is a complex work, on which not only military leaders should work. there is a separate problem with the training of the mobilized. sometimes there is information that people are not prepared enough. by the way, do you see this problem, and if so, how to solve it? and when it started large-scale invasion of the enemy, then first of all trained personnel came to the ranks of the armed forces of ukraine and other components of the defense and security forces, they were reservists of the first and second ranks, and in the future they also went. who had experience of service and they were trained before that, training in

training centers, depending on the level of training they had before mobilization, it had a different duration, but the majority of those who were called up for military service on mobilization were of better quality in terms of training, the war is on, now... those guys which have been performing tasks since 2022, have suffered losses, and other mobilized military service is coming to replace them. indeed, these are not always those wars that had appropriate preparation and were mobilized at the beginning of the war. now the decision has been made by the commander-in-chief of the labor forces of ukraine to increase the training period of these servicemen. in general, in the training

centers, it is every type of the armed forces of ukraine, as i said. previously they have their own training centers subordinate to them, in which they train personnel for ground forces, for air force units, for naval forces, special operations forces, i.e. each commander, he organizes the appropriate training, and the general staff of the armed forces of ukraine carries out the general management of these processes, therefore... and the criticism that is heard, it it reaches the relevant commanders, the relevant commanders, and they are constantly working on it, so there are indeed problems, because the mobilization is ongoing, people are different, with different levels of training, with different perceptions, psychological readiness for conducting combat actions, and all these problems are the daily concern and

duty of everyone who works. in educational centers, this work continues every day, it must be better, they are working on it, and are they working on it and do they hear criticism of the problem of rotation and the fact that people who go to serve, they still do not have an explanation in any legislative document, how long to serve them, and of course this is a problem, because it is necessary to always tell the truth. the truth to those personnel who are mobilized, directly in the military units, when it is carried out the use of these military units, this is already a secret that was previously under my command, for those commanders who are conscious, who understand the personnel, who strive to preserve the personnel, they

organized rotations directly during the execution of tasks, there were appropriate... units , who performed tasks at the front for a certain period of time, then they were dismissed for rest and for further training in physical units, and this is the way such work was carried out, i would like to note a very good such organization of work at the time when i was performing tasks in the east, it was in the 57th separate motorized infantry brigade, the same was done in... in other brigades, that is, the commanders worked on it, everything that exceeds the level of application is another responsibility of other officials , in order to make it so that there is a rotation for all the personnel, it is necessary to have

a much larger number of relevant military units and units, partially ... it is done, but for a purely larger number of personnel, in order to do it in the composition no rotation inside of a military unit, and as part of a rotation of military units, this requires a larger number of military units themselves, and this again depends on mobilization, so military leaders, commanders of battalions, brigades, they perform this during combat missions. well, the military leadership from the presence of those brigades and battalions that carry out tasks not in hot areas, they also take measures regarding rotation, not everything is good, there are problems, but believe me, they are working on it, trying to make it good, but the situation is what it is, what is needed to

help solve it, well, to help solve this situation, it is necessary to... create such a set of military units so that some fight and others recover, as we had, for example, when there was operation of the united forces, we had 10 brigades in the area of ​​the operation of the united forces, and the other 10 brigades performed the tasks of rest, rehabilitation and further training at the points of permanent deployment, two sets of troops, each rotation was for six months. you have completed the task for six months, you have been at the point for six months of permanent displacement, and from them your vacation, a month or 45 days or sick leave, that is, the entire social package. carried out, two sets of troops are needed, of course, mr. serhiy, i really want to ask you about the events of last year, about

the counteroffensive in the south, in june 22 of the year i, as part of the espresso film crew, got into advanced positions in the gulyaipil direction, we were in 300 m from the position of the russians, and i well remembered the words of the soldiers who were with us at the time, that the russians were very strong dug in and mined everything, it was the summer of the 22nd year, and a year passes, a counteroffensive is taking place in this direction, following the mines, the counteroffensive is going through all these powerful russian trenches and without aviation cover, i want to, i know that it is not. .. it's your responsibility, were n't you in charge of this direction at the time, but maybe you can explain why this operation was planned the way it was, and how would you rate its

effectiveness? and the effectiveness of this work can be assessed not only by me, but also by you, every everyday ukrainian, which is the result that concerns why so, we should all understand. that the offensive is usually very easy when the enemy is weak, this is what happened to us in the kharkiv direction in september 22, when the enemy was constantly advancing in the donetsk direction, he lowered his reserves from the north of the kharkiv region and exhausted these reserves, they were not there there was a time when our guys on bandera cars on... very fast equipment showed insane speeds of advancement of 60-40 km there per day, this was due to the fact that the enemy was weak, and

directly there the enemy was strong, he strengthened his defensive lines, he kept appropriate reserves there and so on, in general, in order to advance, i emphasize once again, or the enemy is weak. or it is necessary to make it weak, this is done at the expense of fire damage, when its enemy force, armored vehicles, and artillery systems are destroyed, and the enemy gradually reduces its combat potential, it becomes less, and then the advantage in manpower and means of fire damage on this direction helps, this... of course, it is better to make it so that you pass on that, on another direction, where the enemy is weak, but the enemy

always strengthens where we need to advance, where we need to be successful, he leaves weak places where the secondary direction is, and it is easy for our troops to advance there, why did this happen? there were not enough forces and means transferred to us, our partners, in order to fully reduce the combat potential of the enemy force entrenched there, it was necessary to have more means of fire damage, missiles, shells, air defense systems to close the sky, aviation, in order to , to create the appropriate ones. conditions so that it would be much easier to attack there than it was. didn't it make sense

to wait for the f-16? well, in military affairs there is such an understanding as objective reality, and it is necessary to take these actions on time. it was possible to wait another year, the enemy would have strengthened or increased his efforts there, because we know that the enemy does not mobilize, but he motivates his citizens with money so that they join the ranks of the armed forces, refi, and then the enemy would simply be outnumbered, have more defensive lines, and... all the more, that's why those who made these decisions took into account time, objective reality, took into account their possibilities and planned. so, to

do it on time, as it turned out, is another assessment, say, the commander who failed the operation and lost many subordinates should bear responsibility for it, if the claims that are put forward to him were objectively dependent, or were. or were dependent on the decisions he made? then yes, of course, and yes, if the commander is located and he has taken all measures, but the enemy has concentrated such the number of military forces, the available number of personnel and military equipment, he cannot perform a combat mission, then why should he be held

accountable. if the loss, if the losses depended and were dependent on the decisions made, yes, it is necessary, does it work today in our army? yes, of course, it works, we have law enforcement agencies of our state, they constantly carry out investigative actions regarding one or another actions, including military leaders, ivanovich, i am interested in your opinion, should ukrainians expect more in the near future any counteroffensive of our forces? yes, yes, of course, the military leadership understands that a war cannot be won by defense alone, so the appropriate forces, namely the reserves, are always being prepared, any military

leader is always preparing. reserves, additional forces and means that will be used in the future. i will emphasize once again that in order to advance, it is necessary to stop the enemy, to force him to exhaust his reserves, as was done during such a victorious and very emotional operation in kharkiv, when everyone was in high spirits mood, he just ran out. reserve, he removed all forces and means from the right flank, and there remained separate units of the so-called ldnr and units of the russian guard, there were also separate units of the armed forces of the russian federation, but they were few in number, and the third is to create an advantage, so before we advance we must to stop the enemy, we must force him to exhaust his reserves in one direction or another

and create an advantage in forces. means recently the dictator of the russian federation putin announced an increase in the size of the army, seems to be at 150,000, doesn't that mean he's running out of reserves? the russian federation has a considerable mobilization resource, in general, according to calculations, so that we understand, er, the armed forces of the russian federation can continue to conduct aggression against ukraine for years. but all the same, the russian federation faces problems, including the problem of recruiting for military service under contract those citizens who go to the ranks of the armed forces of the russian federation, they provide the leadership of the russian federation, both regionally and the state as a whole, significant financial.

motivations for these occupiers to join the ranks of their army, but all the same, on a voluntary basis, under different sauces, what they do there is all the same, it is not unlimited, when, someday, the time will come when they will be forced apply mobilization next, therefore increase. the armed forces of the russian federation do not bring anything good for us, for ukraine. and how they will cope with this task, we will see. we should always strive to ensure that nothing goes wrong in the armed forces of the russian federation, so that we were successful, and they always lost. therefore, i wish that they do not succeed. how do you assess the situation at

the front now? these are directly to the east .