[000:00:00;00] a with a cruise from r t and the reuters news agency come under ukrainian artillery fire. the driver is killed. 2 rotors, journalists are injured also ahead of the program today, u. s. army and military a to ukraine, continued to increase. so to our concerns about what exactly is happening to worry shared by both republicans and democrats with the u. s. embassy in greece,

is accused of trying to pressure a local geopolitical level. as for, he published an article, criticizing athens for sending weapons with threats to africa as food security which could leave the continent without adequate access to brain and fertilizers. say's the head of the african union, rebuking the sanction slapped entre with career counseling program from today. a warm welcome to moscow on to the global use updates here on our t on unit o'neill. we begin with some breaking news this. our 2 people have been killed, including a child after an explosive device detonated on a beach in martyr you. pl lab is according to done yet the public forces. some local reports, however, say the explosion occurred in the see close to the as of style steel plant. at where the last, as you may remember,

of the ukrainian forces there recently surrendered to russian soldiers. we will of course, be keeping across the story and bring you any updates on it. ah, well cruise from our teeth, and reuters humping hit by you, creamy and artillery fire in the outskirts of the city of several don, it's your correspondent eager shit done. if he was in one of the cars targeted ah, ah, we're just about to move into the town of several dynette sk again. this is the latest town there was liberated and captured by the russian and the la guns. people's armies are here in dwelling little ganske people's republic. as we were about to move into and drive into the town. we were caught amid a shelling. there were 2 vehicles,

both civilian the 1st one there was there were our colleagues with the reuters news agency behind the wheel. a soldier with the acme, with a chechen act my battalion, we were moving, we were the 2nd vehicle following them. so again, both cars, civilian and so 1st we heard a couple of shells. a couple of shells landed a good few, doesn't meet his around does, so there was no cause for alerts. after all, this is a war zone. so these things, they happen. the 3rd one caught the very 1st vehicle, the one moving in front of us. we did see it. apparently it was a direct head. we saw a bright flash, the vehicle tipped over to the side and it was and it caught on fire was get caught a blaze. so are the driver, the soldier he died instantly right there and well a to the 2 of the reuters crew all of them, they were injured. luckily, nothing serious. one of them as a broken arm and another was wounded in the leg. but you have just talked to the minutes ago, in fact,

they are fine and they don't even need to be taken to hospital right away. they've told me they are going to la ganske and from la ganske they will move to dynette ski know themselves. so this is what they're doing, they're fine again. so there was, i mean, as fine as they can be. of course they have received injuries, but well, luckily, nothing serious. and i just want to stress and point out that are well, obviously the ukrainians, they've saw us, they saw that there were 2 civilian vehicles. go towards us was the town of oz, several the nets. and they were trying actively trying to hit our cars. it wasn't like they was shelling the general area we were with their target. and so well they succeeded a full ma gsa to the ukranian artillery artillery sports. as on those who pulled the plug, pulled the trigger, they did manage to catch to john less of a european news agency. reuters in the across has and they successfully had their

vehicle. will key of has suggested the new rocket systems, the u. s. is sending to the country cut have a range of 300 kilometers. that's despite the pentagon stating it will only hand over rockets limited to an 80 kilometer firing distance. who need to pick nationalist? good. do you remember how this will started them, but they were afraid to give us extra sting as extra javelins? and they said it was a precedent. they could never set. and now there are lots of than the stiffness that could be no token artillery and yet western artillery has now been received. so where the radius is 80 kilometer is there, you say it will be 300 kilometers in crimea, is ours, it's ukrainian. therefore, we will show crimea swiftly if there is such a need. this is considered strategic russian territory, and the fact that we hate crimea during the war, that was a little secret do. the last, a 300 kilometer claim is true, that when the russian borders city of brianna sc within range, as you can see here on the map for an edge on smell,

lynch could also be at risk. russia has repeatedly warned of consequences if such weapons are used to target russian territory. and just some background to this washington earlier agreed to send a new 700000000 dollar military, a package to ukraine, including a number of advance rocket launchers. but the, by that ministration said, it only agreed to supply rockets with a maximum range of 80 kilometers. have also promised that those weapons will be used to strike russia. that's according to the pentagon. wherever the u. s. invoice, ukraine has stated, washington will control the exact range of those systems. as president biden announced yesterday, a $700000000.00 security assistance package had been signed. this includes h, i m a r s long range rocket systems. this will help you craney, and forces to a more accurately but also have a longer range. the exact range will be determined by the ukranian forces. ah, well,

let's welcome live onto the program now. the co director of the international action center sort of flanders in new york start a welcome to the program. so as we just heard there, the ukrainian president presidential advisor hinting that key of me increased the range of a student to be supplied us rockets by 3 times. what's your sense about, is he just trying to be provocative towards moscow? is it a genuine threat? well, from the very beginning, every stage of this war, it's a proxy war. ukraine has no independence, whatsoever. proxy means puppet. and it's the us, it's pulling the strings in every pronouncement. but this will not change the military balance, no matter how many weapons are sent, at least so far. by every measure. the russian military response has

been consolidating the gains and don bass, perio po, see of arise, and so on. also the economic catastrophe that was promised that would pull russia down, lead to catastrophe, has not happened. instead of having a catastrophic impact in the european union and in the u. s. and globally. so there are a lot of predictions, a lot of promises being made. the weapons that are being provided at this time have a range of about 7, the kilometers. now it, those weapons, these systems, these multiple rocket launch system, you can shoot further if that's provided. but so far that hasn't been provided. i think there are threats being made to look, look strong, but we should know that it's the u. s. not ukraine. that decides in this war. and the just let me give an example. sure, of the war in yemen,

where the saudi arabia has purchase billions and billions of dollars of us weapons . and yet not one saudi technician, military person can fire those weapons, seated next to them at all times, must be a u. s. military contractor. they decide what's launched in yemen, and at the same time, the u. s. will put out statements decrying the terrible civilian toll and so on. but they're the ones who decide what rockets are launched. and the same thing is really true in the ukraine. they can sell those weapons pumping, more and more big super profit to be made by the arms contractors. but so far, those weapons have been quickly destroyed almost as soon as they are before they're even in need. another aspect about started. we heard us officials earlier saying it's impossible for them to track the weapons in ukraine,

and they don't know who end up using them. that must be a concern given the fire power of the new u. s. rockets. it's a very dangerous things and it does show how, how much the u. s. is willing to escalate the war to more and more dangerous dimensions. but i don't think it will change the military balance of forces within the ukraine. ukraine is not doing very well in this war, despite all the grand pronouncements but the danger of these weapons staying in region is enormous. it's enormous for all the possibilities of future peace and it should be clearly denounced and these weapons should be destroyed. hopefully they will be sorry many thanks for breaking all that done for us today. sorry, flanders, co director of the international action center live in rti. well, with more and more money and weapons service just been going through being promised

by the u. s. to ukraine, concerns are growing in washington about where it's all ending off, kill up and told me more. but that aspect earlier. i think if you were sending billions of dollars across the planet, we want to make sure it went into the hands of those you intended to send it to. however, spike getting reassurances from ukraine. the pentagon admit they don't really have a full truth plan about who will receive what's being sent and crank. risk of diversion is one of many considerations that we routinely assess when evaluating any potential arms transfer. ukrainian leadership have assured us that they understand the importance of accountability. we're not on the ground with them . and they're not telling us, you know, every round of ammunition that they're firing in at who and when. now that's a lot of assessing that could go on, but at the end of the day, many people consider ukraine to be one of the most corrupt nations on earth. and

many sympathetic voices to the united states and, and hostile ante. russian voices have said over the years that you bring his notoriously corrupt. so we have increasingly concerns of voices at this point about the amount of weaponry and the amount of money that's being sent in praying. elizabeth warren is the latest to speak of the u. s. senator, the u. s. government ascending billions and humanitarian, economic and military assistance to help the ukrainian people overcome, put, and brutal war. and the american people expect strong oversight by congress and full accounting from the department of defense. elizabeth warren has started speaking up and she's joined us. senator ran paul, a republican and we have a bipartisan call at this point for a, an inspector general to look into the dispensing of funds and weapons from the united states to ukraine. make sure they're falling into the right hands to make sure usa is not doing things it doesn't intend to do. this is some of the letter

that was put forward by both democrats and republicans expressing their concerns the sheer magnitude and speed at which the federal government is sending aid calls for robust oversight in terms of both span being in monitoring its use. as such, lawmakers should be working to ensure that there are guardrails on these enormous spending. packages such oversight would ensure that the billions of dollars that the u. s. is sending arrives in the hands of its intended recipients and does not inadvertently line the pockets of war profiteers who are seeking to use this war to enrich themselves. now it's not only concern about corruption and the siphoning off of bonds by corrupt officials. but another issue at hand is the issue of arm. now, according to the global organized crime index published in 2021, ukraine has one of the largest illegal weapons markets of any country in the world . and at least any country in europe,

and illegally traffic weapons or all across ukraine. this is what's been reported. there are 2 primary sources of elicit small arms and ammunition in ukraine. the diversion of domestic holdings and cross border trafficking weapons from eastern ukraine are becoming an important supply source for the black market. and there been examples of this already. one of the crime weapons used by the states and exported by the states around the world. the javelin has apparently been up for sale, illegally costing around $30000.00. and at this point, people are looking over the record. what happened in theory and what happened in iraq, what happened in afghanistan, and how so many of us weapons have ended up in the hands of terrorists, extremists that narco gangs and criminal element. there are some pretty legitimate concern here as more and more us money. and more and more us heavy weaponry is that to be delivered to the crane know another aspect of generally what we're talking

about here at nato is facing opposition to weapons supplies from an unexpected source. grief for a new poll suggest the majority of greeks are against arming ukraine. according to the survey by europe, ometer 60 percent of griggs disapprove supplying military equipment to ukraine. the spy dumps a deal between athens and berlin has been 9 states that handle greases all soviet tanks to kiev, which would then be replaced by new german warms. greece has made opposition, party is from the against the deal, claiming it could pose a risk to great security. the government must stop making decisions in secret, uncritical national issues even more so when the majority of the greek people are opposed to choices that pose risks to the country security and are contrary to our national interests or group of being making their feelings clear repeatedly over the last number of months about the government's approach to the conflict. it's seen some greeks block real lines and protest. athens also saw

a number of demonstrations with thousands of people condemning nato's policy. as regards agree on that comes of the u. s. is making attempts to influence opinion in greece. the american embassy has been accused of trying to pressure a local geo political analyst after he published an article and criticizing the government for sending weapons to keep. the author, paul, anton office, said he was concerned about the arms falling into the hands of fighters from the as of battalion who have oppressed ethnic greeks and more youthful. he also blame the government and its media for the countries media for attempts to whitewash the units. neo nazi ideology told us the greek ruling party is in turn, finding its approval ratings on the slide morning. busy the high line breaks or initially, again, sending them to you in a more recent all actually it's been discovered that 71 percent of great actually want the government to have a neutral policy. and unfortunately,

that has been completely thrown out of the window. they have not listened to the people and as a result, the ruling government, the government has suffered in the poll, is not, this is 33. the want to be very rational. you frame that we have to be very careful in balancing our own interest in our, in our own interest, considering very aggressive maybe that we have in 30 it's currently being underlined as we continue to focus on on ukraine. the tiny question we didn't grade was one that became very you became very heated within public schools here as well . mostly out of the west. 10 days before the war and new friends began, one great was shot, killed, and another great was any judge with a gunshot wounds, because they were speaking russian amongst themselves in the village of which at

the time, 10 days before the war restarted was on the on the sci fi on line, so there was shop on the alley and just for me speaking, rough mange. okay, now the story and a busy news day the turkish president have again taken aim sweden and finland for refusing to shift their position over. what he said is their support for kurdish militants, reggie ty, berta, one demanded, the nordic countries take a hard line on alleged terrorists and extradite them. if the nations want to join the nato alliance, but fin the unsafe, that's a no go. it is very important for us after applying for membership of nato to adhere to our values and principles on which we will not debate. we cannot extradite these people. our legal system does not allow it. nato is the security organization, not a support organization for terrorists organizations. how kentucky approve of swedish and finish native bids given that tara affiliates, freely robe and hold rallies, that the of you,

that widely held really in their turkey was rated re the to me earlier by journalist hello kaplan, who's of the few sweden and finland have always refused the here i turkey, security concerns until the needed something in return y p g to turn organizational d oh, shoot off the p k. k. they killed hundreds of turkish citizens and soldiers. so turkey is right about voicing these objections. unfortunately, and these 2 states continue to put on hardware, p k, k links, 2 days to extradite them. and they even a host the why fi using lead in their office, their official of the foreign minister and also other ministers own government. can they say they say that this is free? no expression, but i can for instance, another turns organization. i says,

all jellies. can they become m p 's that in sweden. so it doesn't make sense and it's kind of sounds like you were a he was equal critical concert. he now has the diplomatic and military, our political power to voice these objections more strongly because especially in the last cage and turkey is no longer the so called satellite states on the u. s. so she can understand her national inches more strongly. and i have to state that sweden and finland, they know about these objections for over a decade now. but they chose to ignore them until they are nato. been the sanctions being unleashed by the e. u. undo s against moscow, threatened to undermine africa's food security and leave the continent without adequate access to grain on fertilizers. the others, according to the head of the african union,

is currently on the visit to russia. this also sanctions against russia have made the situation worse because we no longer have access to grain, especially wheat from russia. and most importantly, fertilizer, which poses a serious threat to food security on the continent. what mackey sal had to say was pretty self explanatory. he blew out of the water. this idea from the e. u that the sanctions, i'm not having an issue when it comes to this food insecurity, that contents like africa are having at the moment. he said, yes, they are, the sanctions are causing a problem that aggravating the situation when it comes to the exports of grain and also of fertilizes. and what he's calling for is there to be a resolution to ensure that there isn't widespread famine across the continent. i mean, we just had figures the other day showing that some 17000000 people just caught. 3 african countries are at the moment in food insecurity. we know across the world that lumber is far larger than $323000000.00 individuals marching towards famine. so this is

a huge issue at the moment. we know that the problem has been exacerbated, not just by the sanctions, as we heard from the head of the african union, but also by the fact that there has been this poor rainy season in parts of africa . so in countries really concerned that this is a big issue that they can face this worldwide famine, and they really want something done about it. now, at that press conference that meeting today in moscow, president putin, at once again reasserted that for him that africa is an important continent. are still to roll africa. the role of africa in the international arena, in general, in political terms, is also growing. we believe the africa as a whole, and it's individual states with which we have traditionally very good without any exaggeration friendly relations. the whole of africa has great prospects and proceeding from this, we intend to further develop our relations with the continent and its individual states. so present cretin has previously said that he is willing to ensure that the grains does if the ports in the black sea,

but he has called on european leaders. dick ease the sanctions to enable that to happen. the eas says, look, there are no sanctions when it comes to russian ships that are carrying food or agricultural products, they can come to our ports. it is also said there are no problems with sanctions because the sanctions are impacting what russia can export to the e u, not 2 countries across the world. lavonne de leon has also made accusations against russia saying that it's using a blockade of the black seas. essentially black male and she's also accused russian military of lacing ukrainian fields with mine. so all of this has been rejected by moscow at they said yes. okay, you, kate, at the sanctions in the you only relate to the you. but as a result of that, russian ships can't get insurance, therefore they cannot make the deliveries. it said that the problem with the black sea is to do with minds that have been put in place by ukrainian military,

which has made sure that the shipping lanes aren't safe to get the ships with the grain out. so these are the issues as far as russia is concerned, and it's saying in the ramifications of the sanctions, i've just been far wider than expected. the reality is the 2 sides need to get together to find a solution to this. if you know a continent like africa is going to get ost food supplies, that it says it desperately needs joe biden could be facing an uncomfortable encounter on his upcoming trip to a number of arab states. the american leaders itinerary includes a stop over in saudi arabia, who's crime, prince biden, wants to make a pariah show. he was in fact murdered, and his member, i believe in the order of the crown prince. we were running sack and i can pay the price and make them in fact the prior they are

i have been engaged in trying to work with how we can bring more stability and peace in the middle east. and there is a possibility that i would be going to meet with both the israelis and the countries of time, including i expect would be saudi arabia, including that. if i did go. yeah, not an ice been raised a few eyebrows. washington doesn't have a particularly good track record when it comes to previous. it is, it's to saudi arabia with please for re add to all i puts falling on deaf ears on an increase in energy production is likely to be one of the top issues on the agenda again. now it says oil prices have stored in the u. s. some 50 percent since the start of the year. well let's discuss the ramifications. always a pleasure to welcome on middle east expert on the finder of the seriana analysis. i can work on marcia and welcome to you. do you think the saudis, we just heard it, there will be able to overlook president biden's offensive statements towards the,

the crime printed towards the country. and actually went by then was the candidate he bought to make saudi arabia as a major. they're perio, right? but when you follow the ministry media, they give you the impression that diesel statement came as a response to the destination of journalist german casualty. but do not says doesn't really care about journalists and the recent example. and the best example is julian assange, who is now a trip to be deported from the time of the written to the united states, to face over 107 years of prison time. right. i think the reason for this statement was because it's already invested. so much in foiling. the so called arm spring that started in 201-2011. that's a broad pro democratic party. most steam bothered forces to power whether in egypt better in tunisia and also in libya. but the time now has changed, and we are in 2022 and after the war in ukraine,

in february 2022. and with the increasing prices of oil, the united states has asked already. and the u. a and other goes one arc is to increase the oil production in order to decrease the, the prices of the oil. right. and we have to remember that there is a very important factor here. debbie is a congressional elections happening in november 2022. so by that wants to decrease the oil prices field then in order to solve some of the economic troubles that is facing tonight is due to the counterproductive sanctions and bending the direction . oh and it's returned also the work in ukraine. right. and all this investment there. so what i think is trying to do is to persuade, now, sorry, area to increase the, the production dramatically into extend that it goes back to the normal process. but in my opinion, the, sorry these may be learned in the past decades, although very late that the united states doesn't have really allies. and they want

to have subordinate states in the region. and they want to make dictates on them. and when we see 2 or 3 days ago when love visited, re add for the opec meeting, he said there was a very great corporation from the opic, but also in my open and deep inside when love of met, which is counterpart, decide the counterpart, the saudis, can touch and sends to different authority between the united states and russia. they can see that the russia is more reliable partner. and they can see that russia is aiming for cooperation and mutual and seeking mutual interest between both sides . instead of seeking just one side, it interests like the united states used to do. and this has nothing to do between the democratic party or the republican. both parties, disrespected saudi arabia in the past few years, starting from trump, who was mocking and loving saudi arabia for paying billions of dollars for the americans to buy a weapon to be. and then the americans also push saudi arabia for work in india.

and in order also to have so much trip to saudi arabia. and now as we can see, americans aren't supporting disorders again in this war. and they asked us to for a cease fire. so my opinion that the saudis will try to diversify do strategic partnerships between the americans and the, and the russians in disregard. yeah, i don't think what a difference a year or 2 next, because as you've been going through, mister biden had vowed to make the kingdom pariah. but now he's praising ria, he's initiating talk. heidi rates, jewel biden's chances of success to work with these talks. actually, joe biden is going to saudi arabia to persuade mohammed ben solomon in terms of the war on, in ukraine, the political position of, sorry to be and also to you to increase the production of the oil. i think he has a little chance to pursue it. has been said, man, in terms of increasing the oil production in a dramatic way that i can the prices go back to the know to, to 50 or $70.00,

right. in my opinion, the sororities and the mirror is in particular, they are also waiting for the congressional elections in the united states. and the kink, in my opinion, if you follow the influences, for example, in saudi arabia, those who are supported by, by the state. they think that the republicans and trump could come back to power in the next elections. therefore, they are not going to seek the strategic partnership into extend with the united states that they can be full later. because in the past years, we have seen that the united states isn't reliable partner and they were no leader in the region, especially in the middle east and not africa. who was very good. who was an allied with the united states and they all fell after some time because we're during the times of hardships united states hasn't protected this conscious. and i think it had been selma. now the fuse to increase the production of the oil. there will be