.— chaos mode, really. john spencer, thank ou chaos mode, really. john spencer, thank you so _ chaos thank you so much _ chaos mode, really. john spencer, thank you so much for— chaos mode, really. john spencer, thank you so much forjoining - chaos mode, really. john spencer, thank you so much forjoining us i chaos mode, really. john spencer, | thank you so much forjoining us on newsday, and of course much more about this story on our website, including the set of maps which show how russian forces have been tightening their grip on the besieged city on mariupol. bbc .com/ news, or download the bbc app. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk, starting in england, where the nhs has said patients in waiting rooms are now no longer required to socially distance from each other. managers said the rules needed to adapt with covid, but that people in hospitals, doctor's surgeries and emergency departments in england would still be encouraged to wear face masks and practise good hygiene. the price of many off—peak rail tickets is being slashed over the next mont

john spencer and urban warfare specialist with the madison policy forum. thank you very much for your time and for your insights. thank you. ah. the united states has announced a new round of sanctions against russia for what it calls war crimes in ukraine. the main targets are russian banks, but the measures are also aimed at former russian president dmitri mad va death and members of president vladimir putin se family u. s. president joe biden described the measures as devastating and the white house as more measures are in the pipeline. the european union is also toughening its sanctions against russia in response to killing of civilians in boucher these pipelines are russia's lifeline, delivering gas and oil from siberia to europe. russia is earned a 1000000000 euros a day by supplying energy to the e. u. since the start of the war, ukraine's president is called for a stop to all energy payments to russia, to drain putin's war chest, a message under consideration at the european parliament in strasburg. there the u . s. provides us with at least additi

for more last spring and john spencer, he's a retired u. s. army major and an expert on urban warfare. he joins us from colorado springs and mr. spencer, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. let's start with what is coming to light out of boucher. what do you make of the killings of civilians there? yeah, to be frank, i'm still shaken from what i'm seeing there. i mean, i've been in war of study war. don't let somebody tell you, this is just what happens in war. i don't even think war crimes. i know me. it is war crimes under the law of war that truly russian doesn't fall. but this type of intimate killing, the tying of civilians hands bind their back and shoot them in the head as an old soldier, i know that's a very intimate evil and not a rogue unit. like, so don't let people tell you. this is just what happens is we're rush it is, this is genocide and that's what ukrainian officials have been saying and they are concerned that we're going to be hearing more of such atrocities and other areas. let's move on to the military aspe

john spencer, from the modern war institute at west point. thank you. ukraine has captured victim adventure co considered to be russian. president putin's closest allied ukraine in an operation described by security services as lightning, fast and dangerous, but via choke has already been placed on the house arrest on charges of treason. he could now be part of a prisoner swap. but a once high profile politician now ukraine's most high profile prisoner president val odom, is the lensky released pictures of victor med that took in handcuffs as he announced the news of the arrest last month. the ukrainian government suspended medford chuck's opposition political movement. he had taken an anti e use dance and wanted closer ties to russia. in january, the us put him under sanctions accusing him of plotting to replace to lensky in the wake of a russian invasion. he was evidently very close to the russian precedent. he even claimed putin as his daughter's godfather. med. that shook had grown rich from russian oil interests and his closeness to the

joining us to speak about this retired general john spencer and then russian operations. thank you to both of you for joining us. john spencer, i want to ask you, still infamous to this day, 20,000 polish officers killed by the soviet army. we talk about that as a war crime of historic proportions. now we look at ukraine in the year 2022 and getting evidence from bucha to mariupol of war crimes or at least alleged on a similar scale. is there, general spencer, a moment at which the u.s. and nato say, this is a red line, we have to act more directly? >> yeah, i wish, i would hope so. especially the united nations and the world. how many times do we have to watch on our tvs, even originally the weekend, the bombing of a train station, no military in sight. just a lot of civilians and written out the children for the missile. i feel the anxiety of what president zelenskyy is talking about, the time is right now to help. if help doesn't happen now, time. >> we hear ominous warnings about what's to come in the weeks ahead, we hear the commander on the ground in eastern ukraine

army general john spencer, the carom of urban warfare studies.g two combat tours in iraq. he's also the author of the book "connected soldiers." major, thank for being with us today. i want to get your take on what's been going on. you and i have been talking before the war started and you were talking about ways ukrainians can protect themselves, particularly in urban warfare. now overnight we have seen what has happened in the suburbs of kyiv. the russians have left, and what they have left behind is remarkable evidence of war crimes and atrocities. how does this change your thinking if at all? >> it has to change everybody's thinking, ali. this isn't -- i studied urban warfare, been in it. this isn't bombing of civilians that can be argued away as military targets. it takes an intimate special kind of evil to wrap the hands of a civilian and shoot them in the back of the head. war crimes is not the word for me. it's evil. if we don't stand up -- i'm speaking for myself as a u.s. citizen -- if we don't stand up, why are we a superpower? this is

joining me now, john spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the madison policy forum, author of "connected soldiers." thank you for taking time to be with us. i want to start with the radio intercepts by german intelligence. early this week, ukraine's security service also released audio recordings between russian soldiers in one example a russian soldier identifies two civilians traveling in a car. he radios that in. the order comes back effing kill them all for eff sake. so putting all this together, does it now appear that the russian military had some kind of premeditated plan for mass murder of ukrainian civilians and to commit atrocities on this sort of industrial scale as opposed to a few poorly disciplined road soldiers? >> yeah, in my opinion, as an old soldier and leader of men in combat, i absolutely think this was an organized genocide in places like bucha. i mean, the -- you fight disinformation with facts and that's what the world is doing and what happened this morning at the united nations was amazing. and you -- you fight this disinformation. these are -- i don't

let's discuss with major john spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the modern war night and cnnst colonel cedric leighton. colonel, your reaction to general milley there, calling the greatest threat to peace and establishment in europe and perhaps the world in 42 years of his service. do you agree? >> i do, ana. it's one of the statements that the general could make. when you look at atrocities in ukraine, what you're looking at is a complete game-changer in not only the way we're going to be reacting to this war but also in the way these wars are fought. so it's going to require a major relook at the way we do things and a major relook at how we posture our military for these kinds of conflicts. >> what do you mean it's going to be changing how wars are fought? >> well, i think one of the big things, ana, we're looking at here is not only do we have to worry about counterterrorism like in afghanistan and iraq, but we have to be look at places in europe, on broad planes like this, where we thought this kind of thing was not going to happen because we had assured peace after the

and joining us now is retired army major general john spencer chair of urban warfare studies with theldiers, life, leadership, and social connections in modern war. what is your reaction to this reports tonight about this flagship of the russian fleet. ukrainian thing, they attacked it, they hid it. russian saying that there was, there are reports used to claim that there was a fire on board, not saying with the origin of the fire is. but both sides seem to be agreeing that that ship is out of this war. >> yeah, i think it's huge lawrence. i mean it would be the biggest loss of the russians since they lost the war for kyiv. and there's one thing that i find interesting, the russians have lied more than they told the truth. and it's a really funny thing that i like that the russians are lying, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying but they still they lie. so i actually think that the ukrainians did take this down with a neptune missile. and possibly at great loss of life. not evacuated crew members. >> and what does it mean in terms of ukraine's ability to operate in t

major john spencer, kim dozier, i appreciate it. thank you. >>> moments ago splashdown. landed off the coast of florida. more on that ground breaking mission just ahead. >>> plus we talked a lot about our physical health during this pandemic. what about the mental impact? a new study showing the rate of suicides grows among adolescents. we have the latest. this is lily. when you see things differently, you can be the difference. ♪ capella univerty sees education differently. our flexpath learning format helps you control the pace and cost of your master's degre okay eryone, our mission is to provide complete balanced nutrition for strength and energy. woo hoo! ensure, complete balanced nutrition with 27 vitamins and minerals. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ ♪ no matter who you are, being yourself can be tough when you have severe asthma. triggers can pop up out of nowhere, causing inflammation that can lead to asthma attacks. but no matter what type of severe asthma you have, tezspire™ can help. tezspire™ is a new add-on treatment for people 12 and over..

ambassador to ukraine and retired army major john spencer. he's the chair of the urban warfare studies with the madison policy forum. gentlemen, great to have both of you. major, i want to start with you, because today we heard defense secretary austin say that the u.s. wants to see russia weakened to the point where it can't launch any more of this type of invasions, but can i just pull up for everybody the military power that russia still has as far as we know and how it compares to ukraine's, because i think it's so stunning. in the 2021 budget, ukraine had basically $4.7 billion in their budget for their defense. russia has $45 billion. active personnel, ukraine has 196,000. russia has 900,000. armored vehicles, ukraine has 3,300. russia has 15,000 armored vehicles. look at combat aircraft. 132 versus 1,300. helicopters, 55, ukraine, 948. how is russia going to be weakened to the point where it can't do any more of these invasions with that kind of arsenal? >> great point. russia is huge. i agree with secretary austin's comments that russ

john spencer, a retired major in the us army and now the chair of urban warfare studies, at the madisonm says the battle for donbas is actually like a new war. i think it'll be, actually, much worse. the conditions are more favourable to open warfare, so big formations spread across large areas, bringing down massive amounts of artillery barraged because that's what russia does as part of their doctrine and that's what we're already starting to see today — massive fires in large forces, as they really are desperate and are throwing everything they literally have at eastern ukraine to get a win for putin. this announcement that the us will start training those ukrainian soldiers, why now, not earlier? yeah, that's a good question. there's a polity shift, to be clear, and i think it's a huge need. but they're not the systems that the ukrainians are trained on. they're trained on 152 and other variations. these are american weapons which require a bit of training. they're going to put them in an undisclosed location. train them up and send them with the artillery that they can train others

. >> let's bring in now major john spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at policy reform.so the author of "life, leadership and social connections in modern war." he's been very valuable to us throughout this war and giving us information. we thank you for joining us again this evening. this general dvornikov is known for his appalling tactics, dropping barrel bombs on civilians. but he is facing a formidable armed opponent now. is he going to be able to effectively lead forces that have been demoralized and already defeated up north? it sounds like this will become more brutal, obviously, considering his background, under his leadership. >> that's right, don. you can chase his background all the way back to grosnia, actually, which we talked about in the past. he was dubbed the hero of syria, the butcher of syria. he's been rewarded. i think he'll move on to be the head general of syria. the leader fortunate world can only do so much with how much the loss of morale, the casualties, how many battle groups they've lost. he's going to be pushing these units, and i agree wit

. >>> for more on russia's new offensive in the east, i want to bring in retired navy general john spencer. he is at madison positive reform, like leadership and social connections in modern war. good to have you, sir. good evening. colonel, president zelenskyy says that the russians have been preparing for the battle for donbas and it's now underway. how do you see this next phase of the war playing out? because perhaps, you can correct me if i'm wrong, perhaps, though, they may have learned from the mistakes they made. >> yeah, don, i think you're right. there are, of course, lessons they learned from trying to take over all of ukraine and they failed that war, so they started a new war over a much smaller geographical area. they learned about how hard it is to project power into a country that you don't own, and we call it interior lines. they have a new commander, so they learned a lesson about a chain of command and needing a theater commander. some of these are the old troops. they're going to make some of the same mistakes despite the fact the pentagon said they added ten tactical t

. >> and earlier, i spoke with john spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at the madison policy forum. i asked him if the radio intercepts by german intelligence proves the russian military had a premeditated plan for the mass murder of ukrainian civilians, as opposed to just a few poorly disciplined rogue soldiers. >> in my opinion, as an old soldier and leader of men in combat, i absolutely think this was an organized genocide in places like bucha. i mean, the -- you fight disinformation -- disinformation with facts. and that's what the world is doing, and what happened this morning at the united nations was amazing. and you -- you fight this disinformation -- these are -- i don't even call it war crimes. i mean, there is a world of difference. this is just evil, premeditated, you know, call it what you will. it was -- it is wrong and it -- again, it's clear what happened. >> "the washington post," also, reporting on this the radio traffic suggests that members of the private military unit with close ties to the russian president vladimir putin and his allies have played a rol

john spencer calling for american troops to start shooting russians right away. >> i know what i am sayinged for 25 years. i served to protect the innocent. we are the leaders of the free world. so i don't speak for her, but i'm ready to commit on like i was before this day to put people in direct contact with russia, to stop russia. call it peacekeeping, call it what you will, we have to do more than provide weapons and by week, i mean the united states. yes, we are going to do it as a coalition with a lot of other people, but we are the example. so put boots on the ground, send weapons directly add to russia. >> tucker: so the misconceptions here are really deep, so here's a guy who after 25 years, telling a straight that he served in the u.s. army to "protect the innocent," but no you didn't. you served in the u.s. army to protect the united states. that's your job, period. and anybody who told you differently was lying to you. he is telling us that his wife is currently usurping, and he speaking for. here's a guy itching to send his own wife into battle against nuclear arms russia. let

attempt at taking the north, how will they fare in this new fight, joining me now retired major john spencerou predicted it would be hard for russia to take the north because of the urban landscape but south and east, a lot different, areas around kyiv, how are you assessing this new phase? >> yeah, don, i think the southern aspects we're learning about is a pipedream. i mean there is so much terrain there, so many urban areas like odesa that russia just can't do, that is my assessment of course, i know the last guest talks about logistics, my four points would be urban warfare, urban warfare, urban warfare, they've shown they can't do it, they would telegraph they were coming, they would close the castle gates, odesa's ready, now in the east it's a different story. you and i talked about that, what they needed to fight that fight and as of a week ago i was like 18 guns, it's not enough, 18 artillery weapons, now this new list, they have -- ukrainians have, now, coming, what is necessary to blow russia off the face of ukrainian earth. >> wow. you believe that? >> i strongly do. i mean 90 art

here's retired army major called john spencer calling for american troops to start shooting russiansright away. i know what i'm saying.ed i served for twenty five years. i served to protect the innocent. we arere the leaders ofhe the fe world. so yes, in my wife still serves i don't speak for her but i'm ready to commit atmi this moment unlike i was before this dayfo to put people in direct contact with russiaca to stopll russia called ital peacekeeping. call it what you willl. we have to do more than provide weapons. and by we , i mean the unitedoi states. ngas yes, we're going to do it as a coalition with lots of other people. but we are the example. so put boots on the ground, send weapons directly at russia . so the misconceptions here really deep. so here's a guy who after twenty five years telling us with a straight face he served in the u.s. army to quote protect the innocent. buted it th he didn't actually u served in the u.s. army too protect the united states. that'sat your job, period. and anybody who told you differently was lying to you. but us he's telling us that his w

amount of john spit in c and accountability across it's institutions. india has also being forthright a needs affairs, both nationally and internationally. and yet we have seen it in spencer moldy into power. american media and american institutions have been unfair to india. they're fighting rages on inside the city of mario pulling it on. yes. republic. with the russian military saying keith has been trying to pull out neo nazi as of battalion trips from the battle. russian antonia republic officials say most of mario paul is now in their hands. ukrainian president zalinski recently told the associated press to the city is that i quote, the heart of the war because the outcome of the battle could define upcoming peace negotiations are senior correspondent, marin garcia, reports from the area. as you can see, we have been able to reach the waterfront here in the moodle almost the geographic moodle. mario bo city rish means the ukrainian forces in the city itself have now been split into at least 2 parts. perhaps more because they're in the since ease the as of steel and arn works industrial complex, which is where thousands of ukrainian nationalists are making their stan

spencer christian and chris alvarez and all of us here. thanks for joining us. we'll see you in in just a few hours. (john a.) get ready, america.for a honeymoon on "wipeout." mwah! (both laugh) whoo! whoo! whoo! ohh. holy cow. whoo! ♪ come on, babe! 12 newly married couples are about to hit a rough patch... i'm gonna kill you. as they face off against the craziest, most extraordinary obstacle course ever assembled.