Respond accordingly. Us President Joe Biden has pledged to continue us support for ukraine after further military funding was not included in the federal governments interim budget. Since the beginning of the fullscale invasion of russia, the United States has provided ukraine with 46 billion dollars in military aid, the day before the United StatesCongress Approved a temporary budget in order to avoid the socalled shutdown, ie. Then the shutdown of the government, but through the opposition republicans, the interim budget does not include an additional 6 billion in aid to ukraine, but joe biden said that the United States will still support ukraine. I want to assure our allies, the American People and the people of ukraine, that you can count on our support. We will not leave you. Vast majorities in both parties, democrats and republicans, in the senate and the house. Support aid to ukraine, against which russia is waging brutal aggression, it is enough to delay, it must be done, today the Foreign Ministers met for the first time in kyiv affairs of almost all eu countries, in order to demonstrate their solidarity with ukraine, to participate in this historic meeting, as it is called , the high representative of the eu for Foreign Policy, josep borel, also came to kyiv, he assured that the support of kyiv from the European Union is unwavering, although admitted that europe is concerned about the lack of Financial Assistance to ukraine in the interim us budget. Among other issues that will overshadow the visits and elections in slovakia, where the party that advocates the end of military aid won aid to ukraine, and the deterioration of relations between kyiv and warsaw, whether the west is tired of ukraine, and when ukraine will join the eu. James waterhouse, the bbc correspondent in kyiv , asked josep borel about this and here are his conclusions. What weve seen in these recent political upheavals in the us is the first solid sign of growing skepticism among some ranks of the republican party. Today, the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the European Union gathered in kyiv. This is an important landmark meeting, this is an attempt unblock. Funding in addition to the significant packages recently announced of more than €50 billion. It is also a sign that europe is trying to act as a united front where there are cracks. In slovakia , the populist promoscow party won the elections. We see a fierce Election Campaign in poland, where the issue of supporting ukraine, as well as refugees who found refuge in poland, were in the center of attention and increased the level of this attention from the outside. Such a loyal neighbor, of course, ukraine has long wanted to join the European Union, senior Officials Say it will happen one day, but weve never heard when it might happen. So i turned this question to josep borel, the blocs top diplomat. I cannot name the exact date, but what happened is historic. Considered as a candidate and i am sure that without the war it would have been much more difficult to do so. Now this is a serious commitment on our part. The European Union made a political decision to declare that ukraine belongs to our family. It will become a member of the eu. Conditions will be met soon. The ambassador of the European Union in ukraine suggested that that 2030 is, according to her, a realistic date for entry. Of ukraine to the eu. If this happens, and russia at that time still controls a fifth of the territory of ukraine, how realistic would it be . Cyprus became a member of the European Union when. Part of its territory was occupied, there is a war and ukraine has to face two challenges, the war and the terms of membership in the eu. And the best and most important security commitment we can give to ukraine is membership. We have seen that the us has approved an interim budget that does not include aid kyiv. We have seen the results of the elections in slovakia. We have seen how hungary continues to try to block support where. Perhaps this is not the kind of western fatigue that ukraine is so afraid of and that Vladimir Putin is so eager to achieve . Yes, we see all that, but let me say that we also saw a Greater Unity of europeans in supporting ukraine, we saw unanimity on the approval of i dont know how many sanctions packages. We see unity on military aid, and we have seen this unity since the beginning of the war. Everyone takes on. Financial and political commitments, and even countries, and you mentioned one, that do not want sanctions, also voted for sanctions, of course, i am concerned about the latest decision of congress on ukrainian funding, but one thing is clear for us europeans, russias war against ukraine is an existential threat , and we must respond accordingly. If next year the us elects a president who refuses to support ukraine, what will the eu do , will it increase its support to try to step into the void that will be created . We did not wait for such an opportunity to offer to increase our support to ukraine. I personally proposed to the heads of the ministry of Foreign Affairs of the European Union to increase the fund. Military aid to ukraine for 20 billion euros, the president of the European Commission proposed to allocate 50 billion euros of aid to ukraine. These decisions were made long before any predictions about the future political situation in the usa. So yes, we want to increase our support for ukraine. Political fatigue is an objective reality for ukraine. President zelsky has always been aware of this, now, as he has for more than 18 months of fullscale invasion, the best way out for kyiv was usually military gains. We saw this last year with two successful operations to liberate territory last year around this time, when western allies could see what their western aid and billions of dollars were being converted into. Now we are in the middle of a grueling counteroffensive, president zelenskyy has tried to separate politics from events on the battlefield. It is becoming more and more difficult. In his address for the weekend , he said that no one will be able to take away the resilience and fortitude of ukrainians. So it is clear that ukraine will continue the struggle regardless of american and western aid, but here we would like to see further aid, because although ukraine is fighting on its own, for its survival, the aid of the west may become decisive. Bbc correspondent in kyiv, james waterhouse. You can read the full text of the conversation with the head of diplomacy of yes joseph borel on our website bbc. Ua. The title of the material is borels long interview with the bbc about ukraines accession to the eu during the war, corruption and putin. And oleksandr kraev, an expert of the Ukrainian Foreign policy council , is in touch with us prisms. I congratulate you, alexander. So, about the interim budget of the United States. Biden assures continued support, however, is it real. Risks that the us may stop supporting ukraine . Such risks are actually minimal, because we know that taking 6 billion out of the interim budget, it was a compromise decision, a compromise in the sense that those republicans who do not belong to the trump wing, but voted against this budget, agreed with their democratic colleagues, they will be ready to vote for the replacement of these 6 billion the general. Budget, where much larger amounts of support are calculated for ukraine, we can now talk between 25 and 40 billion dollars. Therefore, yes, we see a lot of crisis, provocations, yes, we see a kind of politicking within the congress, but at the same time, our allies in the usa are doing Everything Possible to ensure that support for ukraine really continues. But as our correspondent says, for example, that the ukrainian authorities are already aware that the us support is really weak now, so whats the point. It is worth preparing for kyiv on the eve of the american elections, like you do you think to negative rhetoric , first of all, it is necessary to understand that these are the provocations that the trumpists have made now. In the budget process, they will continue both at the level of president ial elections and at the level of parliamentary elections, at any level, and it will indeed be a very difficult situation, it will be an attempt to block certain packages, it will be attempts at informational, political provocations, but we we counted on it, we knew that the preelection year in the usa would look like this, so the only thing what the ukrainian authorities really need to do, it is normal to implement reforms, it is to be in Constant Contact with our american colleagues, to work with them at the state level and not to succumb to these provocations, not to choose a side in the political confrontation, because once upon a time choosing a side, well had a very bad result for ukrainian diplomacy, well, you said that the risk is minimal, minimal, if us support does decrease, does the European Union have the strength and mechanisms to provide more support to ukraine, we heard josep borels assurance that russian aggression against ukraine is a threat to all of europe. We see that the European Union can really do a lot for ukraine. We see that, in principle, this support is gradually increasing, and even those states that doubted or were skeptical about ukraine, say france and germany, are gradually making the right decisions and helping our country more actively. However, for now, it is very difficult to compare the amounts of aid american, especially when we talk about military aid, and the aid that is not given. The states of europe, that is, some of them, they are really trying to increase this aid, they provide new types of weapons, longrange missiles, much more air defense, but at this stage we can only speak as the usa plus european countries, and this is effective support for ukraine, it will be very, very difficult to separate them separately, well, we are observing the situation now, so when europe, on the one hand , tries to support in its statements ukraine. However, on the other hand, some countries openly say that the support should be reduced, so what consequences could there be for ukraine from these statements . First of all, we need to understand from which countries such statements are coming, first of all poland against the background of the grain crisis and slovakia against the background of the elections, elections will also be held in poland, we will know their results in a few weeks, the situation is such that first of all, ukraine is becoming a problematic topic for those politicians, those establishments that this year have to participation in elections, more stable systems that do not have to go through the preelection cycle now, on the contrary, they are becoming more proukrainian and really act much more decisively, that is, in this case, as in the case of america, we need to hold our position, protect our own interests, but at the same time to distance ourselves as much as possible from the intraparty, intrapolitical struggle in such countries, that is, we must give the opportunity to democracies, democratic regimes in the countries of our. Partners, to really carry out their procedures, to survive this election episode, and then continue to deal with our issues, because this will not remove the problems that exist in relations, well, lets say with the same land grain corridor, but at least when the elections are over, it will take away all the negative information plume with it, and that is already much will simplify the situation both for ukraine and for our western partners. You mentioned the elections in poland, and i would like to mention the elections in slovakia, that is, should we at all. Expect that in the team of countries that are against aid to ukraine, there will be only one player more . Unfortunately, so far everything looks like slovakia , if it does not become antiukrainian or ukrainian sceptic, will at least move into the section of neutral countries, that is, the situation looks like one way or another, but most slovaks will be against continuing such active support of ukraine, which was conducted by president chaputova, we do not yet know how the coalition will be formed, so far this is still an elevated issue, and therefore the main aspects of the support that slovak can receive will depend on this to give, but of course such a scale of support, which was in 22nd year, and i will remind you, slovakia was one of the first to start transferring combat aircraft, at that time mig 29, such a level of support, unfortunately, should no longer be expected. Thank you, thank you, oleksandr kraik, an expert of the ukrainian prism Foreign Policy council, was in touch with us. And that. Thats all for today, look for more stories on our website bbc. Ua and on our social media pages. Were back on the air tomorrow at 9 p. M. , take care. Festival of culture and letters. Returns live in lviv, online in the world, foreign and ukrainian authors, book fair, discussions that change the future. New location in the center of the city the powder tower on the basement street october 4 8, come, admission is free, details on the website bookforom. Ua. Pain can become an obstacle. Walk up the stairs, not with my knees. For pain in the knees, try dolgit cream. Dolgit cream relieves pain, reduces swelling and improves the mobility of the tendon. With cream, you can also walk, dolgit the only yellow cream for pain in the joints, with muscle cramps dolgit tablets, anticonvulsants, dolgit antiseizures for muscle and calf relaxation, antwerpminer on megogo, in matches with the belgian champion, miners need to score maximum points. On october 4 at 7 45 p. M. , support the victory of the miner, turn on the champions league, exclusively on mego. Oh, there are no potatoes, you can bring them. And my son has caught something, i remind you, you have dr. Tais as a medicine and you get back to work, you have a german ointment for pain in the joints and muscles as a medicine. Relieves joint and muscle pain. Natural matzah with comfrey from dr. Tice. Ask at pharmacies, antz pharmacy, pharmacy kopiyka and pharmacy shar, matzo with ham 100 g, with a 15 discount. The child caught the virus, mother vera has faith in dikasan. Inhaled dekasan enters the lungs where the dekasan virus acts, mother faith is happy, dekasan is an inhalation countermeasure against viruses and bacteria, dekasan is an inhalation antiseptic, there are discounts on biotebal tablets 10 in pharmacies, plantain, bam and savings, there are discounts on septifril darnytsia tablets , 10 in travel bam pharmacies and savings. Vitaly portnikov is with you and we are talking about the main events of this week. Vitaly portnikov and top experts about the highlights of the last seven days. Our guest will be Lieutenant General of the ground forces, former National Security advisor to the president of the United States, donald trump, herbert mcmaster. Current topics, pressing questions, authoritative comments and forecasts in the information marathon project with vitaly portnikov, every sunday at 20 10 on espresso. Hello, this is svoboda ranok, an informational project of radio svoboda. Top guests every day, this is the ship district, kherson, inclusion live. We are somewhere in the vicinity of bakhmut, we are telling the main thing. On weekdays at 9 00. My greetings, you are watching svoboda live, my name is Daria Kudimova and more about the main thing as of the evening of monday, october 2. The occupiers have stepped up their work in zaporizhzhia and are building a new highway from rostovondon to mariupol. What is happening on the front of the russianukrainian war and what forecasts do analysts make for this winter for the armed forces and ukraine. Also, why did they talk about the need to strengthen mobilization in ukraine at the event and whether they will react to it in kyiv. For the first time outside the European Union. The eu Foreign Affairs council met in kyiv. The meeting has already been called historic, on the sidelines of the event they announced europe from lisbon to luhansk. Will there be practical results of such highlevel negotiations and why is this important . And also about how the new prorussian government in slovakia will affect military support for ukraine. Shutdown, as a rescue, but without help to ukraine, or why the interim budget of the United States did not include 6 billion for ukraine, as previously planned, whether this threatens washingtons military support for kyiv, and why ukraine was chosen as a tool for blackmailing domestic political trades, as well as why elon musk mocks the ukrainian president in his network, and whether this will affect zelskys rating among americans. Russian troops are carrying out tactical counterattacks in the robotyny region in the west of the zaporizhzhia region. This is what the analysts of the institute for the study of war write and emphasize that such actions of the occupiers are an element of elastic defense against the offensive actions of the armed forces. According to their analysis, important fortifications to the south of the working one were transferred several times, literally from hand to hand. Specialists rely on geolocation footage, which indicates that those trenches that the Defense Forces received on september 13, as of september 30, are being actively attacked by the russian military. It refers, in particular, to a complex network of trenches approximately 1 km southwest of the working area near the road to tokmak. Therefore, the institute for the study of war concludes, fierce battles are again taking place in this area. Well, winter will not hinder the ukrainian counteroffensive, because kyiv has adapted its tactics. Cnn has a great feature on what to expect as it approaches the socalled dirty season on the russian front. War and what actions both sides will resort to. Western journalists emphasize that the Ukrainian Military uses combined strikes against the russian occupiers and cite the words of the chief of the British Defense staff, anthony raddakin, who describes the tactics of the armed forces in a few words, namely starve, stretch and beat. In addition, the article quotes the commander of the tavri operationalstrategic group of troops, oleksandr tarnavskyi. According to him , weather conditions will not greatly affect the current stage of the counteroffensive. Weather conditions can be a major hindrance during the offensive, but given the pace of our advance, which is mostly unmanned, i dont think it will greatly affect the current phase of the counteroffensive. Neither we, nor the enemy, mostly fight in companies, battalions or brigades. We fight in assault groups of 1015 people. As for the actions of the russian army, experts agree that the Russian Federation will concentrate its efforts during the heating season on attacks on the Energy Infrastructure of ukraine, and i remind you that last year russia has destroyed or damaged twothirds of energy facilities, this year the media emphasize that the kremlin will use not only missiles, but also kamikaze drones. In general, the journalists conclude, among many western analysts there is, quite literally, a sense of an inevitable stalemate. He said that everyone is preparing for the fact that the war may drag on for a long time and assume that the russianukrainian war will continue in 2025. The spring of next year is called a potentially important phase of the war, and they associate it with the fact that ukraine will start using it f16 and possibly other western weapons. Oleksandr kovalenko, military and Political Columnist of the Information Group sprovit joins our broadcast. Mr. Oleksandr, my greetings. Good evening congratulations. Well, actually, the fact that russia is preparing for a long war is evidenced by the fact that we learned about the other day, that the Defense Budget for next year in the Russian Federation has been increased by 70 , and taking into account the significant financial and human resources, maybe the Russian Federation will fight for a long time. Spring 2024, which, as i noted, is called an important phase of the war in the article, which in addition to western weapons, can affect this phase, and actually, is it possible to predict what russia will focus on in the next year, well , russias problem today is the availability of the necessary amount of art equipment, primarily artillery, artillery depends on it , whether the Russian Occupying army will be able to advance or defend. According to the artillery , a proportional amount of ammunition is required. Now we see how the russian delegates. And they are trying somewhere to find a supply of ammunition, it is for artillery, shells, it is with for hull and jet artillery, in iran they receive from iran, but in insufficient quantities, and from north korea they are trying to get and ensure this deficit that arises, next year, if they do not solve this issue, then they will no longer have a deficit , a noticeable deficit. Shells, and the crisis, namely the shell crisis, it can no longer be called a famine, but rather a crisis, because russia will reach the level of exclusively selfsufficiency in its production, and their production, established before the start of a fullscale invasion of ukraine, from 15 million to 107,000 shots per year, this is their maximum production potential, so they could increase it there by 1015 . But this is an increase, it is not enough to provide them with the necessary number of proportional shots per day. Namely, such production provides them with 500 shots per day, while now, for example , they make 15,000, at the very beginning of the fullscale invasion they made 60, 70, even 80,000 shots per day, so the difference is noticeable, well and of course, this is equipment, in addition to artillery, this is a large amount of equipment, because in of them, there is now a crisis with bbm armored vehicles, and the number of bbm bri, bmp, bmd, is decreasing, and this is an influence. Also on the ability of their troops to be more maneuverable and perform certain combat tasks in both offensive and defensive functions. Mr. Oleksandr, well, i mentioned what general tornavskyi says about the fact that especially weather conditions, whether it is a dirty season, the socalled will not affect, because they say that now they are surrendering to the tactics of these stormtroopers, groups of 1015 people, here with such scales, so to speak, how dynamic can be front, if we take into account that both the ukrainian side and the russian army will resort to such tactics, everything depends on where, where , respectively, combat operations will take place, what location it will be, and here, if we are talking about weather conditions, yes, there is, we will consider if there are locations in the zaporizhia region, in the zaporizhia region, we will not directly indicate, but where are the soils, they are, if i start. Showers, and they are unsuitable for the passage of any equipment and even the movement of people composition, this is a big, big problem, and on the other hand, if move south to the azov coast, the soils change, their format and nature change , and they absorb more moisture and are more favorable for the use of equipment and infantry, but there are others. The moment is also negative, this is precisely when we talk about roads, dirt roads, when on dirt roads there is movement of, for example , machinery in large quantities, and tracked machinery, then a layer is formed, well, lets call it that, a layer of dust, which during rains, well turns into a vagnyuk, and to move somehow mobile, on such roads is also very much difficult, and it is, to put it mildly, very difficult, therefore everything depends on individual locations, where combat operations will take place at the moment when the weather conditions will be, to put it mildly, not quite favorable. Mr. Oleksandr, i mentioned radakin, the chief of Defense Staff of great britain, this tactic of starving, stretching and beating. Can you tell in more detail about it, which is attributed to the zsu, why it is and whether it is effective against the russian occupiers on all areas of the front, what you are now mentioning about the weather conditions well, i understand that it is about the tactics of the war of attrition, and if we are talking about the war in general, starting in 2022, then we have chosen such tactics from the very beginning, and forcing the russians to increase these logistical chains so that the provision of advanced units, as well as this is a gradual, gradual impact on rear areas where warehouses with ammunition, warehouses with fuel and bridging materials are located, the destruction of these warehouses, to force the russians to transfer these warehouses from a stationary format to wheeled, i. E. On wheels, so that the logistics convoys could run, these convoys are tracked down, destroyed, in addition to this, there is also an impact, there is an impact on the resource of each of all these vehicles, since it must constantly be in russia, that is, it is a complex of actions that exhausts the enemy, according to the parameters of providing advanced units with the necessary ammunition, material and technical support, as well as this gradual destruction, having a corresponding advantage of the technical component, and an advantage which, if we are talking, for example, about battery combat, we have the advantage is accuracy, this is the range of our artillerys shot at the enemy. This is precisely its minus, they use now old artillery, mostly howitzer type, box type, that is, much less mobility, and all this affects the level of exhaustion of the russian troops. If i recall the zaporizhia direction , the institute for the study of war, which i mentioned at the beginning of the issue, i recall the socalled elastic defense of the occupiers when they try to counterattack the trenches that they previously held, what does this elastic defense mean and in general, how important is it for one side or the other to control this network of trenches, what does it allow . Well, this is a general tactic, it has always been, it has always been used by the russian command, russian units, when they lose some position, for example, a village or some trench,