thank you. so for joining us. as you know, ukraine now says the russian offensive on the eastern donbas region has officially begun. do you expect russia to learn from its mistakes around kyiv, the capital? take the upper hand in this new phase of this brutal war? yeah, you know, the russians are not stupid. they will learn from the mistakes they ve made. they re in a very different situation now, wolf. and it is important that people understand this. they now have much shorter supply lines. they re not nearly as extended as they were. they re now in the open. they re now in positions that they re somewhat familiar with. because they ve been assisting the breakaway regions of ukraine for some time now. so everything is different. that s why our support. ukrainians needs to be different as well. critical now, and i m glad to see the white house in fact is doing this. critical now will be heavier weaponry. they can strike the russians at long distance.
has a desire, at least, to continue on to odesa. odesa crucial militarily in terms of access to the black sea but also commercially. and really sets up the possibility if russia were able to accomplish this, that s not clear, of cutting off ukraine entirely, it a state with no access to the black sea. russia doesn t have the forces necessary to accomplish that to date. but it is something to look at going forward. it certainly is. this video showing the badly damaged russian warship. how embarrassing is this for vladimir putin? it s a major military setback for the russians. you know what? i think they re very embarrassing for president putin militarily, internationally. you know, as military experts and armies and navies around the world look at this and see what has happened. it is embarrassing because if it is correct that the ukrainians sank it, it is the last thing
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if the russians do break out into the plains, it is all plains there. this is not the road surrounded by woods. this is plains. that the ukrainians can decimate those forces out in the open. so it will be very different. the underlying thing here, which i don t think has changed. the sinking of the moskva, the performance of their troops. this is not a high quality military. they ve got massive punch but it is not a hey quality military. the ukrainians in mariupol, the major city there, they re still holding off the russians. but this is a brutal fight that is ongoing right now. how big of a win will it be for putin if he is able to take that? no question it will be a win. it will close off a port to ukraine. not the importance of odesa but it will close off a port. which by the way, it has been closed. you can t land cargo where this
so now this is the final battle for them. they have to make a symbolic victory. they will be trying to do this but my president is absolutely right. our forces will right to the end. they know how to future. they will definitely win. as you know, the u.s. says the city of mariupol is still contested with ukrainians fighting very hard right now. how big of a blow will it be if mariupol falls? well, yes, ukrainian armed forces are still there in mariupol. and they are struggling. they will fight to the last drop of their blood. and my president is absolutely, absolutely supporting the armed forces, and you know, in one of his last interviews, he said if russians were going to kill our ukrainian soldiers, that will be an end to any possible negotiations which ukraine is still ready to hold.