Rise in implementation of active electronically scanning array (AESA) technology, surge in accession of fighter jets for enhancing aerial strength, and increase in expenditure on military activities
scale whatever, i think that would be a disaster. reporter: any further aggressive attitude on the part of russia would have grave consequences. all of this as russia bolsters its arsenal for a possible invasion. bringing combat helicopters closer to ukraine this week and using their intelligence services to recruit ukrainian traitors to prepare a takeover of ukraine s government the u.s. now sanctioning current and former ukrainian officials the treasury says are, quote, engaged in russian government directed influence activities to destabilize ukraine. but the kremlin saying another call between presidents biden and putin would, quote, be welcomed. meanwhile, president biden saying he expects russia to invade. my guess is he will move in. reporter: now, jake, sources are telling cnn this week the biden administration moved to give approval to three baltic
reserve troops. russia has ukraine outgunned in the air. you can see that ukraine has dozens of active combat helicopters. russia has hundreds if not thousands. russia has the upper hand with fighter jets and bombers. russia has over 1,500 war planes. let s bring in pavel, a moscow-based defense analyst, also a columnist for a newspaper. it s good to have you, sir. i m curious, do you think moscow has been surprised at the performance of the ukrainian military, that this hasn t been easier or quicker for russia? i believe everyone has been much surprised. as far as i can recall, the pentagon was also predicting that organized ukrainian resistance would collapse in 72 hours. three days. well, the three days passed and they re still fighting as an organized force.
sanctuary if in fact this attack in belgarad was done by the ukrainians. the russians aren t safe. these tanks will will be very, very helpful for the ukrainians. i want to talk to you about that. let s talk more general about the assessment of the strike against the russian fuel depot that ukrainians are not confirming or defying it was them. but ukrainians carried this out using combat helicopters, how significant would that be? oh, it s very significant. again, the ukrainians have really turned the tide over the course of about a week. the russians are on their heels, flat footed, they are removing equipment not because it s their simple choice. it s because the ukrainians have set the conditions on the ground and are beating the russians back. so they re making tactical determinations that what they were doing doesn t make sense. this is wonderful for the ukrainians now to engage and get
launching a cross-border attack with two combat helicopters. this video appears to show their tracer rounds destroying a fuel depot 20 miles from the ukrainian border a senior u.s. defense official tells nbc news that ukraine was responsible for the daring raid, ukraine s first of the war but ukraine s official response seemed deliberately ambiguous with defense officials saying they couldn t confirm or deny involvement. the kremlin tonight criticizing the strike on the russian facility saying it could harm ongoing peace talks. but the attack pales ipcomparison to what russia has done just 45 miles away across the border in the ukrainian city of kharkiv where russian artillery and rockets have destroyed hundreds of buildings. and as we saw today, flattened nearby towns. in some areas not leaving a single home