blogger. the blogger survived the blast, but his driver was killed. just last month, another pro war russian blogger was killed in an explosion at a cafe in st. petersburg, russia. now to ukraine, where for the first time ukrainian officials say they ve shot down a russian hyper sonic missile using the us air defense systems. ukraine previously was unable to intercept more modern russian missiles such as the hypersonic missile. this comes as the mercenary wagner group says it will pull out of the city of bakhmut. nic robertson is following all of these developments. the fighting is now intensifying in bakhmut? reporter: yeah. that s what ukrainian military officials are telling us. they say last night there was a big uptick in the amount of
the white house they don t know what to expect. but they had turn on the news and read our newspapers and all they read is craziness. you name it. there s no part of our country that hasn t been turned into a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. the cat list of this is the radical left that finds a home in this white house to embarrass us every day. i believe in axis of evil they re going to bet on china and their leadership. i think believe if there s any conflict china is more likely to come out the the victor? do you agree with that? do you think america has the military might if necessary, to get into a military conflict with china if we did, if that did happen? would we lose? do we have the hyper sonic missiles they re bragging back
every day? do we have the ability to stop their hyper sonic missiles? again, none of your capabilities matser in the eyes of the cheaney ice. if the united states wouldn t tell the taliban we were planning to leave anyway but we have thinks we got to get out of the country and agreed to 72 hour ridiculous time frame to leave and we can t handle the taliban a bunch of guys running and in robes, you think biden is worried about them in a conflict like this? they think the guy in the white house doesn t have the willingness to do any of the tough things because he s too focused on a radical agenda and talking about outdated things around the world when they do make sense. straits up question, if i do believe it will happen sooner
but to go on the offensive, ukraine needs hundreds of main battle tanks. so far western partners have pledged about 100. moscow has vowed to hit those tanks when they enter ukraine and is conducting a show of force of its own sending the friggett which moscow says carries hyper sonic missiles to ocean drills with the chinese and south african navys, but for now bakhmut is the epicenter of this conflict and ukrainian soldiers hearsay they will fight for every inch. translator: one day their artillery works, the next day it s infantry. it s a difficult time now but our boys keep standing their ground. reporter: ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front line say they are absolutely elated to hear that western battle tanks could be coming to ukraine in the not too distant future. they say tanks are a huge part
let the other stuff go by the way side. the priority is trying to get back on track in ukraine. reporter: prosecutors say the smuggling ring unlawfully sourced, purchased and shipped millions of dollars in military, r sensitive dual use equipment. advanced electronics and testing equipment used in quantum computing, hyper sonic and other military and space-based military applications. when you see something like this happen it s good evidence that the sanctions are, indeed, working because the russians would be doing it in a much easier way if they could but they simply can t. reporter: the eastern district of new york unsealed a 16 count indictment saying they were affiliated with moscow based companies and were sanctioned after russia invaded ukraine. a network the u.s. treasury department says is instrumental to the federation s war machine. what was being smuggled poses