pretty much, there s going to be a difficult time getting this equipment in. so my concern is time of need for the ukrainians. time of need is now. obviously, we can t get it to them now. this equipment is going to flow in over days, months and so forth. a concern is, as you just highlighted, how do you get it in when the russians have bombed all these infrastructure, to include the fuel? they re going after the fuel depots as well. we have to watch that. most of this equipment, this heavy equipment will need fuel as well. are we giving them the kind of equipment with the new phoenix drones and other attack equipment where they can do more of the cross-border raids as they did against a russian fuel depot some weeks ago? i tell you, i m now encouraged with the equipment we have given them, especially this
sending humanitarian aid to mariupol and also trying to help evacuation people from after russian forces blocked several evacuation buses and confiscated some of the much needed aid. the humanitarian crisis is dire across the country. according to ukrainian officials, at least 153 children have been killed in the fighting, more than 245 others injured. live in lviv, ukraine, in the west. john, russia at least is saying ukrainian attack which would be remarkable in its own right because russia would be acknowledging ukrainian forces would be able to attack inside their territory. ukraine though, it s interesting, they re a kind of walking a line here. reporter: yeah, i ll address that statement in a second but what we know is this russian fuel depot, we ve seen the pictures on fire inside russian territory. this is just over the border
quick war, defeating ukraine, the ukrainians quickly is not how it has played out. we ve seen troops demoralized, troops run out of equipment they need on the russian side and that is clearly not what he had planned. it s probably easier to imagine why putin s advisers aren t giving him the full picture. u.s. officials claim putin didn t even know the russian military used and lost conscripted soldiers in ukraine. u.s. officials say somewhere between 7,000 and 15,000 russian soldiers have been killed so far and through all of this, putin s war has put a freefall on russia s economy, hurting its own citizens. add this attack on russian fuel depot if it turns out ukraine was behind it, that could have a big impact on russian morale. joining me is former cia officer mark polapoulos and jack jacobs.
with moskow s assault faltering on many fronts there are growing questions about an apparent air strike early friday on a russian fuel depot. did ukraine attack russia on its own soil? president volodymyr zelenskyy said this on fox news. translator: i did not discuss any of my orders as commander in chief, the leader of this state. you need to understand that on that territory that you mentioned you have to know they were placing their shooting systems and firing those missiles themselves. ukraine won t confirm or deny whether it was behind that fiery attack. russia claims two ukrainian helicopters flew in at low altitude early friday and fired
needle of diplomacy and you ask them to go as far as they can. remember, also, india can be another way to talk to moscow and keep those lines of communication open. all right. general, one quick final question to you. i thought this was really interesting. these reports of a russian fuel depot being targeted by ukrainian helicopters. the ukrainians are not talking about it or denying it. i think it s a brilliant move. it puts them on notice they don t have the sanctuary. it was a great psychological move and logical move. a lot of the fuel comes from that fuel depot. it turns out they did a very good job if ukraine instructed that. it turns out to be a good move. i don t see a problem with it