QUICKLY.
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
>> Jesse: PETE HEGSETH IS OVER
HERE AT THE MAPS.
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT PETE
HAS DRAWN UP FOR US.
PETE HEGSETH.
WHAT HAVE YOU GOT?
>> Pete: THINGS ARE CHANGING
RAPIDLY AS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT
TONIGHT.
THIS IS A MAP FROM YESTERDAY,
MARCH 2ND.
LOOK AT THE AREAS CONTROLLED BY
THE RUSSIANS.
JUST MOVE ONE DAY FORWARD, NOT A
LOT OF MOVEMENT ON THE MAPS, BUT
THE AIRSTRIKES CONTINUE.
AND INCREASINGLY INDISCRIMINATE.
ONE DETAIL THAT HAS NOT GOTTEN
AS MUCH COVERAGE AS IT OKAY
ZELENSKYY ASKING CIVILIANS TO
TAKE UP ARMS COULD BE A
RATIONALIZATION, A TWISTED ONE,
A JUSTIFIED ONE, THAT PUTIN
COULD TAKE TO TARGET CIVILIAN
AREAS SAYING YOU ARE COMBATANTS
NOW.
WE ARE SEEING THAT IN PLACES
LIKE MARIUPOL AND KHARKIV WHICH
ARE ENCIRCLED AND BEING TARGETED
TONIGHT.
THAT NUCLEAR PLANT THAT YOU JUST
MENTIONED JESSE, IN THE SOUTH OF
UKRAINE.
IT IS PART OF THE ENCROACHMENT,
THE OFFENSIVE ADVANTAGE THAT THE
RUSSIANS HAVE SHOWN IN THE LAST
24 HOURS ESPECIALLY PROMINENT IN
THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE
COUNTRY.
WE KNOW ABOUT ALL OF THE AXES OF
ADVANCE.
IN THE NORTH, CAR WHICH KYIV, IN
THE DISPUTED AREAS IN THE EAST,
AND THROUGH THE SOUTH.
BUT IN THE SOUTH THEY HAVE MADE
ADVANCES IF IN WAYS THAT WE
HAVEN’T SEEN IN THE NORTH.
THERE IS HA REASON FOR THAT,
JESSE.
PART OF THE REASON FOR THAT, LET
ME CLEAR THIS MAP AND CLEAR THE
SCANNER.
PART OF THE REASON FOR THAT IS
THAT DOWN IN THE SOUTH, YOU SEE
THAT -- WE’RE GOING TO ADVANCE
IT ONE MORE TIME.
CRIMEA, WHICH WE KNOW WAS TAKEN
BY THE RUSSIANS 8 YEARS AGO.
IT GOT SIGNIFICANT BASING DOWN
THERE.
THEY HAVE THE ABILITY TO PROJECT
TROOPS.
IN THE NORTH THEY HAD MILITARY
EXERCISES IN BELARUS AND
ELSEWHERE WHERE THEY CAN’T
PROJECT THE LOGISTICS AND AS
SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN IN THESE
TYPES OF SITUATIONS IF YOU DON’T
HAVE THE FOOD, THE FUEL THE
LOGISTICS TO MOVE IT FORWARD,
THINGS WILL STALL AND THEY HAVE
STALD QUICKLY.
IN THE SOUTH THEY HAVE NOT.
THEY HAVE MOVED -- THEY ARE
MOVING TOWARD ODESA, TAKING OVER
KHERSON.
THE FLAG OF UKRAINE STILL FLIES
OVER KHERSON MAY GIVE YOU A
SENSE EVEN THOUGH IT’S WITHIN
TAKEN OVER BY THE RUSSIANS.
VLADIMIR PUTIN MAY NOT WANT TO
OCCUPY.
MAY WANT TO PACIFY AND BYPASS
WHICH WE HAVE SEEN IN KHERSON
AND THEN, OF COURSE, AS YOU
TALKED ABOUT ALL NIGHT THE LAND
BRIDGE TO THE ADDITIONAL PORTION
IN THE EAST COULD GIVE THEM A
LOGISTICAL ADVANTAGE.
THEY WANT, AS YOU TALKED CONTROL
THE BLACK SEA AND THESE
BOMBARDMENTS OF THESE
POPULATIONS LIKELY MEANT TO
CREATE AN OPPORTUNITY WHERE THEY
CAN PUNCH THROUGH.
WHERE DO THEY WANT TO PUNCH
THROUGH TO?
THEY WANT TO PUNCH THROUGH TO
THE ULTIMATE PRIZE WHICH WHERE
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME
DEVELOPMENTS WHEN KEY SHOWED
MARCH 2ND TO MARCH 3RD, JESSE,
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAS
CHANGED IS SIGNIFICANT MOVEMENT,
JUST TO THE EAST OF KYIV WHERE
THEY HAVE -- NOW THESE FORCES
ARE MINIMAL.
I DON’T WANT TO OVERPLAY THAT
THEY ARE NOT THE LARGE TANK
COLUMNS THAT WE SEE STALLED
OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL AND SOME
MOVING OUT IN THE EAST, IF THEY
CAN MOVE FROM THE SOUTH THIS IS
PYTHON TYPE OF APPROACH.
WE KNOW RUSSIA HAS NOT BEEN ABLE
TO COMPLETELY CONTROL THE SKY
BUT THEY STILL HAVE OVERWHELMING
COMBAT POWER AND CAPABILITIES.
I’M HEARING THE SAME THING,
GENERAL KEANE TALKED ABOUT.
THEY ARE DEPLOYING TROOPS FROM
ACROSS RUSSIA, AS FAR AS OFF AS
THE PACIFIC.
WHICH MEANS THEY ARE ALL IN ON
THIS, WHICH IS PRECISELY WHAT
EMMANUEL MACRON SAID TODAY.
THEY ARE IN AND THEY ARE NOT
BACKING OFF.
>> Jesse: DO ME A FAVOR PULL OUT
WIDE TO THE MAP SO WE CAN SEE
THE WHOLE COUNTRY FOR US.
I HAVES INNED SOMETHING AND YOU
HAVE PROBABLY SEEN THE SAME
THING.
IF THEY COME UP FROM THE EAST
AND THEY COME UP FROM THE SOUTH
AND THEY COME DOWN FROM THE
NORTH ON THE EASTERN SECTION OF
THIS COUNTRY, AT SOME POINT THE
UKRAINIAN FORCES ARE JUST GOING
TO GET SWALLOWED.
>> Pete: EXACTLY RIGHT.
>> Jesse: THEY WILL BE
COMPLETELY SURROUNDED ON ALL
SIDES AS THEY MOVE UP THE RIVER
FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH.
THEY ARE GOING TO BE SURROUNDED
AND THEN IT’S JUST
UNGODLY.
>> THAT’S PART OF THE STRATEGY.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE
CONFLICT, 60% OF UKRAINE’S
FORCES WERE IN THE EAST FIGHTING
A WAR THERE FOR EIGHT YEARS.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THOSE HASN’T
MOVED WEST TO REINFORCE?
WE ARE NOT QUITE SURE.
WITH THE RUSSIANS WANT TO DO IS
CUT IT IN HALF.
>> Jesse: IF THEY CUT IT IN
HALF THEY CAN’T FLEE WEST AND
THEY ARE GOING TO BE STRANGLED
LIKE AN ANACONDA.
>> YOU CAN ALSO CUT THIS OFF,
WHICH STOPS THE ABILITY TO
REINFORCE THE WEST.