Amna: Leaders from a coalition
of more than 50 countries that
send weapons to Ukraine met
today in Brussels to discuss
accelerating their assistance.
Russian forces have launched
fresh offensives in Ukraine's
east, known as the donbas, and
there are concerns about
Ukraine's ability to withstand
Russian attacks, and launch its
own offensive. Secretary of
defense Lloyd Austin spoke after
that meeting.
>> We are going to continue to
work with Ukraine to address
Ukraine's most pressing needs.
They are contemplating an
offensive in the spring and that
is just weeks away, so we have a
lot to get done.
Amna: We turn now to Nick
schifrin, who is in the donbas,
the main target of Russia's
push.
Nick and his team are reporting
with the support of the pulitzer
center.
You heard secretary austen seems
to have a lot more urgency in
what he is saying.
What is driving that right now?
Nick: It is what you said, the
Russian offensives that the U.S.
Believes are underway a few
miles east of here.
It is the Ukrainian need to
launch a counteroffensive, just
weeks away.
A senior U.S. Official tells me
new intelligence about
helicopters and jets on the
Ukrainian border.
It is not like the lights are
blinking red, but there are
accelerating concerns that
already existed about Ukraine's
air defense.
Up until now Ukraine has relied
on a soviet era air defense
known as the S 300 and has
denied pressure the ability to
fly freely over the country.
U.S. Officials tell me that the
parts and munitions will run out
, so at some point they will
need to create all western air
defense.
You have American patriots on
the top and systems from Germany
and France on the bottom.
That requires the coalition of
countries sending a lot of
munitions very quickly.
As for what Ukraine wants, this
is the defense minister showing
off a western jet.
U.S. Officials say they still do
not support the idea of sending
teams to Ukraine.
Amna: You are in a city not far
from much of the heavy fighting.
What does the front line look
like right now?
Nick: The main part of the
frontline is just a few miles
away.
The goal according to U.S.
Officials is to seize donbass,
the province where I am right
now, the province Russia
controlled largely alongside
luhansk.
The new attacks are in three
places.
The largest attacks are where we
have seen Ukrainian forces
facing off against waggoner
forces, Russian private
military.
Many of them conscripts who have
been fighting for a city that
Ukraine says represents
resistance to Russia, but U.S.
Officials have said they don't
believe it is strategically that
important.
The Russians are making progress
, but at great cost.
Look at what happened in the
south.
Those are more than a dozen
armored tanks and vehicles blown
up inside a minefield.
Russians are still making some
of the same mistakes they have
made over the last year.
I think the concern among some
U.S. Officials is the quantity.
Russia invaded Ukraine with more
than 150,000 troops.
They now have 300,000 in Ukraine
or poised to invade, something
Ukraine has to contend with on a
long frontline.
Amna: What does that mean for
the battle beyond the frontline?
Particularly what secretary
austen mentioned, a spring
offensive by Ukraine?
Nick: Ukraine will have to
achieve something it has not yet
achieved, breakthrough Russian
lines that have been dug in for
many months, with trenches, with
vehicle barriers, with something
called dragon's teeth like
these, which are supposed to
stop tanks.
Republicans criticized the
administration for not sending
more weapons more quickly.
The administration officials I
spoke to who believe this
strategy is going to work say
Ukraine does not need to take on
Russia along this entire
frontline, nor does it need to
rely on quantity.
It is being given more modern
tactics, more modern western
vehicles, and it can use those
to create a localized advantage
and tries to push through one of
the Russian lines.
Whether that is true will
determine what is truly for both
sides going to be a crucial few
months.