And I want to go now to
retired Army Lieutenant
General Mark Hertling,
who is, of course, the former
commanding general of Europe
and the Seventh Army.
And Alexander
rode Niantic, adviser
to the Ukrainian president,
Volodymyr Zelensky.
So thanks very much to both of you.
General Sense,
Fred, was just talking about back mood.
This this is fascinating
what we're seeing happening.
Russia's now
saying it's captured back moon.
You see the champagne showers, etc.
that the Wagner mercenaries are doing.
Ukraine says no,
that the fighting for back continues.
They'll fight for every single inch.
What is actually happening there?
It's tough to explain, Aaron,
because we're looking literally
at PowerPoint
maps often
and we're seeing red areas
and yellow areas.
And it doesn't really give the situation
in terms of the terrain.
The Ukrainian forces,
as I've watched them,
have pulled out of back mode
They have done a very good withdrawal
and they are now in the high ground
in the areas of Heidi Romanoff
and Ivan Ski,
three areas
to the north
west or northwest and southwest.
They can control the city
via the high ground.
So Russia is basically commanding rubble
right now, a town
that they have destroyed.
They are now in the middle of it.
There is no tactical value
for that right now.
And the Ukrainian forces
who have pulled back
and out
can now have a much greater capability
of conducting operations
against that city than they did before.
And I would suggest soon we may see
Ukrainian forces
surround the volunteer forces
or whatever
left in the city of Dark Mood.
It's pretty incredible
to watch that happening.
And Alexander into this, right?
Wagner,
you know,
they're putting out these videos
celebrating their victory that they say.
Right, that they control it.
And the chief of Jenny Prigozhin
says that his fighters are
they're going to pull out of Ukraine
on May 25th,
which obviously if they did that,
then they're just completely
giving up back and everything else.
So I'm trying to understand
what's happening here.
Now, Alexander,
does Ukraine
believe that Prigozhin is in
fact doing that, withdrawing
No.
So in general, we
obviously can't believe any word
that they're saying.
I mean, this is a site
that's been lying consistently throughout
before the invasion. During the invasion.
So we take it with a grain of salt
at best.
Obviously,
we can't believe a single word.
So, General Hertling, in meantime,
this group of Russian fighters
that are fighting on behalf of Ukraine.
Right.
Several different kind of groups of them,
as they call themselves,
but they are all fighting against Russia.
They took a number of actions today
that was that incursion
into Belgorod right.
Which is actually Russian territory,
full Russian territory.
Right. By any measure.
They claim
they captured a Russian military vehicle.
And then we saw the so-called flag
of free Russia flying over Moscow
State University.
How meaningful are
these incidents, General?
This is all part of shaping operations.
Erin, what I'd suggest
what is what occurred today,
and it's a magnificent tactic,
is the liberty of Russian Legion
or a Russian volunteer corps,
the so-called little green men
are now going in the opposite direction.
They're trying to free Russian territory.
The interesting piece is
this is what's called a raid.
A raid is a surprise attack
meant for a specific purpose.
And they threaten a smaller objective.
They kill or capture people.
They cause movement of the enemy
to protect the object of the raid.
So in other words,
this is an area
where there were very few
Russian soldiers.
And now,
unfortunately, because of this incursion
into Russian territory of Belgorod,
Russia has to move
defense forces
there, as well
as some other places like Kursk.
And what we've seen in Moscow itself
with the flag that you showed flying over
Moscow University,
all of this is to accomplish the intent
of an objective
of pulling
Russian forces
away from the areas
with which they are defending.
This is shaping operations,
and the Ukrainians are doing it
very well, along with their
the legion of Russian
or the liberty of Russian Legion
or whatever they want to call themselves.
Right.
In order to get the Russians
to look in other directions.
It is
it is stunning,
though, at a certain level.
You think about Russians
attacking in a place like Belgorod.
I mean, again, to even imagine
16 months
ago, 18 months ago,
having these sorts of conversations.
Alexander,
we also mentioned
at the top of the show yet
another Russian official
and there have been so many
in the past year
who have criticized the war publicly
or privately, mysteriously now dead.
I spoke with your father recently,
obviously a renowned award
winning film producer,
lived in Russia
until the beginning of the war.
He has publicly criticized the war.
He is still doing so.
He came on the show to do it.
Putin is now ordered his arrest,
even though, of course, he's
outside Russia.
But, you know, it makes him a wanted man.
And I wanted to play something
your father told me
when I asked him
whether he was concerned for his safety
I'm not anymore in Russia, of course,
but I know how effective
could be arrested intelligence
and fulling the people who are protesting
the Russian regime.
They don't have a fear.
Nothing would prevent me
from speaking the truth
about what's going on in Ukraine.
And with these war
definitely I would more.
Most of my friends
are trying to tell me
that they should be very careful
and I will be very careful
but I will do what I did
I know, Alexander, you obviously,
you know
you're proud of your father,
but you must be
deeply concerned for his safety, too.
Absolutely.
I mean, it is concerning
is always concerning.
We know what the Russians are capable.
We know what they do with their enemies
and also with people
that they consider traitors.
But the good news here is
and I think that's
what my father was alluding
to, is that he was
never a Russian citizen.
We are all Ukrainians, obviously.
And for the Kremlin, as perverse
as that sounds,
that is the pecking order a little lower.
So that is actually lower
in the priority list.
They usually have people
that are considered traitors first,
although that's, of course,
the perverse reality that I'm talking of.
No, doubt there is danger.
And I want my father to me to be careful.
Of course.
All right.
Well, thank you both very much.
I appreciate it.