Right now,
the US State Department
is working
to try to verify
or disprove notorious Russian
Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin claim
that a US
citizen was killed fighting in back.
Moute Prigozhin posted a video
seeming to inspect the dead
soldiers body.
He then showed what he claimed was
an American ID.
The US State Department
has not yet confirmed
that an American died.
In fact,
most prigozhin says
that he will hand the body
over to the US
and treat the corpse with respect
for dying and quote, worthy death.
Meanwhile, just outside of Kiev,
one of Ukraine's
two US made patriot
air defense systems
may be out of commission after
Russia claimed
it hit the billion dollar battery
with a, quote, high precision strike.
And U.S.
officials are now
acknowledging that
it is probably damage, though
they say it is not destroyed.
The US says the highly effective
defense system
might need to be pulled back or repaired,
taking one out of commission
even for a short time, of course,
could impact
Ukraine's ability
to defend its capital of Kiev,
seen in some highly
reports for us now from southeastern
Ukraine as Russia
is trying to find holes
in Ukraine's defenses,
which have been fortified
with a steady stream of Western aid.
A new Russian tactic in
the air assault against key
concentrated fire by missiles and drones,
testing Ukraine's air
defenses, probing for weaknesses in
Ukraine, says it shot down 18 missiles,
including six
Kinzel, Russia's hypersonic weapon.
It was once
considered invulnerable to air defenses.
Now not so much she kills.
Six of these missiles were fired
in the direction of the capital.
They were all destroyed by air defense.
Russia has been trying to overwhelm
Ukraine with air attacks for months.
The results, though,
have been more pledges of air defenses
from the US
and especially the UK
and now even Germany.
After months of holding back.
On the ground
the conflict grinds on in bafflement.
Did any of those up on the television
any of us feel
Bognor mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin
releasing a new video purporting
to show him in the city.
He demonstrates uncharacteristic sympathy
for an alleged American volunteer
killed fighting for Ukraine, urging
we will hand him over
to the
United States of America,
will put him in a coffin,
cover him with the American flag
with respect,
because he did not die in his bed
as a grandpa,
but he died at war
and most likely a worthy death.
So recap The Washington Post has reported
that US intelligence documents
suggest that he tried to trade
Russian intelligence
for seeding territory
around parliament,
yet he subsequently
Prigozhin denies the claims.
Russia's said that the allegations
Prigozhin
offered to spy for Ukraine are a hoax,
but in the Kremlin
they might one day be considered treason,
making this town
perhaps a safer place than Moscow
for Russia's top mercenary.
Now, Jake,
the Kremlin has said that
they didn't fire six hypersonic
missiles,
so the Ukrainians couldn't have shot
that many down.
They deny, indeed, that any of their 18
cruise missiles
kind of a cruise missiles,
the hypersonic
missiles and indeed more traditional
missiles were shot down.
They say they all reached their target.
Now, the Ukrainians historically
have been pretty accurate
about the missiles
that they've shot down,
but they tend not to confirm
whether or not the other missiles
have actually made
their target, particularly if they're not
if they are rather a military target
such as Patriot batteries Jake.
All right, Sam Kiley in Ukraine for us,
thank you so much.
The Chinese government
is dispatching its envoy
and former ambassador to Russia
Lee Highway to Ukraine this week,
as well as to Poland
and to France and to Germany
and to Russia.
They say this is an effort to move toward
a Beijing mediated peace talk.
And joining us now
for a bipartisan interview,
the top members of the Select Committee
on China, Republican Chairman
Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin,
and Democratic ranking member
Congressman Raja
Krishnamoorthi of Illinois.
Chairman Gallagher,
let me start with you.
How realistic or unrealistic is it?
Do you think, for China to try to broker
any sort of peace deal?
Do they have the standing to do so?
They do not,
because, of course, China is fueling
Putin's war machine.
China is standing by Vladimir Putin.
Xi and Putin have a
no limits partnership.
And I think it's important
for us to understand
the depths
and the scale of this partnership.
And for that
to give us the energy
to continue our support
of the Ukrainians,
to make sure that we're modernizing
our defense industrial base
to build the weapons that we need
not only to help Ukrainians
fight for themselves,
but to replenish our stockpiles,
as well as provide weapons
in the Indo-Pacific.
And so let's not allow
the Chinese Communist Party
to perpetuate this narrative
that somehow they're
peacemakers when they are,
in fact, supporting Putin's war machine.
So even beyond that, Congressman
Krishnamoorthi, Ukraine's
President Zelensky,
he's made it clear that
he will not accept any peace deal
without liberating
the entirety of Ukraine,
including Crimea,
which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
So I wonder if there is even
a peace deal to be had.
Well, it's certainly not the
the Chinese peace deal,
which I think the 13 point plan
still recognizes
Russian aggression in Ukraine.
By recognizing their claims
to Ukrainian land,
unless they call
for a pullback of those troops,
there's not going to be any peace deal.
Jeremy Gallagher,
I have to just ask you,
in terms of Ukraine,
I mean, we've heard some
pretty wobbly comments from Trump,
DeSantis, even Speaker McCarthy
when it comes to supporting Ukraine
in what is not to overstate
it, an existential threat
to its existence as a democracy.
Does that make your job harder?
Obviously, you are
pretty forthright
in your expressions of support
for Ukraine.
Well,
I think we need to do
a better job, really, for those of us
who are also advocating
for an investment in defense more broadly
of really explaining
what we're up against
in the form
of the Chinese Communist Party
and how you can isolate the Russia threat
from this broader no limits partnership.
What I increasingly see
is a de facto alliance
against the West in terms of Xi, Putin
and to a lesser extent the Iranians.
So teasing out the depth
of that partnership
is one part of the effort.
The other thing is
really understanding
what the crisis in Ukraine has revealed,
which is just the fragility
of our defense
industrial base,
our munitions industrial base,
and making sure
that we never put ourselves
in this position again
where we're struggling to manufacture
things that we've neglected for years.
So we can fix that problem
through things
like multiyear procurement
for critical long range precision fires.
But that requires
some action here on Capitol Hill.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi Zelenskiy
reiterated his desire for U.S.
made F-16 fighter jets.
U.S.
officials are constantly saying
they're reluctant to send Ukraine weapons
that can strike inside Russian borders.
But Ukraine, we know, now has British
stealth missiles
that have 155 mile range.
So I don't really fully understand
the argument
because they have the
ability to hit inside Russia.
I personally
think that
it's a good idea
to provide those weapons.
I do think that one other thing
that we should mention
is that we are trying to work
with our allies
and partners
in the region
to provide them with the armaments
they require.
I think that we should provide them
with the attack EMS as well,
which is the long range missile,
which is one
one step higher
than what
we have provided with the high marks.
What we've learned
is that the Russians are moving back
their outposts and targets
beyond the range of the high MA.
So it's logical
to provide the Ukrainians
with the next level weapon to be able to
deter attacks from those
and to punish attacks coming from those
further regions.