Breaking news,
Ukrainian
forces have begun, quote,
shaping operations
in the much anticipated
counteroffensive, sources
are telling CNN's Jim Sciutto tonight.
Senior U.S.
officials saying
the operations
could continue for days
before Ukraine launches
the bulk of the counteroffensive
and it could also be designed to confuse
Russia's military.
The significant development coming
is Vladimir Putin's spokesperson
made a jaw dropping claim
that Russia's setbacks in Ukraine
are happening because, quote,
Russia is, quote, not waging war.
And then Dmitry Peskov
went on to say this, quote, Waging war
is a completely different thing.
It's total
destruction of infrastructure,
total destruction of cities and so on.
We don't do that.
I mean, this is a whole new level
spin, gaslighting propaganda.
I mean, it really is stunning.
They don't destroy cities
Look at this before
and after image,
Mariupol,
that once thriving city
in southern Ukraine
where
Russia razed to the ground
and now occupies
or look at the charred,
utterly destroyed,
hollowed out town of Black Moon
as it stands today.
And then look at it before
Russia's invasion
before and after satellite images.
I mean, to borrow a phrase from
Peskov.
Total destruction.
And as for infrastructure
targeting Ukrainian power,
rail and roads, it's
been a constant in Putin's war.
Cities in the dark, people in the cold.
Targeting infrastructure has been a core
of this whole thing to break
Ukraine's will Yes, they do that.
And Pascal's completely
false claims are coming
as the head of the brutal private army,
the Wagner group is publicly going
after Putin's generals.
Fred Pleitgen is OUTFRONT
After months of brutal fighting,
the battle for Obama
may be pushing
Wagner boss
Yevgeny Prigozhin closer to the edge
with farming sugar
Wagner
standing in front of the bodies
of his dead fighters.
He launched into a rant against Russia's
military leadership,
blaming them for the deaths.
We do major items to which
you think
you were the masters of this life.
Do you think you could
dispose of other lives?
You think
because you have
warehouses full of ammunition
that you have that right?
It's not enough for the women tonight
to provide for months.
Prigozhin and Vladimir
Putin's top generals,
Sergei Shoigu and Bulgari
Gerasimov, have been mired
in severe infighting.
But now the Wagner bosses
tirades are becoming more vicious
and more frequent,
accusing Russia's
defense minister of withholding
much needed ammo You've missed that.
That was.
Instead of
using a shell to kill an enemy
and saving one of our soldiers lives,
they are killing our soldiers.
And this is why you guys are places
in a country
where thousands have been jailed
for criticizing Vladimir Putin's war.
Prigozhin is getting away
with his tantrums.
That's because Putin doesn't fully
trust his own military
and needs Ferguson.
Russian investigative journalist
Andrei Soldatov believes.
He's extremely paranoid
about control and political stability.
Prigozhin is a tool to, if not to, keep
the military in check,
at least to keep them off balance.
The infighting seems to
be costing Russia
both lives and momentum.
Ukraine's army
now says it is making gains in Bermuda
and while Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky
says his forces long
anticipated counteroffensive
has not yet started,
Prigozhin today once again
accusing the Russian army
of cutting and running.
It is thought in those territories
that were liberated with the blood
and lives of our comrades,
every day
progressed by dozens
or hundreds of meters during many months.
Today are abandoned
almost without any fight
by those
who are supposed to hold our flanks.
Whereas we were discussing
with multiple reports.
Bermuda was supposed to be
a much needed win for Vladimir Putin,
but now it could ring in major problems
to come.
Andre Soldatov says,
I think he is nervous.
Putin learned
that he cannot
trust completely
what his people are telling him.
And you hear and we're
keeping a close eye on
pretty much everything that you've guinea
percussion has been saying
over the past couple of days
and is saying tonight
and he did tonight
come out with another audio message
where he claimed
that his mercenaries
are continuing to move forward
in Bermuda.
However, all this comes
as the commander on the ground tells CNN
that they've killed hundreds of Russians
over the past couple of days
and are advancing in the southwest
and the northwest of Bermuda.
So clearly that in-fighting
already costing the Russians dearly Erin.
All right, Fred, thank you very much.
And OUTFRONT now, retired Army
general and former CIA director
David Petraeus and General Petraeus.
I really appreciate your time.
So you've got you have any promotion.
He is very publicly continuing
to slam Putin's
top generals who are running the war.
Putin publicly
because he is getting away with it.
What do you think is going on here?
Well, Putin has tolerated
dissent to his right wing,
that which is critical of the war
not being prosecuted
sufficiently aggressively
because it plays into what he's
trying to achieve
and he's willing to allow them to attack
his generals,
his minister of defense, to a degree
as long as it doesn't touch him.
But the fact that he does tolerate
this is just reflective
of the undercurrents
of dissent and dispute and,
you know, the drama in all of this,
which is not good for the Russian forces.
It also reminds us that the Russian force
that's on the battlefield
now is relatively incoherent.
You have the Volga group,
the paramilitary,
taking orders from Prigozhin.
They're always listening
to the ministry of defense.
You have the Chechens
and their own chain of command.
And then beyond that, I think, Erin,
you have to look at the Russian
forces themselves and you conclude
they're not well-trained anymore.
If they ever were,
they're not well-equipped anymore.
They've taken enormous casualties
and enormous losses.
Of armored systems and other material.
They're not well-led.
Again, it's
not a coherent structure
and they're not well disciplined.
And by contrast, you see the Ukrainians
who are going to field
now as many
as ten new brigades of 3000
to 3500 troops
each, depending on the type of brigade,
quite well-equipped, especially the six
or more of the armor brigades
that will have the western tanks.
Now, for the first time, infantry
fighting vehicles and other systems.
They've been training hard,
they're well-led,
they're well disciplined,
they're cohesive units
as opposed to just battered
units filled up with individual
replaced ones.
So you contrast again
the Ukrainians with this Russian force.
And I think we're going to see
the Ukrainians
do better than many are assessing
and the Russians do worse
they're going to crumble.
And the question is,
how broad
is that crumbling or the collapse,
if you will, and how significant?
You know, Zelensky today
said Ukraine needs a bit more time
to prepare
to launch the counteroffensive.
But, you know, the UK now
says they're providing those longer range
cruise missiles
to Ukraine,
which obviously could be significant.
And I should note, this comes in contrast
to the US, right,
which has declined to provide
those attack arms
and has,
you know, has refused to do that.
How significant is that and
and I guess it you.
Are you disappointed
that it's not the US doing it
or that the US is not also doing it?
Well, the UK
actually has
led in a number of cases
really since the very beginning, in fact,
before the beginning of the war.
Remember, they were the first with the man portable
and I think systems.
We watched to see
what the Russians would do.
And you know, they sent in
maybe hundreds.
48, 72 hours later
we start plowing in thousands
and the same with the anti-ship missiles.
As you may recall,
there were the first actually,
even though I think the first major
prime minister to visit.
So I don't think it's
completely uncharacteristic
of what has happened
and let's see now if there is a response.
And then hopefully
I'd like to see us commit
to provide the Army
tactical missile system,
which would
take it
from a
150 kilometers to 300 kilometers range
and would put many more of the
logistical bases, headquarters
depots and so forth in Crimea
within range,
especially if they achieve
the kind of success
that I think they will.
And then in terms of of timing.
I think you have to keep in mind
that they can't
really start this offensive
until the ground is sufficiently dry
and solid
so that you can run
track vehicles, tanks
and infantry
fighting vehicles across the countryside
and get off the roads.
You don't want to be road bound.
As you'll recall,
the Russians
were during the attack on TV,
which means you end up
with a 40 mile traffic jam
because the obstacles
the defensive positions
naturally do focus
quite a bit on the major roads.
During a CNN town hall, the former
President Trump claimed
that he could end the war in 24 hours
if he was president.
Of course,
he didn't say whether he wanted
Ukraine or Russia to win,
and then said this
when he was asked
if he thought Vladimir
Putin was a war criminal.
Let me play it for you
I think it's something that
should not be discussed
now, which should be discussed later
because right now we have to go to war.
If you say he's a war
criminal, it's going to be a lot
tougher to make a deal
to get this thing stopped.
The general I picked this portion
because I know that you have called
I've labeled Putin war criminal.
President Biden has labeled Putin
a war criminal.
What do you make of Trump's
refusing to do so, his reasons
for not doing so?
Well, again, it's sort of immaterial
The president of the United States
and all the
other major leaders of the Western world
have labeled Putin the work of let's
you can't put that back.
You can't take those words back.
And beyond that, not only is he
individually overseen operations that are
terrible in what
it is
that they're doing to innocent civilians
and violations
of the law of land warfare,
Geneva Convention and so forth.
It's almost as if they propagate
a culture of committing war crimes.
General Petraeus, thank you so much.
I appreciate your time tonight.
Good to be with you. Thank you.