Igor Zhovkva, welcome back to the program.
I know you're not going to go
into a lot of military detail,
but what can you tell us?
We write that
you're making incremental gains
Look, Christiane,
sorry, I will not be really hear
much more in detail.
This is my speculate topic.
In many media.
I will tell you,
I will just repeat my president
saying that some counter offensive
actions are already under way.
We will not release
and certainly not command in public
in which exact places
and what the gains are.
My president said you will seal it.
Definitely.
And also he added
that the mood of military commanders
who are in charge of
this operations are very positive.
And, you know,
when the mood of generals is positive,
you can count on very promising results.
So let me ask you, because as we said,
the NATO's
secretary general is in Washington
meeting with President Biden,
and he he'll be
holding these meetings tomorrow.
And clearly, the state of the war,
the state of the material
that NATO is providing will come up.
We understand that there's been quite
a lot of American
like Bradley
fighting vehicles, for instance,
that were destroyed by the Russians
in the first wave
of the counter-offensive.
I'm asking you this
in terms of trying to understand how
everything that you've been
given so far is measuring up
Well, you
certainly understand
the important role of Western materiel,
the Western
the weaponry and ammunition, which is of
great need in Ukraine
when we're
preparing the counter offensive.
What really, you know, wanted
this level of ammunition and weapons
would be on enough quantity.
But you certainly understand
when you are at war, you're not,
you know,
have the ammunition
somewhere in the war houses
or the artillery
in stockpiles by using them.
We were using them
when defending our territory in
in the east.
We were using them before
when we were having the counter-offensive
around Kharkiv. And he had a stone.
And we will be using them.
And definitely
we will need
more in order to gain the successes
the counter-offensive would be successful
and the success would mean deliberate
in as many parts
of Ukrainian territory as possible.
And yes, for that,
we will need more artillery
and ammunition.
Yes, we'll have the will need more
battle tanks and armored vehicles.
Yes, in the later
phases will definitely need
the fighter jets.
We are talking with you
ahead of the Rammstein meeting this week.
So it will be very important
for the defense ministers
to get concrete decisions on further
providing all of these kind of weaponry.
So my concern
in order to have
this counter-offensive successful.
So that's really interesting.
What you say
the objective is to win
back as much territory as possible
because in the past
it's been very clear
that you want to win back
every last inch of territory,
including Crimea, and of.
And regarding these
the defense ministers
meeting in Ramstein.
Your own defense minister,
Resnick, of has said the expectation
of this counteroffensive
is overestimated.
Overheated.
Most people are waiting for
something huge, I would say.
That is my main concern.
How much pressure are you feeling?
Is it overheated?
What do you define as success in this
in this counteroffensive?
Now, once again, this is not
the first counteroffensive operation
we were having and definitely
probably would not be
the last counteroffensive operation.
The ultimate goal of the counteroffensive
as a process
is to win back all the territories,
including the Crimea.
So here you can not have any speculations
and any doubts.
And this is the ultimate goal for the
for the
for the general campaign,
for the general counter-offensive.
Well, as we are talking
now, the concrete operation and again,
I will not comment
on where this operation is going on.
So obviously,
the part
where this operation is going on
is to be liberated
as well as the other parts
of Ukrainian territory
should be liberated, including Crimea.
So but I can agree that, you know, these
speculations are overheated
because you might remember
that the first person to announce
the Ukrainian counter-offensive
this time was President Putin.
Strangely, he's
announced a note
about his counteroffensive,
but about Ukraine's counteroffensive.
So an interesting tendency.
But once again, please,
Christiane,
to avoid any speculations
and misunderstandings.
The ultimate goal
of Ukraine's counter-offensive campaign
is to win back
all the territories of Ukraine
into the Crimea.
And once we see that our partners who are
and we will stand with Ukraine
as long as it takes.
And when we hear from our partners
that only the Ukrainian authority,
Ukrainian president,
Ukrainian people
who will describe it,
define this scope of their victory.
We are agreeing with these Ukraine's
Ukraine will have the understanding
of the ultimate victory for us.
It is very clear to liberate
all the territories of Ukraine.
So I hear you keep saying
the ultimate aim.
The ultimate aim.
So it's not
tomorrow is not next week
and it's not in the next couple of months
maybe to get back Crimea.
I say that because you
yourself mentioned President Putin.
I just want to play a little clip
of what
he told
Russian people today on Russia Day.
Acknowledge
you know, that it is a difficult time.
Let's just listen to what he said.
What's new here?
Russia is based on faith and people,
people who go from victory to victory
by basing their lives on all their work.
On faith.
Faith in victory.
Faith and justice.
Faith in Russia.
So, as you said, your morale is high
and the morale on the battlefield
among the commanders,
he is saying the same thing
and that the faith is very strong there.
What's your reaction to that?
You know, unlike Russia,
we can demonstrate the clear
successes on the battlefield.
I think throughout the last eight months,
once again,
we started with the liberated areas
around Kiev and in the north of Ukraine.
Then we came down to
east of Ukraine, Kharkiv and the area.
Then it was Harrison
and the most part of the southern
areas of Ukraine.
This is what is on the battlefield.
So we managed to liberate
more than 50% of the territory
captured by Russia
during this open aggression
started in February last year.
So very simple.
We will continue on the same path
with the same
with the same level of success.
And this is due to our armed forces.
And this is due to the support
of the Western community
rendering to us
the necessary level of resistance,
the necessary level of weapons
and ammunition
you have last night,
like the Russians
have a lot of your
in your case,
your best people on the battle
on the battlefield.
The deaths are very, very tragic.
And I'm sure it must cause
a huge amount of pain to you.
And your government and to the families.
But also you are undergoing
a terrible humanitarian crisis.
What is the situation around face on
the flood waters And
is it is it
under control or
is that dam still compromised?
Well, after this terrorist attack,
the Russians made it on their own.
The damp
air on the grass of hydropower plant.
There was a clear act of terrorism.
They mined this territory immediately
when they kept it
in the beginning of open aggression
in February last year.
And they were planning it
and they did it exactly on this time.
I don't know, maybe
fearing of possible
Ukrainian counteroffensive
in the east part of our territory.
But what we're having now,
we are liquidating in the aftermath
of the immediate aftermath
of this of this
of this terrorist attack
was saving people.
Almost 3000
people are saved on the control
part of Ukrainian territory.
Unfortunately, the situation
on the uncontrolled part
of Ukrainian territory
course in the region
is much more difficult
because these are
those areas
which mostly were affected by this flood.
And unfortunately,
more than 25,000
people are still in poor conditions
on this uncontrolled part.
And Russians would not take any action
to evacuate people
nor the allowing internationals
that useless to approach to the areas
and to save the people or
just give them elementary conditions
for leave it.
But as far as the Longer-Term
aftermath, of the disaster
is our concern.
We can only calculate them
when the water will go down
and where we can, we can
we can be thinking of that
in several days.
This will be the case.
And the day
after that
we will count and collect
what the aftermath will be
for the food security of of the world.
Because this
where the most arable land
well situated on the south of Ukraine.
What will be the aftermath
for the environmental situation?
What will be the aftermath
for biodiversity?
What will be of the aftermath
for this operation nuclear power plant,
the golf cart
as that was what
the main source
for all of the reactors in this operation
nuclear power plant
and here
where the international community
should help us not only to,
you know, to examine the aftermath,
but also to bring to justice
those people.
And this leadership
was responsible
to make of this
terrible ecocide
in the 21st century Yugoslavia.
Thank you very much.