Or you
can certainly
see the anger
and humiliation
on the part of the Kremlin,
certainly also on the part
of the Russian authorities,
as well as quite interesting
because the spokesman
for Vladimir
Putin, Dmitry Peskov,
he came out earlier today
and tried to blame the Ukrainians
for this.
As you
mentioned, these were Russian nationals
going into Russia and doing this.
But the
the spokesman
for the Kremlin
there saying that he believed that
these were Ukrainian nationalists,
and he said that it shows
that Russia is under attack from Ukraine.
So the Russians
obviously using this
to justify their war in Ukraine,
which has been going
on, of course, for over a year already,
as you mentioned.
The Ukrainians, for their part,
completely denying
that they had any part in this, in fact.
Earlier today,
I was able to speak
to the national security
advisor of Ukraine.
And here's what he told me
Interesting.
Obviously,
there is a part of Russians
who are on the side of lights
and who went to deal with the darkness
that exists in Russia now.
What are the questions to us?
I don't understand at all
So as we see a national security adviser
saying they had no part in this at all,
but one of the big questions,
of course, now is what happens next?
Is there going to be
some sort of massive retaliations
after this humiliation
by the Russians, for instance,
another big Russian missile attack
as national security adviser,
that as well.
And he said, look,
the Russians have already attacked us
with so many missiles.
What are they going to do now?
The Ukrainians, of course, also believe
that they are prepared
for any sort of further
missile attacks
that could come on the Russian side.
There are some questions
that are being asked
by the Russian authorities
and by people on the ground.
They're asking why the Russian army,
which allegedly is so
strong, was not able
to protect the border force
There are an important question there.
Fred Pleitgen from Kiev, Ukraine,
thank you so much.
And Brianna,
this is especially significant
because the
Ukrainian counteroffensive is looming
and you have this attack on Russian soil.
Yeah, that certainly plays into it.
And we have retired U.S.
Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson
to talk to us a little bit about that.
What do you see
as the strategy
for what we've seen here in Belgorod?
Well, Brianna,
what this was, was essentially a raid.
I mean, think of Jeb
Stewart in the Civil War
running around the countryside
in Virginia.
These are essentially
Russian sympathizers
with the Ukrainians
that have just raised some hell.
They've got nine armored vehicles.
They drove up about
five kilometers into Russia.
And what they've done is
they've created a lot of havoc.
And you've seen all the traffic,
all the denials and all the issues there.
They're putting the pressure on Putin.
They're showing that
the Ukrainians are strong, resilient,
and they're giving
a very needed shot in the arm.
And the Ukrainians
who are having a tough time now
down and back.
What does it do
to pulling some resources,
Russian resources, away
as this counteroffensive is underway?
Well, that's the purpose of a raid
would be
would require the Russians
to pull troops
out of perhaps down in the back
mud area
where they have like 200,000 troops now
in the occupied areas in the Donbas.
Now they've got to think about
defending their homeland
and they've got to pull some troops out,
bring them back into Russia
and so that's a
that's a great operational victory
for the Ukrainians.
Can you talk to us about
some of the shaping operations
that you were seeing and what that means
during this counteroffensive?
Yes, well, what they're trying to do
is they're trying to prep
for a counteroffensive
in the way that they're doing right
now, is they're doing intelligence
prep of the battlefield
on this 600 mile front right here.
But they're also using high margin
and long range artillery
to strike the logistics knobs and the
the hubs in the rear,
the headquarters facilities, etc.
They're trying to shape the battlefield,
trying to prep for
find out where the Russians are weakest
so they can
launch some kind of a counteroffensive.
Talk to us also about these F-16s
Obviously, we've heard a lot about them.
Ukraine has been asking for them
and asking for them.
European allies
say the Ukrainian fighter pilots
are already training on these.
We are expecting
these are going to be supplied
by European
allies with the blessing of the US.
Is it a game changer, though?
It's not a game changer,
but it is a very strong
strategic message.
It's showing once again, U.S.
and NATO is behind the Ukrainians.
They're not going away.
And what they're trying to do
is trying to help the Ukrainians
conduct those deep strikes
that they just talked about.
This is a very capable aircraft.
It's a much better aircraft
than the MiG 29.
It operates better, faster and insists
things are so long.
This is the inside of the MiG right
And if you compare this to the F-16,
you'll see that the visibility,
the F-16 is much better, much better.
So it's a better aircraft,
but it's been around since 1979.
Guess what that means? Maintenance.
It's got maintenance requirements.
And the United States
need to do something about that.
Maintenance repair parts.
We need to put experts
on the ground in Ukraine.
We need to have American contractors
from General Dynamics and others
there helping the Ukrainians
sustain these aircraft.
Because if they're going
to win this offense,
they're going to need
a lot of logistics power
and they're going to need to have
air coverage over the entire battlefield.
Obviously, a huge reticence to do that.
We see no indication
that that is happening.
General,
thank you
so much for taking us through this.
We do appreciate it.