Kyiv says Russia is switching
on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Moscow unleashed a massive barrage
of missiles and drones across
Ukraine on Thursday,
leaving at least six people dead
and more than 20 wounded.
But Kyiv says Russia did something
new five
different types of missiles and drones
at the same time,
including some missiles
that Ukraine can't shoot
down, such as Russia's hypersonic
Kinzel weapon.
Ukraine is now saying that Russia's
use of hypersonic missiles
are evading Ukraine's defense systems
and adviser to Zelenskiy.
Put it this way
They're about the defense systems of the
they say they are not coping well enough.
What do you make of that?
How big of a problem is that?
Well, Kate, I think it's a huge problem
because, you know, the systems
that we designed are not good at all
against hypersonics.
And, you know,
part of the big problem that we have is
not only does that impact the Ukrainians
who are involved in this war, of course,
but it also impacts us.
We really have to get
ahead of ourselves here with developments
that would allow us to better track
and better
take care of a hypersonic weapons.
And that's a very difficult thing
given the fact that they travel
at a minimum
five times the speed of sound.
So this is a critical component for us.
For the Ukrainians.
Let's bring in now Mark Esper,
the former defense secretary
under President Donald Trump.
Thank you for joining us, sir.
The Ukrainian energy minister
says that Russia used a deal
using a new tactic in this
very large scale
offensive against Ukraine's Ukrainians.
What does this tell you
about the strategy right now?
When you are doing all of these cities,
they seem to be bombarding them.
The strategy seems to be ramping up.
Well, the sense is, what
was it
that the attack in the last
24 48 hours was retribution
for an attack allegedly committed
by the Ukrainians within Russia.
And so the the Kremlin's response
was to hit them
hard with 95 plus missiles
to use a range of ballistic
missiles, hypersonic cruise drones.
And what you find that
when you dig a little bit deeper
is that they're actually using air
defense missiles
and anti-ship missiles
to attack Ukraine's infrastructure.
And it tells you that their stocks
seem to be fairly depleted.
Now, kudos to the Ukrainians.
It looks like their energy
infrastructure is back on line today.
And it just shows you
that it shows you the resilience
of the Ukrainian people
when it comes
to these unwarranted attacks
on their infrastructure.
But when it comes to these
hypersonic missiles that they're using,
you know, they used I think it's six.
So far
in this latest attack,
they have barely used anything like that
in the entire last year.
So what does it say to you
that they're ramping up
hypersonic missiles?
But also the concern is
we were talking to John Kerry say
Ukraine has nothing
that can knock those out of the sky.
Right. Look, they're very hard to defeat.
They travel at five times
the speed of sound, up to ten times
the speed of sound.
Very difficult to knock out of the air.
It's a challenge
that we in the United States
military, we're looking at as well,
because we know that China
is also developing hypersonic weapons.
So it's going to remain a challenge.
The fact that they haven't used
more of them is surprising.
But this
again, calls for the need to Ukraine
to get the air defenses it needs.
I don't think they still have patriot
air defense systems,
not that patriot
could defeat hypersonics,
but still there's much more
we need to give and provide
the Ukrainians
in order to beat back
the Russian assault. Yeah.
Would that
be problematic, though,
for America, for NATO, by giving them
that, won't they?
I guess what Putin will see it
as any act of aggression,
anything that NATO does
is an act of aggression anyway.
Well, we've already committed
to providing patriot
we actually have
Ukrainian soldiers
reportedly in Oklahoma
training on the system.
But it takes time to train.
It takes time to deliver the systems.
Another European allies
providing systems as well.
But again,
these were things that the Ukrainians
were asking for months and months ago.
And it's a shame that they
don't have them yet.
Same goes for tanks and F-16s.
But on the F-16,
You know, I'm fascinated by this
because we are seeing a real split
between the US and Ukraine on this,
because President Biden is saying
they've done the assessment.
They don't think Ukraine needs them.
Zelensky is telling, Wolf,
they could be make or break
to the outcome of the war
that they at least want to have
the Ukrainian pilots training on them.
Is it a mistake
for the US not to do it, in your view?
Well, sure it is.
You know, President Biden said a few weeks ago,
no, no, no, no, no.
We now understand that Ukrainian pilots
are being evaluated here
in the United States to do so.
There are also reports
coming out of the Munich
Security Conference
that the United States top
general in Europe,
Chris Cavaliere,
the supreme
allied commander, told lawmakers
that, yes, F-16s
would make a difference
for the Ukrainians.
And it's obvious they need a platform
to conduct
strikes against
Russian elements in Ukraine.
It would very much help
with our Ukrainian counter-offensive
that hopefully will be launched
sometime in the coming months.
But sure,
they need advanced fighter aircraft.