The places to watch
here right now is back. But why?
Because it's been such an intense fight.
But there are lessons here
for the Ukrainian commanders.
What they are trying to do right now
is encircle back.
And what are the lessons
that they're learning
that that fight in the meat
grinder of the city itself
is a tough fight.
Even the Russians
still having some advantage there
where the fight is easier, if you will.
And it ain't easy, really,
where it is
less bloody than inside the city.
It is outside in the countryside
where it's easier to advance.
There are lessons going on, impact mood
as the Ukrainian commanders here
consider the coming counteroffensive
All right.
On back, much destroyed streets
to Ukrainian soldiers
bolster flagging spirits with dark humor.
This brings oh, that boom, boom, boom.
Is that on us?
One says, oh, no.
The other jokes, we're enchanted.
They're not for us.
Russia's push for the remaining Ukrainian
controlled high rises around them
has not relented,
despite recent successes
taking ground
north and south of the meat grinder town.
In a field hospital nearby.
Troops
concussed by heavy
Russian shelling inside back mud.
How was the fighting back
compared to person in other places?
But with so much callsign wait, a 47 year
old former
warehouse manager
tells us back
mud is his hardest battle yet.
It's hell, he says.
How is the morale at the frontline?
He pauses, sighs and whispers.
Hero. It's hard.
Tanks, too, are getting
chewed up in the back foot meat grinder.
This Soviet era T-72 two blasted
by shelling there,
repairs made in hedgerows
because workshops are getting targeted
to show the shrapnel holes don't matter.
This tank commander tells us
what's important
is the engine of the reactive armor
locations of repair hideaways
like this one
are a closely guarded secret.
Once the counteroffensive begins,
they will be even more vital
to keep the military
and its machines moving from
in a combat bunker buried outside back.
But troops have no idea when or where
the big offensive will come.
The monitoring the battlefield from here.
We can't show you the screens
that they're looking down from drones
as soon as a Russian soldier
puts his head up and moves.
You see the morale here high
because they've recently
made gains
across fields surrounding the town.
Early success
in the coming counter-offensive
will be critical.
The lessons of back mud,
momentum and motivation is all
With the air raid
sirens going off around here right now,
and I've lost track of
how many times they've gone off.
That's because this area
is close to the frontline.
That's because it's incredibly active.
And one of the commanders
looking for
they're looking for Russia
to pull out forces
from from frontlines
to bring them and reinforce back.
And if they do that,
if the Russians
weaken defenses
in some parts of the frontline,
this is where you may see
the Ukrainian military leadership
say, okay,
that's the weak spot now
that's where we can attack.
That's an opportunity
for the counteroffensive.
Right now, no one on the ground
knows that.
All right, Nick,
thank you very much
from eastern Ukraine tonight.
I want to go now to the retired U.S.
Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling,
of course, the former
commanding general of Europe
in the Seventh Army.
So General, let me just ask you,
you heard it, Nick,
saying that
the implication
there is that the soldiers,
they don't know.
They don't know when.
They don't know where.
Right.
The soldiers on the ground,
but that perhaps it may be
that Ukraine is literally waiting
to see where Russia pulls
and moves
troops away
and then
creates the counteroffensive there.
Do you think that's what's happening?
I know that obviously you've written
an op ed talking about
why this seems
to have been taking so long,
this much anticipated counteroffensive.
There was so much, Erin, in Nic's report
just now from a military perspective
that that would be glossed over by any
anyone else.
But but I got to tell you,
what he's talking about is, yes,
they are looking for activity
within the Russian line.
So they can
the Ukrainians
can use it to their advantage.
But I got to tell you,
I believe that the Ukrainians
have already plotted
their contingency operations
for their offense.
They know where they're going to go.
They just want to get some last minute
information, some intelligence,
so they can shape the penetration
All along the front lines,
some of it may be in that Donbass
area near Bermuda.
But I would suggest
that we're talking
about a several hundred mile column
or several hundred column frontage.
They're going to go in
a lot of different places.
But great report by Nick.
Well, an interesting
you say a lot of different places.
I mean, look,
Ukraine is saying just over the past
few days General,
obviously that they've liberated
substantial areas around parliament.
Right.
This is a place that for nine months,
every day was at best,
you know, at best three
or four feet of a gain. Right.
And at worst was a complete stalemate.
So now we've got this new video.
Russian soldiers nearby
Qumu crawling out on their hands
and knees. Right.
You do see some some withdrawal.
Do you think that Ukraine
is making true gains right now?
Yeah, they certainly are.
What we're talking about is,
you know,
I focused on that film that you had
with the soldiers crawling
but the one that was more important to me
was the precision strike
on the electronic warfare on that silo.
Yeah. Russia.
Russia has attempted to pull E.W.
assets closer to the front
to try and interfere
with Ukrainian missiles
and precision guided equipment.
The main target are
those kind of jammers
that can influence
the rest of the battlefield.
And the other thing I'd say, Aaron,
while we're watching
the small tactical fights of soldiers
crawling around.
The most important thing
for General Zelinsky
the commander of the Ukrainian force,
is not only getting his
combat forces forward,
but to quickly
follow them up with logistics forces.
The piece of repairing the tank
in the wood line.
That's exactly the kind of challenges
you're going to have
to make sure those things keep running.
All right.
And now the barrage
of missiles overnight.
Ukraine successfully intercepted
all 18 of them.
Right.
But, you know, we've been seeing this
when there's a missile attack
from Russia. It's just it's an onslaught.
They're throwing a lot at it,
hoping that some breakthrough.
And we understand that
Russia is doing this
even more like they're using
even more missiles in each attack,
you know, again,
to try to just overwhelm
Ukrainian air defenses.
What do you make of this?
In light of what we know to be,
you know,
severe issues on the Russian supply,
right. Military supply.
Yeah.
There is an individual today,
they did a calculation
of the cost of Russia's attack last night
and calculating
the cost of the different types
of missiles,
the drones
the ballistic rockets estimated
it was a cost of about 155 million U.S.
dollars in ammunition
that was fired last night.
Now, the Ukrainians are firing
a lot of expensive equipment
back at them.
But, you know, truthfully,
we've been saying this for a long time.
I don't think
Russia can sustain
this kind of attack any further.
But right now,
they're testing out
where the air defenses are.
Particularly the U.S. Patriot defenses.
They want to see
where those defenders are
and they're going after them.
All right.
General Hertling, thank you so much.
Pleasure. Thanks.