>>> New in this hour, the hearing for evangershkovich.
He last appeared in April and that is when he asked that the house detention be under
house arrest and that was denied a at that point and is under appeal.
He is wrongly detained in Russia under espionage charges, charges that he and the U.S. Government
deny.
>> Thank you, Kate.
>>> And now, Russia's belgorad region is right over the border from Ukraine and geolocated
by CNN, it does show the smoke rising from above the city, and it is rising from here,
and no injuries have been reported from
[10:44:36 AM]
injuries have been reported from the strike.
So as we said, belgorad is right here, and we have seen other attacks here carried out
by a group called freedom of Russia legion, and these are the groups that are fighting
against the Russian government, and they are taking place up here and across the Russian
border here.
We have video that purports to show the aftermath.
You can see the smoke rising here in grayvoron and in kozinka and you can see some operation
here with the military vehicles, and now to talk about this with where things stand, joining
me is David Petraeus, a member of cencom and other affiliations.
[10:46:01 AM]
cencom and other affiliations.
>> Well, they were trying to take over bakhmut which is
one of the winter objectives which was among others that was not achieved.
And focusing on the little militia elements which are pro-ukrainian elements which have
distracted the Russians, and they have to respond to this as we speak, but the bigger
picture is that we are in a moment of transition.
The Russian winter offensive has culminated and it did not achieve all of the gains, the
final quote victory in bakhmut, and on the flanks of bakhmut, the Ukrainians have been
counter attacking and taking them back from the Russians and the head of Wagner saying
that he is going to withdraw his troops from June and give them
[10:47:03 AM]
from June and give them retraining and relaxation, and so even more tenuous as they are claiming
this seemingly victory, but what to look ahead to is this looming Ukrainian counter offensive.
The counter offensive is hugely important, because it is going to be using additional
yucrepe crepe -- Ukrainian brigades equipped with artillery and enormous riding on.
This I personally think that it is going to be quite successful.
I think that the Russian forces have been beaten up badly.
They are not cohesive or coherent in terms of command and control.
The Russian commanders have been replaced every few months and individual replacements
that are not well equipped or trained, and the units are not disciplined and they will
have to draw under pressure of this ukraiian offensive the most
[10:48:06 AM]
ukraiian offensive the most possible tactical maneuver, and I don't believe they will do
well at that.
The Ukrainian forces have not been in combat 15 straight months the way that the Russians
have, and these units have not sustained losses that the Russians have, and they have been
in training in eastern Poland, U.K., Germany and elsewhere and very well equip and disciplined
and cohesive and fighting for Ukraine's war for Independence.
So the implications are going to be substantial.
I think that the Ukrainians are going to do better than a lot of the analysts have assessed
they will which is hugely important because of the overall importance of keeping western
support for Ukraine, and ultimately convincing Putin that he is not going to be able to outsuffer
the Americans and the Europeans and the Ukrainians.
>> And general, this counter offensive has been discussed for quite some time, and more
publicly than many military commanders would like, and what
[10:49:06 AM]
commanders would like, and what is the wait at this point?
>> Well, the wait at this point is two factors.
President zelenskyy is open about one of those, and there are still some western tanks that
they would like to get into the units before they launch this, and the other is significant
as well, because you have to wait for the ground to get dry and firm, and the ground
is still quite damp and moist, and therefore the tanks and other vehicles would get mired
going off road.
And the defensive belts and so far, they are focused on the roads.
So the Ukrainians have to get off of the roads and crack through, and breakthrough the Russian
fortifications, and get through the units that are quite battered and beaten up, and
not particularly coherent.
Then they can achieve the ultimate offensive of separating the ability of the Russians
to resupply crimea along the southeastern coast of Ukraine by
[10:50:06 AM]
southeastern coast of Ukraine by driving all of the way to the sea there.