Tonight, Ukraine intercepting
a barrage of cruise missiles over Kiev
throughout this day,
breaking a nearly 80 day pause
in air attacks on the capital city.
Many homes on the ground
damaged by that debris.
It comes amid
growing fears of the battlefield
impact as Congress
is set to break for the holidays
without passing billions of dollars
in new aid for Ukraine.
Nick Paton
Walsh is OUTFRONT from eastern Ukraine.
The ground is turning hard,
even hostile,
as winter sets in,
but Ukraine appeared
bullish Friday,
releasing these drone images of strikes
on Russian positions
in the hotly contested
eastern town of Africa.
These boots are made for the light
bravado of the soundtrack,
belying real Ukrainian anxieties
that Russia's slow
and brutal grind forwards in this town
and elsewhere
may be
what persists in the savage
cold of winter,
not Western unity behind Ukraine.
As US Congress stalls
in approving vital aid.
Fears echoed
in renewed dawn destruction Friday,
Kharkiv here hit hardest, perhaps,
but across Ukraine, an old terror
returned to the skies.
Cruise missiles fired
at an array of targets,
including the capital.
Ukraine said 14 of the 19 fired
were shot down.
Only debris hitting Kiev.
But as they surveyed the damage,
the White House is warning
that air defenses would be
perhaps the first impacted when U.S.
aid ran out.
It was surely front of mind,
less fracture and debris in Moscow
where in a year of surprises
for the Kremlin, Friday had none.
Vladimir Putin,
prompted by a Russian
occupying soldier,
saying he would run again
to be Russian president.
Still,
after facing down
a coup and military setbacks in Ukraine,
he said he had thought twice about it.
I won't deny it, he said.
But at different times
I had different thoughts.
This time, you're right.
It is the time to be decisive.
Like nearly everything
in Russian politics,
it was as arranged
as the results in the March
vote will likely be.
Also on hand in Moscow
was Iran's president, Ebrahim Raisi,
one of the few world
leaders who will still shake
Putin's hand.
His dreams have aided Russia's
bombardment of Ukraine's
cities all summer,
and now winter
has left Putin walking surprisingly tall.
John, the last announcement from
the Pentagon was $175 million of aid
towards Ukraine
that would assist, yes,
in high Mars
targeted missiles,
potentially javelin to
the anti-tank missiles.
But it's really a paltry
sum compared to the billions
we got used to hearing every other week
of U.S.
aid for Ukraine.
They're deeply concerned, frankly,
about what may happen on Capitol Hill.
We don't have total transparency
in what money is left.
But this is exactly the time
that Ukraine needs Western support most.
The counter offensive didn't
do what they had hoped.
Russia seems to be finding its feet again
on the front lines
and this winter is bitter.
It's going to help nobody.
But it's certainly not a time
in which Ukraine can hope to move forward
decisively John.
Important reporting.
Nick Paton Walsh on the ground for us,
thank you.
Let's go OUTFRONT now
with retired Army General Ben Hodges.
General, let's try to split the
political statement here
with the life and death questions here.
One week until the Senate leaves
for the holiday.
Congress not close to an agreement
as we speak tonight.
Some in Congress
think Ukraine actually could
aid, could go away for good.
If they can't figure this out.
Let's deal with that.
What do we know?
Nick Paton
Walsh said
it seems to be a bit of a mystery.
What do we know about the stockpiles,
the warehousing right now
in terms of what
they have left for
anti-aircraft missiles?
What's in the pipeline?
As in when does this become
not just a political debate
but a life or death situation
on the ground?
Well, first of all,
if the Ukrainians
were only able
to shoot down
14 out of 19
drones and rockets
that came in last night,
that's a lower percentage
than they have been
knocking down in the past.
That could be a combination of factors,
but I think that's an indicator.
And of course, the Russians
are going to fill the sky
with drones and rockets
in the coming weeks.
I would imagine
there is a real shortfall
of air defense weapons.
You say shortfall.
And to that point, you said, right,
you think Russia will fill the sky.
How much
and how can Putin exploit
this uncertainty?
Well, look,
I am sure that President Putin knows
that his only hope of winning
is that the West quits.
That we lose the will to keep doing this.
And so that's why he's willing to expend
hundreds
and hundreds of lives of his own soldiers
everyday in places like F.D.A.
doesn't care
how many he loses,
but he knows that
wears down the Ukrainians
and it drags out this war.
And so whenever he sees things
like what's happening
in our Congress, the inability
to deliver the aid
that's needed,
that is oxygen to the Kremlin, for
it reinforces their belief
that they're on the right track.
That's that's a real problem for Ukraine.
And maybe it's
also a real problem for us.
What do you make of Putin
announcing today
that he will run for reelection?
That would be his fifth
presidential term.
I read that as him
knowing this moment of uncertainty,
essentially telling the Ukrainians,
I'm not going anywhere,
even though
some of your friends are wavering.
Do you see it that way?
Yes, of course.
A dictator is
never going to give up power.
I mean, he's
I don't think he had a retirement plan
or plan to go off to Sochi
and live out the rest of his years.
This is
this is not a guy like most dictators
or autocrats that easily give up power.
So it's not a surprise
that he would announce he's staying.
Clearly, he feels more confident
now than maybe he did a few months ago
about the direction of the war.
And that's why I think it is so important
that the president,
our president, has to explain
to the American people
why this is so important.
This is not some far off border fight.
This is important for American prosperity
and American security.
And if our president were to say
we are committed to Ukraine winning,
that would derail Putin's strategy for
a lot more.
Let's have a general
just grateful always for your time, sir.
Thanks so much.