Now a CNN exclusive.
The U.S.
observed Russian naval vessels preparing for a possible test
of a new nuclear powered torpedo in recent weeks.
A senior official with direct kn
tells me among the vessels that in those preparations was the Be
It's a cruise missile submarine modified for special o
including launching unmanned und vehicles.
That includes the Poseidon torpe as it's known, seen here.
It is a nuclear powered unmanned underwater
vehicle capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear mu
with a nuclear propulsion system that gives it virtually limitles
In the last week, those Russian observed leaving the tested test
in the Arctic Sea, heading back without carrying out a test.
The U.S.
believes the Russians may have e technical difficulties.
Joining me now to discuss this and other Russia Ukraine news, r
Major General Mark Hertling, for commanding general of the U.S.
Army, Europe and the Seventh Arm general. Good to have you on.
Good to be with you, Jim.
Interesting items we're talking about this morning
No question, this nuclear torped or really underwater
unmanned vehicle here, it's something that Putin himself
touted in his State of the Union address in 2018.
How significant a weapon is this and how significant in your view
they wanted it seems to carry ou here but weren't able to.
Yeah well it's it's we're callin the Poseidon
the Russians call it a Naito cal the status six.
As you've been showing pictures it's about four feet in diameter
about 14 feet long but interestingly enough
it has the capability to go literally a couple of thou
first at a slower pace than at a larger pace or faster
I'm sorry.
It is designed to loiter off of cities and carry a thermonuclear
Now, what I think we're hearing the intelligence community is se
being loaded up on that Belgorod class submarine
it tells me that it was part of the nuclear exercise that Rus
so transparently advertised over the last couple
of weeks, coming back in the por
They may just be transporting it to see what it was like.
Part of an exercise
right now, I
don't think I would put anything more into it
It's not like Russia, in my view is preparing for a nuclear strik
Understood.
And that's to be clear here, a t very different from a nuclear st
And we want to be clear about th
Let's talk about it, by the way, without a nuclear detonation dev
attached to it.
Let's talk about the battlefield now in Ukraine.
Russian forces significantly wit from Hassan, the only provincial
that they were able to capture in this ongoing invasion here.
How significant a loss is that f
And victory for the Ukrainians?
It's pretty big.
And we've been talking about thi for weeks
as the Ukrainian forces have bee attempting to surround those for
that are on the western bank of the Pearl River.
That is where the Russian forces
decided, interestingly enough, to take up defensive positions
with a large river and a wide river at their back.
They have attempted now to get across that river onto th
side of her southern province
and is
setting up multiple layers of defensive positions across th
which you've got to understand i will certainly allow the Ukraini
to liberate some of those cities on the western bank of the Dnipr
But at the same time,
it would be very difficult right for the Ukrainian forces to cond
what would be the equivalent of to get across that river.
At the same time, there is fighting going on elsew
and all of it seems to be in the
of the Ukraine forces.
We have heard some public discus
now of the potential for talks to end this war.
Responding to those talks, you hear Ukrainian officials onc
saying the condition for settlem is that Russia leaves all occupi
territories they're not willing land, in effect, for peace here.
Do you see a change in the attit
towards negotiations, particularly from Western partne
In the U.S.?
And do you see any sort of unsta pressure here on Ukraine to
think about talking?
I do not, Jim.
And I've been
reading the reports in a lot of in magazines and newspapers as w
And I think these are a lot of p saying, hey, there's an opportun
As winter is coming up, the Russian forces have been bea
in several battlefield fronts.
It's time for Ukraine to take a look at that.
I think the Biden administration perfectly clear from the very be
that they will take Ukraine's lead in terms of negotiation.
Now, Mr.
Zelensky has made it very clear he wants to regain the sovereign
of his territory.
Interestingly, including Crimea,
something that will certainly pu
Putin in the defensive position.
But I've got to tell you, Russia has not been very good
in terms of any of the operation they have conducted.
They have continued to fail in e
attempting to regenerate and move their forces around.
So there could be a potential op for negotiation.
But again, I believe the United is going to stand firmly behind
President Zelensky in what he and the Ukrainian people want
There have been some concern among Democrats and frankly, Rep
that I've spoken with it that a win in this election here in the
would if not put an end to make far more difficult to get new mo
new weapons systems to the Ukrai at least get the votes to do so
to spend that kind of money.
It does appear still the Republicans will take the Ho
Do you think that this puts in j
future financial and military as for Ukraine from the US?
It's certainly going to put a di
we may we may have lost.
Sorry. Finish your thought, Mark
You disappeared for a moment. Just quickly.
Yeah, sorry.
We have seen that politics always play a part in funding co
funding operations with a new political body.
There may be additional discussi about that.
And truthfully, Jim, as we all k all of the Western forces
have dedicated a lot of equipmen personnel,
training personnel, as well as ammunition to this fi
So I'm sure that a new group of politicians
believing they're in charge will have more debates ab
But we have been pretty clear about saying we need to defend t
from a values based perspective and the sovereignty of another c