Ukraine spent basically the first week of the Russian invasion slowing the Russian
advance.
And then we had a couple of weeks of them settling into what became seemingly
a quagmire for Russia, their attempts to take over cities like Kiev.
We're going nowhere, their massive convoy of armored vehicles simply dispersed into
the woods, the portions that weren't destroyed.
And now there's actually evidence that some of the territory that Russia
had taken is being retaken by Ukraine according to the UK,
we'll get to that in a second.
But first, the specifics, the town of mockery of West of the capital in Kiev is
now back under Ukrainian control.
They said that the state flag of Ukraine was raised over the city.
It's part of the fiercely contested suburban areas around Kiev where Russia
made large early advances but then started to suffer problems.
And According to the UK Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian Counterattacks and
Russian forces falling back on over extended supply lines has allowed Ukraine
to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 km east of Kiev.
And they believe that is likely to continue at this point.
And by the way, there seems to be somewhat of an admission of this changing situation
on the Russian side.
With the Defense Ministry official surgery, Rutskoi saying just earlier today
that the main goal of the Russian operation is quote,
the liberation of Donbas.
Which admittedly is what they pretended it was going to be initially.
But it is clear from what they were doing in the first few weeks that their their
intent was to destroy the military capability of Ukraine entirely and
take over as many major cities as they can.
If they are now communicating that they are focusing once again on
just the eastern portion.
That could be a tacit admission of increased Ukrainian abilities and resolve.
Guys, this is an amazing story, look when Russia stalled while doing that,
40 mile line of tanks headed towards Kiev.
First of all, they were headed towards Kiev and they got to 12 miles outside of
Kiev and they were in their clear intent was the circle Kiev, the capital.
They're nowhere near what the Russian minister was talking about,
which is an Eastern Ukraine.
So that is, there's no question he's lying about their original intent.
But when they stalled, we were like, whoa, that is unexpected, right,
nd so it was unexpected by us.
And it was more more importantly, unexpected by Putin.
Putin thought that they would be able to take Kiev in the entire country in
2-3 days.
I don't think even Cheney believed it when he said that the we would be greeted as
liberators in Iraq and they would throw roses at our feet.
I think he was just trolling, right.
And it was so easy to get into mainstream media to go, yes, of course, Iraq.
Iraqis would love when we dropped bombs on their heads.
And that was, but that was clear propaganda in Putin's case it appears to
be propaganda plus a new streaming service.
So it was propaganda plus he actually believed it.
And so they didn't adequately prepare.
So one the Ukrainians did an unbelievable job of fighting, unbelievable job.
And I mean, there's historic resistance, right?
But number two, the Russians had not prepared.
So now there is real evidence, not just propaganda because the Ukrainians also do
propaganda and actually really, really good at marketing.
They've been great at that as well as military resistance.
So I look out for if I do, it's just the Ukrainian government saying it,
I'm like a grain of salt a little salt bay on that one.
I love the Ukrainians, but of course in the middle of a war,
they're gonna do marketing slash propaganda, right?
But now there's actually heat mapping showing where the conflicts are,
where they're actually firing back and forth.
There's other external evidence showing the Russians earn retreat.
They were 12 miles outside of Kiev, there now 20 miles outside of Kiev,
they were going backwards.
And and there are reports that the Ukrainians have now surrounded.
The Russians are supposed to surround the city, but Ukrainians have beat them back
so much, they have now surrounded 10,000 Russian troops.
Now again, this now gets into borderline marketing, who will call it that?
So it's impossible to know in the fog of war, but
at least there's talk of mass Russian surrenders of thousands of soldiers.
So if that happens, so then either Russia's gonna fully retreat and
say, yeah, we meant just to take another province in eastern Ukraine right.
As they're indicating now or Putin's gonna lose his mind and
things are gonna get worse, right?
But holy cow, the Ukrainians aren't just holding down the fort.
They appear to be actually winning the war against Russia, unbelievable.
>> Well there is that they're both tough people.
Like we know Russians are tough, you know, and we know Ukrainians are tough.
I used to actually go to this boxing gym called Wildcard in Hollywood just to exit.
I never got in the actual ring to like even with the headgear,
this nose was not made for boxing because it's just a great target.
But one time when I was in there, this is where Freddie, roach trains manny
Pacquiao, it's like a real pros come in and one of the Klitschko's was in their
training and when he would hit the heavy bag, the whole building would shake.
I watched this guy and I go, if this guy even got close, I would die.
So Ukrainians are tough people but Russians are tough to and
what we're finding out here is with the arms that we've given them,
the west has given them a lot of, you know, military aid and military support.
I think that these that that our equipment is definitely something that's really
helping here, it reminds me of when the Taliban took back Afghanistan again?
And they were like sitting there and like American tanks and stuff and
I was like, no, here we go.
It's you know, we we've armed them and they're able to fight.
And also it's their country,
by the way if any country is going to learn that was America with Vietnam,
we were there for several years and didn't win anything we left.
And so similarly anytime you try to take over a country like this,
I mean Ukraine is a country of 30 I think 40 million people, it's a big country.
And and what's a shame what's heartbreaking at the end is that these
guys are neighbors and there's a lot of Russian Ukrainians and
this just shouldn't be happening.
And yet it is and it's it's heartbreaking.
But again in a weird sick way, I think we all get caught up in we're like, okay,
now I'm rooting for the Ukrainians to kill the Russians, but
I don't want the Russians to die either.
I really would just like Vladimir Putin to disappear somehow and maybe some open
minded leader would come in and go all right, let's find a way to exist together.
But who am I, don't know if I'm in Vancouver where weed is legal.
So maybe I'm high I don't know.
>> [LAUGH] That does sound pretty good.
Legal weed and that, but 100%.
>> So super quick Vitali Klitschko by the way is the mayor of Kiev.
So that hitting the bag is a lot the Russian army right now,
it's shaking, right?
And I just wanna say on the toughness, the Russian people are super tough, but
when your supply lines are cut, you're gonna starve and
there's no toughness out of starvation.
So their those troops, if those reports are accurate or anywhere near accurate,
those Russian troops are in a lot of trouble.
>> Yeah, and we will have to wait, wait and see as you said, and
we have said 1000 times during this conflict,
grains of salt on literally every piece of information coming out of there.
And also Devil's advocate, the retreat can mean many things, it could be a retreat.
It could be that they really do think that they can
accomplish more taking over fully the eastern regions and
then potentially using that as a staging ground for a re invasion.
It could be that they initially sent in logistical support for
a conflict that could last one week and it might have been sufficient for that.
So it might be that they can retreat actually send the additional
reinforcements necessary as well as additional logistical support and
then go back in this can mean a lot of different, different things.
So don't get too excited, but take good news when it comes including this good
news if we could jump ahead a little bit.
According to the Ukrainian government, there has been a prisoner exchange and
the guards from Snake Island they're saying have actually been freed.
In addition to a number of Russian soldiers and
Russian civilian sailors which were transferred back to Russia.
Now, initial reports that said there was a prisoner exchange of soldiers, but
they couldn't confirm that they were the actual ones from that viral story.
Since then, they have said it is actually the same people.
I say grains of salt anyway, but it is good news that they were able to get their
people back and that Russia was able to get their people back.
>> That is fantastic news, those guys are heroes.