Putin has ‘failed’ by not taking Kharkiv since his invasion of Ukraine began | John Herbst

Putin has ‘failed’ by not taking Kharkiv since his invasion of Ukraine began | John Herbst

but point of fact you know harv is only 30 kmet from the Russian border the fact that Moscow never took harv since this big Invasion began yeah yeah um we’re going to talk about Ukraine now lot’s been going on today president zinski their defenses need to be strengthened around car that’s Ukraine’s Second City as Russia targets the surrounding region in a new offensive zinsky told Anthony blinkin the United States Secretary of State who made a surprise visit to ke on Tuesday that Ukraine needs at least two air defense batt iies for the northeastern city which is being pummeled by drone and missile strikes I want to discuss with you about some today uh about some I think very important issues uh the first the decision of the package was crucial for us is very important to get it as quick as possible and the second one at point is air defense the biggest deficit for us I think that the biggest problem yes and uh and uh we need really we need today two patriots for harv for har region because they are the people are under attack civilians and warriors everybody there under Russian missiles John Herpst is the director of the eria center at the Atlantic Council and former US ambassador to Ukraine John good to speak to you nice to speak with you um there’s a lot happened here today you know um the US Secretary of State Anthony blinkin said that you know Russia must pay to rebuild what he’s destroyed in Ukraine um but he’s also said that uh that the the the support that’s required is actually coming um they’ve been asking for this support for for a long time are Ukraine getting exactly what they need to protect kke um it’s clear that the almost seven month delay and a large Aid package to Ukraine has enabled Russia to take additional territory from Ukraine and to launch a more effective aerial bombardment of Ukraine’s infrastructure and aerial bombardment of the city of harv uh the problem there can be laid at the feet of some populist Republicans in the house who have no clue how important the defeat of Russia and Ukraine is to American national interests but it’s also true that the Biden Administration has been slow in sending Ukraine more advanced weapons that it is needed at every stage of the war since the large Invasion which is now what 26 almost 27 months old um if we had provided Ukraine with substantial f-16s um a year ago the Glide bombs which are wreaking havoc on harv right now yeah would not be in play because they launched by Russian jets in Russian territory if Ukraine had f-16s and permission from the United States to attack Russian military in Russia that’s attacking Ukraine the siege of harv would not be such a problem not so many ukrainians would be dying it’s also worth pointing out following up on what zalinsky said about Patriot batteries that the United States has dozen of Patriots American Allies have dozens of Patriots when Russia began its massive bombardments in the late fall of 2022 the West finally decided to send Patriots to Ukraine protecting Kei Ukraine needs another nine or 10 right now so far despite the big bombardment that began two months ago we have not seen more Patriot batteries arrive in Ukraine although Germany is now promising to send some that’s one small step forward more needs to be done it’s been a dramatic week though hasn’t it I mean you you talked about there about the bom bombardment of of Ki but some of the surrounding Villages populations of 20,000 30,000 people have been evacuated over the last couple of days uh it’s Ukraine’s Second City it’s it’s the cultural heart of Ukraine but this is also a new route of attack uh by the Russians on Ukrainian territory isn’t it John they they they they they’ve still got what’s going on in the dbass but is this Central to the campaign to take more territory or is it trying to to take away um trying to be you know a diversion if you like to what’s going on in the dumbass um I think the Russians will take back any territory they can whether it’s in the Northeast around harv or whether it’s in this in dunos to the South or whether it’s um south of south of hon in Mainland Southern Ukraine uh but point of fact you know har is only 30 kilometers from the Russian border the that Moscow never took harv since this big Invasion began is a failure yeah yeah but point of fact there’s there are several flaws important flaws in American policy right now uh the administration says Ukraine cannot use weapons we Supply to hit Russian military Targets in Russia right now you have mass Russian forces on the border with Ukraine near harv in Russia which Ukraine cannot attack so the incremental gains Moscow is making that’s all that they’re making are enabled by American restrictions not wise restrictions timid restrictions on Ukraine use of American weapons and again if Ukraine was able to shoot at the Russian jets in Russian territory which bombarding harv fewer Ukrainian citizens in harv would be dead John the ukrainians always are those shooting into into Russia though aren’t they they they’re getting further and further I mean some of the the military installments that they’ve hit over the past six months uh have been close to Moscow with their own weapons and of course the Brits have wisely told Ukrainian they Ukrainian storm to attack into Russia but let let’s face it the best weapons um and the greatest quantity of weapons come from the United States so when we put restrictions the impact on Ukraine is larger why is the US putting those restrictions on simply because they’re fearful of a of a wider conflict um that has been the Principal reason and Moscow has had some success with nuclear intimidation we have self-d deterred in ways what I would say Unbecoming a superpower and against our interest by taking Putin’s Bluffs as reality of course we have to consider seriously when we are in a confrontation or when our allies or Partners in a confrontation with a nuclear power but we have never in our history for this conflict had senior Administration officials say they cannot take measure X or measure y because the other side may go nuclear that’s a posture of weakness which um undermines American Security and of course means additional destruction and death in Ukraine yeah can can I just ask you before you go about Anthony blinkin who’s been in Ukraine today talking about you know Russia paying to rebuild what it’s destroyed in Ukraine in Ukraine of course Russia directly is not going to pay what he’s talking about here is Russian assets I mean how how much money is there that can be moved from Russian Assets in order to pay for the enormous cost of rebuilding that country the estimates right now is that Russia has inflicted about half a trillion dollars worth of damage on Ukraine I suspect those estimates are on the low side and of course in a in a year those the estimates will be much greater because additional conflict means additional damage uh but there are over $300 billion worth of Frozen Russian State Assets in the International Financial system the administration is actually U among the leaders in the West in calling for the steps taken to transfer those assets to Ukraine um the UK and Canada are also I would say sympathetic to that but the other members of the G7 are very timid and unwi unwilling to allow the transfer of anything but the dividend payments yearly roughly three billion dollars to Ukraine uh the Biden Administration has come up with an idea they would enable the transfer immediately of $50 billion um even Bolder and more more Visionary thinkers like Philip Zelo former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Rob zelich call for the simple transfer of the 300 billion to Ukraine in relatively short order and also to some others who have been negatively affected by moscow’s aggression in Ukraine it feels like something we’re going to be talking about a lot more more doesn’t it all those Russian Assets in the coming months and how quickly they get transferred over John absolutely great to have your your Insight tonight we really appreciate you taking the time thank you bye bye John herbs the director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council former US ambassador to Ukraine um fascinating to hear what he was saying about those assets isn’t it that there is still some hesitancy is there any way you can put it between some G7 countries about transferring Russian assets so that’s assets money seized from Russian companies or banks in foreign countries outside of Russia and using those billions of pounds billions of dollars to pay to rebuild the parts of Ukraine that have been destroyed by Russian military attacks you feel that there’s going to be plenty more to talk about on that issue why it’s being held up for

“If Ukraine had F-16s and permission from the United States to attack Russian military in Russia, the siege of Kharkiv would not be such a problem.”

The fact that Putin has never taken Kharkiv since this invasion began is “a failure”, despite Zelensky asking the US for stronger aid defences, says former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst.

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