there will be no armagen, ukraine will face a difficult period, but it will not lose, the head of ukrainian intelligence , kyrylo budanov, said in the bbc intro, so i... what will the summer be like on the ukrainian front? this is what the next 15 minutes of the bbc broadcast live from london. in the studio of dzaferov. kyrylo budanov is one of the most public heads of military intelligence. he gives many interviews, in which he often makes optimistic forecasts for ukraine and predicts the collapse of russia. for example, last summer he said that the armed forces of ukraine will soon be in crimea. and in exclusive interview with my colleague, correspondent. oksana torop, kyrylo budanov

said that his predictions did not come true due to a change in circumstances, and about crimea he added that his units were still on the peninsula. but regarding this summer, the forecasts of the head of gurg are not as optimistic as before, but according to him , ukraine will not lose. look, we are facing a rather difficult, in our opinion, a difficult situation in the near future, but it is not catastrophic, this must also be understood. ot. armageddon will not happen, as many are now beginning to say, no, but trouble from within in may, you and i will talk about the front , including the front, this is a complex approach, because the russians will use a complex approach, they are conducting a complex operation, we will not talk about it for a long time with you, but it will be a difficult period, the middle . may, beginning of june. the language is also about

the internal situation, socio-political language about everything. it's about everything. we 've been through tough times several times, and we'll get through it, believe me. nothing, well, extraordinary, will not pass. all their plans, well, in advance to us famous. how to react to them? most have an answer. yes, there are certain questions that are, well, difficult. will break us, but we will find an answer, as always, at the last moment, we will come up with something. watch the full interview on our bbc news ukraine youtube channel and remember to subscribe to our channel and comment. we talk more about the front with the director of the independent platform new geopolitics research network mykhailo samus, and we are in touch. i congratulate you. kyrylo budanov says about, i quote, the difficult situation since mid-may, this about through three weeks, what exactly is

a difficult period, says budanov? well, actually, russia started their offensive, or let's say this phase of the offensive, back in october of last year, it's explained very simply, they calculated that because of the actions of the united states congress, they would have a window of opportunity while they could try to break through the front , how many resources they invested in it, how many lives they threw there... of russian citizens, it is very difficult to even count, all this is visible, and there are a lot of confirmed facts, they did not achieve this goals, and after the decision is now passed by the house of representatives, and we hope that in the coming days the final decision will actually be taken by both the senate and the president of the united states, after that the conditional period of closing the window of opportunity begins, and logistically speaking, when the optimal level is already. .. and american aid, and

european aid, because there is both a czech initiative and european programs, the production of the same ammunition, then it just falls, let's say, at the beginning of june, and of course, that russia will try to break through the front just during may, seize the time, for example, to concentrate instead of five directions, as now, on one direction, it is possible, and it really, of course, will be difficult ... home for the armed forces of ukraine , when we still won't receive help, and the russians will understand that this is their last chance before the presidential elections in the united states to change something and somehow break through or turn the situation around at the front, because then this window of opportunity closes for them and ukraine is already getting opportunities to first strengthen its defenses, and then we will see, maybe there will be opportunities for rather bad surprises for the russians at the front from the ukrainian command. mr. mykhailo,

please stay in touch, the situation at the front is difficult, it is caused primarily by delays in the arrival of western military aid, and here we already have significant ones. weekend moves in the us house of representatives approved a long-awaited relief package that many viewers called critical for of ukraine, the majority there are republicans, and now the last stage is the senate, where the majority are democrats, they have to approve it and it is expected that they will do it in an accelerated mode, and ukraine will be able to receive the first batches of aid within a week. volodymyr zelenskyy says that this aid package will give ukraine a chance to win. moscow has already condemned the us decision and said that america is plunging further into war. more in the material of the bbc correspondent james waterhouse. the production line is waiting for the president's signature. these artillery

the shells just came off the assembly line of the plant in the state of pennsylvania, usa. now they will almost certainly end up on the ukrainian battlefield, where instead of shells there are gaping holes. after america returned to supporting ukraine, they say this: you do it, and we will apply it properly. shot, shot! near kupyansk in the northeast, the russians are getting closer and closer. right now it's better to let them attack and we'll defend, but when we get the shells, drones and everything else from this package, we can change the situation. there is hope that this one is... american aid would save ukrainian lives and cities like kyiv, but the wait was painful. well , the guys need help, it's because they have nothing to protect us, they need weapons, they need equipment, they need it,

we always need help, of course, not in writing, in any case help is needed, and was it later sooner or later, we saw empty ones here. the flood of diplomats trying to pave the way for this bill to pass is better late than never, that's the reaction we heard this weekend, never would mean almost a 100 percent defeat for ukraine, but the delay still means that it will be difficult for kyiv to immediately change the dynamics on the battlefield. while the west hesitated, russia continued its invasion. now ukraine has to make sure that neither moscow nor the west has doubts. that with american support it will be able to restrain the pressure of the russian troops, and we return to the conversation with the director of the independent platform new geopolitics research network mykhailo samos, here is the help of the united states, as

you said, a window of opportunity, to what extent russian successes at the front depended on the delay in aid, but it just so happened that europe woke up. and felt, let's say, the maturity, the responsibility that she has to ensure and the security of the european continent and help ukraine only after, apparently, the united states started delaying aid, and this saga with the delay, it actually dragged on since october, so actually indeed, european aid, which will start working, as i said, already around june. it will help us a lot, but ukraine cannot do without american help would receive capabilities, i.e., combat capabilities that would give ukraine the opportunity to reverse, try to reverse the course of this war and again seize the initiative on the battlefield and conduct

offensive operations, therefore, in principle , before the house of representatives made all such decisions, we were there are many versions, many scenarios, the anchor... whether the war lasts or not, i generally have this kind of feeling that the west has tested us again, and maybe we will give up, and maybe ukraine will now stop and say: that's it, we are no longer we can to continue, the united states does not help, europe cannot help yet, so let's stop this war already, and ukraine continued to fight, ukraine did not give up, russia could not stand. campaign headquarters and trump and biden regarding how ukraine should be treated. now everyone supports ukraine, although until the last moment we remember what the candidates from the side of the presidential candidate, trump and other

supporters of his, shall we say, those around him, said, so now the situation is being corrected, ukraine will receive the necessary help and there will be an attempt, there will be an attempt to change the situation at the front. thank you, thank you, mykhailo samus, from the new diapolity xx research network platform, was in touch with us. thank you. so how, and in what way, will the critical united states aid affect the frontline? it will change the trajectory of the conflict, the analysis from the former representative of the us state department on ukraine, kurt volker, further. this aid will change the situation, and primarily it is about providing ukraine with the ammunition necessary to maintain the front line. the only reason that russian the troops have made some progress in recent months is the lack of ammunition for the ukrainian military, so this will be corrected. secondly, it will replenish the popular systems. or the air defense systems that ukraine has to protect kyiv, odesa and

other cities, which is also critical as air defense munitions are running out, but most importantly, this package appears to include the longest-range artillery systems that the us can provide for attacks, as well other long-range systems. this will allow ukraine to reach deep beyond the line front to attack the russians. supply lines that russia uses to support its forces on the ground, to continue the war, and to maintain control over crimea, so giving ukraine these longer-range systems will be absolutely critical to changing the trajectory of the conflict. if ukraine can destroy the bridge over the kerch strait, which connects russia with crimea, disrupt the supply lines through southern ukraine and will continue to threaten the port. sevastopol, i think that it will be increasingly difficult for russia to hold crimea and southern ukraine. i

i believe that this is a realistic task for the next year, provided that we provide them with such systems. the current package approved by congress should last until the end of this year and before the us presidential elections. so 60 billion dollars to help ukraine. the long-awaited package is about to be signed, but for... what will this money go to and what are the primary needs of the ukrainian armed forces? former nato security analyst patrick bury said. in my opinion, the issue of air defense is the most urgent now. we heard that, according to zelenskyi they need seven more air defense systems. according to our estimates, ukrainians have from three to five advanced systems, such as patriot or european aster. and what they need. but twice as much and it quickly shows how critical the situation with air defense is,

and if you lose the ability to protect your skies, then first of all your railway infrastructure and power system come under attack, and without railways and stations it is difficult to supply troops to the front line, and secondly, the russian ground forces and their air forces the forces are becoming bolder, we can see this on the example of the temporal ravine, for which the battles are now being fought, in fact, due to the weakness of air defense. and then we obviously need ammunition, artillery shells of 155 mm caliber. the czechs are well done, found on the open markets, i hope the usa will now also send from their arsenals and deliveries will be coordinated by nato. and then there remains the problem of people, mobilization, and here the ukrainians are trying to solve it, but they have not yet done so. the us bill is designed to last until the end of september, which gives an approximate. about how long americans plan to support ukraine, and if

you look at most of the weapons, you can see the following: ukraine is now on the defensive, which means that the new us package is of a defensive nature, it is designed to support the fighting capacity of the ukrainians in the next six months, to give them the opportunity not to lose territory when it comes to long-range attack missiles, everything depends on the type of warhead with which they will be equipped. ukraine asked for tough battles. warheads to target important infrastructure nodes of the russians. the us must decide whether to give them such warheads, or smaller long-range attacks, but this will be almost the only offensive part of the package. the ukrainians are already striking in the russian rear, in the black sea of ​​the russian refineries for purposes that have strategic depth. but so far, it only creates embarrassment for the russians, and does not cause strategic pain. that's all for today, take care.

greetings friends, the second part of the verdict program is live on the espresso tv channel, my name is serhii rudenko, in our second part. let's talk about american aid. congress of the united states of america on april 20 voted to provide $61 billion in aid to the ukrainian state, will the united states of america save ukraine, the world, and itself. why elon musk found himself in hysterics, and dmitry medvedev in yet another

binge, we will talk about it all today and analyze what. happened during the last week. let me remind you that we work live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms. for those who are currently there watching us live, please subscribe to our pages as well take part in our survey. today we ask you the following question: will russia dare to use nuclear weapons in a war with ukraine? yes, no, please vote with the appropriate buttons on youtube and write comments under this video. if... you're watching us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote if you think russia will dare to use nuclear weapons in a war with ukraine (0800-211-381, no), 0800-211-382, all calls to these numbers are free. and today, a two-party delegation visited ukraine

delegation of the congress of the united states of america, which the congressmen talked about. our correspondent kateryna halko knows ukrainian officials, she is with us live from kyiv, kateryna, i congratulate you, thank you for joining the broadcast, please tell us what the congressmen came from the united states of america with, what they are saying about help, about , how quickly this aid will reach ukraine, and in general, what is the mood of american congressmen? greetings, serhiy, greetings to the viewers of the tv channel. press, so after half a year's delay, the ward representatives of the congress of the united states of america finally decided and approved an additional aid package for ukraine worth 61 billion dollars, and immediately after the adoption of such a decisive and perhaps even historic package for ukraine, both republicans and democrats visited kyiv to discuss all this, including with

the president of ukraine by volodymyr zelenskyi, about which we were told and noted that he very... clearly explained that if it were not for this help, it would be incredibly difficult for ukraine today. we, of course, asked about when will this help reach us, and unfortunately we did not receive such answers, we were told that it could be days, months, or something, because they, like us, have a clear, clear schedule for providing or receiving such unfortunately, there is no help. we also asked why it took so long to pass, we were told that it was important to ensure certain amendments to such a bill, in particular we talked about and noted this ripo act, as they say, that is, the possibility of confiscating russian assets in favor of ukraine, as well noted that it was important to help not only us, but also israel, taiwan, etc. let's hear more in the comments now. to answer

your question about timing, it will be faster than anyone thinks possible. met with the 82nd airborne division this morning, we talked to our people, they were preparing for this, they weren't just waiting, they were prepared, and the weapons will be here faster than i think any military could mobilize, to get it we all know that putin xi and the leaders of iran interconnected in decision-making and making sure that we stand up and say... this is a long package that includes long-range attacks that should be allowed, repo law, you can take russian sovereign assets, lendlease, tiktok, i have on keep in mind that this is a very strong signal, so actually, regarding the filling of such a package, it was also noted that there will be

a different arsenal of weapons, and assault rifles, and artillery, and whatnot. also noted that they took this decision for so long, the problem was not in ukraine, for example, they also sent to the fact that they adopted their own budget slowly, and republicans and democrats unequivocally talked about the fact that this is a historic decision, i will note that tomorrow this package will be considered in the united states senate and they promise that it will be significant, significant rather. that's all the information we have for now, so serhii, i'll give you ether. thank you kateryna, it was kateryna galko, she watched how the united states congressmen today communicated with the press and ukrainian officials and explained the decisions. was passed by the united states congress of the united states of america on april 20, well, actually kateryna mentioned that most of the congressmen who came to the ukrainian

capital talk about the historicity of the decision of the congress of the united states of america, and the speaker of the chamber hopes for this historicity, or that history will appreciate this step representatives of the congress of the united states of america, mike johnson, that's it... mike johnson himself, who for a very long time could not put this question to a vote of the congress of the united states of america, he said that it was impossible, that it was possible there only under certain conditions, and already after the vote he declared that he had done his job despite the possibility that it might cost him his position and rejected the objections that the process was being delayed. let's hear what johnson said. the house of representatives had a lot of important work to do, and we needed to secure funding for the government in our appropriations process. we needed to reauthorize the

foreign intelligence surveillance act. we had a lot of important events and we got to it as fast as we could. i think you have heard from leaders all over the world that it is is done on time. the house should have had time to think it over and get it right. i think that... we have done our job here, and history will judge it accordingly. you know, when the speaker of the house of representatives of the united states of america talks about the historicity of this decision, he first of all talks about the historicity of the decision for the united states of america itself, not only for the ukrainian state, rather, not only the future of the ukrainian state will depend on this decision, but and the future of europe. the future of the north atlantic alliance, the future of the united states of america and the fact that they allocated 61 billion dollars, most of which will remain in the american economy,

that is, this money will go to finance defense programs, which will then come to ukraine in the form of atakams missiles, other weapons, this is also an indicator what the americans could do sooner. this decision and to vote for this decision, because it is truly historic, i say that not only for ukraine, not only for europe, not only for nato, but also for the united states of america itself, well, it must be said that 61 billion dollars - this is not such a large amount for the defense budget of the united states of america, because this year the defense budget of the united states of america was approved in the amount of 886. just imagine this figure: 886 billion dollars, this is 39% of the total world military

spending, that is, the united the united states of america is a sufficiently strong, large state that can produce enough weapons and support countries such as ukraine in the war and... give this assistance without too much trouble for its defense budget. i will remind you once again 886 billion dollars per year is the defense budget of the united states of america. however, this is against the background of what the congressmen who flew to the ukrainian capital immediately after the vote on the bill on providing aid to ukraine and this euphoria reigning in washington said. completely forgot about another bill that was voted, or rather, it became a law, a document that was adopted by the house of representatives of the united states of america under the number 8038 on

the use of frozen russian assets for the benefit of ukraine. it is about the fact that this one the document gives the executive power the ability to confiscate and transfer to ukraine frozen russian assets stored in the united states of america. eh, the american press estimates the size of these assets at $8 billion, although literally half an hour ago i had the former minister of foreign affairs of ukraine volodymyr hryzko on the air, he says that the russians keep abroad and that these assets, in particular in the united states of america, can reach trillions, trillions of dollars, and we are talking about the fact that most of these assets the americans are still... still afraid to move, but how important is this bill on the freezing of russian assets, that it creates a precedent for other countries in the world, it creates

possibilities. for the use of money in other states for the benefit of the ukrainian state, it is meant to seize the funds that belong to the russian state, putin's russia. this bill, this relief bill, the senate has to pass on april 23rd, and we look forward to that vote and hope that this vote will be positive for ukrainian state. well, the radical trumpists, who were against the provision of this aid to ukraine, did not support the bill on the aid of the united states of america to ukraine, the representative of the republican party from the trumpist camp, taylor green, who made a number of absurd amendments to the bill on aid to ukraine, criticized the document during the discussion in house of representatives, let's see how it went.

united states taxpayers have already sent $113 billion to ukraine, and much of this money is not taken into account this is a continuation of the sick business model run by the american government. the federal government continues to fund the military-industrial complex. and it's a business model that requires congress to keep voting money, to keep funding foreign wars. and this is a business model that americans do not support. support a business model built on blood, murder, and war in other countries, while this same government does nothing to secure our border. after the vote , taylor green showed disapproval a gesture that she does not support the decision of the house of representatives. what is interesting is that during this vote in the congress of the united states of america , victoria sparts did not vote in support of this bill, she is...

a former ukrainian woman who is now working in the house of representatives of the united states of america, she says that this bill did not promise security at the border, and the implication is that this bill did not address illegal immigrants in the southern united states of america at the border with mexico, and it said that i... didn't vote for it, because it's unfair and it shouldn't be done that way, well , imagine, a former ukrainian woman who was born in chernihiv oblast, became a congresswoman in nosivka, and she spoke out against providing aid to ukraine from the united states of the states of america, and the congressmen who were born in the united states of america and who represent the american people decided

to... give military aid to ukraine in the amount of 61 billion dollars, and victoria spascia has a lot of questions, of course, as a former compatriot of ours, and although it is clear that she is trying to please american voters first, not ukrainians, and probably the answer lies on the surface here. on the eve of the vote in the congress of the united states of america, donald trump spoke for the first time about the need to increase support for ukraine, and this is actually reflected in his post that he wrote. what he says: how is it that the united states is spending $100 billion more than europe on the war in ukraine, despite the fact that we are separated by an ocean. we all agree that survival and the strength of ukraine should have been more important for europe than for us, but it is

also important for us. well, you see, trump... in the year of the presidential elections in the united states of america is trying to balance between different groups, between different opinions on providing aid to ukraine, and of course he, as they say, is in ukraine and not yours, and not ours, that is , he chose such an average public position, but still the congress despite the opposition, despite the delay of this support. provided this assistance to ukraine, or rather, voted for providing it of this aid already at the end of this week , the first weapons after the vote in the senate and the signing by president biden should reach the ukrainian state, this is a very important decision, friends, because it is actually very difficult to oppose russia, which has...