← Ukraine: The Latest
Ukraine: The Latest
Top Russian general who ‘orchestrated’ poisonings shot in Moscow & fears of new arms race as US-Russia nuclear weapons treaty expires
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- [00:04]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
The telegraph.
- [00:09]
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David Knowles
What do you have to lose?
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Terms.
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ACAST Announcer
ACAST powers the World's Best Podcasts Here's a show that we recommend.
- [00:49]
Tim Spengler
Leadership used to mean having all the answers, but today's best leaders embody a more human approach.
- [00:54]
Brock Biermann
I'm Jack Myers.
- [00:55]
Tim Spengler
And I'm Tim Spangler.
- [00:56]
Dominic Nicholls
Tim and I have spent our careers.
- [00:58]
Brock Biermann
Inside media, marketing and culture and we.
- [01:01]
Tim Spengler
Partnered with the ACAST Creator Network to start Lead Human to answer one simple question. What does it really look like to lead in this AI dominated world?
- [01:10]
Brock Biermann
The biggest tip for being a creator?
- [01:12]
David Knowles
It's a job.
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Brock Biermann
What I learned from Michael Jackson Here's a man who understands precision. It's about answering the questions that are hard, not about answering a bunch of teed up questions that are fake.
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Tim Spengler
What we're looking for are real stories and practical advice that you can use with your teams right away.
- [01:29]
Brock Biermann
Subscribe to Lead Human with Jack Meyers and Tim Spengler wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:36]
ACAST Announcer
ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.
- [01:48]
David Knowles
I'm Francis Dernley and this is Ukraine. The latest today after an apparent assassination attempt on a senior Russian general in Moscow, we examine the major Russian bombardments across Ukraine that followed the second day of peace talks in Abu Dhabi. Are the United States, Ukraine and Russia any closer to a ceasefire? We then hear from an NGO delivering vital humanitarian supplies to Ukraine's frontline cities and speak to the head of a municipal hospital in President Zelenskyy's hometown.
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Dominic Nicholls
Primary takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory.
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Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
Russia does not want peace.
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Dominic Nicholls
If I'm president, I will have that.
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David Knowles
War settled in one day.
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Dominic Nicholls
24 hours.
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Brock Biermann
We are with you.
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Dominic Nicholls
Not just today or tomorrow, but for 100 years.
- [02:52]
Brock Biermann
Nobody's going to break us. We are strong. We are Ukrainians.
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David Knowles
It's Friday 6th February, three years and 349 days since the Full scale invasion began. And today I'm joined by our Associate Editor of Defence, Dominic Nicholls here in the studio in London. And dialing in from Ukraine, Brock Biermann of the NGO Ukraine Focus and Vitaly Gorbulinsky, head of one of the municipal hospitals in Kryvy? Ri. But first as ever, over to Dom for the latest in the military realm.
- [03:21]
Dominic Nicholls
Well, thanks Frances. Hi Brock. Hi Dr. Vitaly. So this morning's rush hour in Ukraine was marked by air raid sirens sounding across the entire country as Russia launched another mass missile and drone attacked. Just before 9am local time this morning. Russian drones were seen over Poltava, Cherkasy, Kivarad, Dnipro, Petrovsk, Sumy, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia also hit by glide bombs. That's basically the central third of the entire country. If you look at the country, put a north, south, that middle third, that's it, that's where all the strikes happened overnight. Ukraine's air force said Russian Mig 31s, that's a twin seat supersonic aircraft capable of carrying those Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. They said they were active in Russian airspace and high speed missiles were, were reported heading towards Kremenchuk in Poltava Oblast, basically very much in the center of the country. In total, 297 of 328 Russian drones were brought down. However the remaining drones and seven missiles got through. At least four people were killed, 15 others injured. This comes from local authorities speaking this morning. The deaths were in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetros Oblast. Now then, as you heard at the top there from Francis, a senior Russian general who was accused of orchestrating the Salisbury poisonings here in the UK has been shot in an apparent assassination attempt in a Moscow apartment. He was shot by an unknown assailant. Several shots were fired we're told at Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeev this morning according to Moscow's Investigative Committee. Now this is the latest if it is an assassination attempt and I think it's fair to say we think it probably is. Latest attempt on the life of a top military figure in Russia involved in the war in Ukraine. Now reports say that he was rushed to hospital and the gunman fled the scene. Russian Media Channel shot is reporting quote, the killer was waiting for the Lieutenant General of the Russian Defense Ministries today near a residential building on Voloklamskaya Highway. Now I would be cautious about that term killer as there's been no death confirmed yet. I've seen Reports saying that it's understood the general is in a critical condition in intensive care. I also hear that the shooting occurred inside the residential building as opposed to near it. So just be careful of some of the reporters you're seeing. Now, according to local reports, an unidentified man opened fire on the general in the stairwell of his building, which is along the Volokolamsk highway that runs basically northwest out of Moscow Center. These reports, as I say, none of them been independently verified, so just treat with caution. Barza, a telegram channel known for its close ties to the Russian security services, however, reported that doctors were working to save the general's life. Now, Alexev is the first deputy head of the Russian Military Intelligence Department, otherwise known as the GRU. He served in the role since 2011, has been sanctioned in the US from 2016 for organizing malicious cyber activities during the US presidential election of that year that saw Donald Trump win his first term in office. The Kremlin reportedly awarded him the title of Hero of the Russian Federation the following year. Now, the UK and the European Union have accused Lieutenant General Alexei of overseeing the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury in 2018, which targeted Sergei Skripal, a Russian double agent with Novichok nerve agent. He and his daughter survived. However, local woman Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three, was killed. Now sticking in Russia and blackouts and heating outages were reported this morning in Russia's Belgorod Oblast after a reported overnight missile attack that damaged key energy infrastructure there, including a thermal power plant and an electrical substation, according to local authorities. Now, Vladyshaf Gladkov, who's the governor of Belgorod Oblast, said there is serious damage. I went to the scene. Although as local residents also reported disruptions to television and communications services following the strikes, I question quite how widespread the power outages were and how much impact there was on civilians also connected to Russia. The mother of a Kenyan man who was duped into fighting for Russia and sent to the Ukrainian front line as a human bomb has said it's too traumatizing to watch video footage of her son. Now, as we covered a couple of weeks ago, the story you'll remember, it was this Francis Enduro, who's 35. He was filmed in Russian uniform with a landmine strapped to his chest. It was reported he had been ordered to run through no man's land, basically as a suicide bomber to target Ukrainian fortifications, or there's no way of verifying if that was actually what he was there to do. Now, the Russian speaker in the video, we could hear him hurling racist insults and kicking Francis, saying that he'll be used as a can opener to breach Ukrainian army positions. Well, Mrs. Nadura, his mother told CNN, I didn't see it. That's the video. It's too traumatizing. I'm appealing to the Kenyan and Russian governments to work together to bring those children home. They lied to them about real jobs and now they're in a war with their lives in danger. She said her son is a trained engineer, but he was unemployed and living with her on the outskirts of Nairobi when he paid $620 to an agent to facilitate his move to Russia to seek work there. Once in the country, however, he was forced into military training and deployed to Ukraine just three weeks later. Oleksandr Scherber, who's Ukraine's ambassador to South Africa, recently spoke to the Telegraph and said that Russia is using Africans as meat for the meat grinder by tricking them into joining the war. Now other footage has emerged showing Russians mocking African soldiers that are in Russian military service. One video allegedly shows a group of new African recruits in a snow covered forest singing songs in their own language and. And then the Russian soldier filming it says, look how many disposables there are. And laughingly adds, they will be singing differently once they are deployed to the front. Now a story by Joe Barnes running today has become a bit of a hardy perennial. France wants Britain to pay up to 2 billion pounds to join the European Union's latest plan to arm Ukraine. Brussels is set to begin discussions with the government here in London about being part of a 90 billion euro loan to Kyiv after the European Union reached an agreement in principle to allow the UK's arms industry to bid to win contracts from the war chest. From the 90 billion loan. Of that 90 billion, Ukraine's going to be able to use 60 billion to fund weapon purchases over the next two years. The rest is going to be used for general budgetary support. And in early discussions about how much the UK could be asked to contribute, France was said to have suggested a number between 10 and 12%, which even I can work out really what they're aiming for there of the entire interest bill. That interest bill is currently running to about 24 billion euro over seven years. So let's say 10% of that. You're talking two and a half billion, give or take. The original plan put forward by the European Commission saw Kyiv using the fund to purchase weapons from its own domestic industry or EU companies. With Emmanuel Macron, the French president, at the heart of efforts to make The EU strategically autonomous, keep the money inside Europe. However, the Germans and the Dutch along with others, but they were in the vanguard. They argued that the scheme should be opened up to other allies, especially Britain, in order not to hamper Ukraine's ability to defend itself, to buy the best stuff. Now, to be clear, this is a 90 billion euros loan. It is different from safe. You'll remember the Security Action for Europe scheme. That was a scheme whereby EU member states could bid for military contracts from a 150 billion euro pot. Now, an EU diplomat said it was important to avoid a repeat of negotiations over safe, which Britain didn't join after a group of countries led by France insisted on a 6 billion euro membership fee to do so. Now, it is an EU scheme, SAFE is an EU scheme, so it's obviously fair to charge non members for access. But as I've said before, Canada has joined, was only charged 10 million euro. So expecting Britain to start to be charged 6 billion seems a little unfair. I suggest the British government, you'll remember, walked away from the negotiations with Brussels refusing to budge. And this is the interesting bit, not that the rest of Joe's story isn't interesting, but they refused to budge from a 2 billion euro compromise offer. Now that was safe. And that 2 billion is suspiciously close to what Britain is thought to have offered to join this 90 billion euro loan scheme, I. E. To pay 10% of the interest, which comes to about, as I said, two and a half billion. So, referring to potential talks for the UK to join the loan scheme, one EU diplomat said the onus is on us to make sure the commission doesn't make the fee punitive. Many member states learned a lesson from SAFE and will not give the commission so much leeway this time. A British government spokesperson said, our support for Ukraine is ironclad. In total, the UK has committed 21.8 billion pounds in support for Ukraine through military and fiscal assistance. We will link to that in our episode notes. And just finally for me, Francis, I point folks to a story in Euromaidan Press that says Russia has destroyed 60% of Ukraine's gas production. This is the title of the article. Russia destroyed 60% of Ukraine's gas production. So where does Ukraine get gas now? Well, turns out the answer, according to this article, is America. American liquefied natural gas is being sent to Ukraine through the same southeastern European pipeline network that for decades carried Russian gas in the opposite direction. So a company formed by the Greek construction group actor owning 60% and the state gas supplier, deeper commercial owning the other 40% are going to deliver about 90 million cubic meters of LNG to Ukraine's NAFTA GAZ starting in March. The gas will arrive at a Greek terminal near Athens and travel north through Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova before getting into Ukraine's system by what officials call the vertical corridor. Now that is the same trans Balkan pipeline infrastructure through which Russian gas had been flowing south through Europe. At an Athens energy conference in November last year, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Greece had been at the end of a pipeline of a Russia dominated energy supply system. Today, Greece becomes a launch point, the entry into Europe for American energy trade. Interesting what's happening there with America. Huge investment into lng, particularly down the east coast of the States around Jacksonville, all that and it's coming this way. But we'll put a link to that in our episode notes as well.
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David Knowles
Well, thanks very much Dom, for that. It's interesting that story. I remember when we were in the United states back in September 2023, I went and spoke to one of Trump's former officials, quite senior in the first administration. And she said, and bear in mind back then it seemed very unlikely that Trump would return, that the United States wanted to be an energy exporter to Europe. And so we are in a sense seeing more of that in the Ukraine context. But whether it's a happy offshoot versus a deliberate policy I think remains to be seen. But we started yesterday's episode with the second day of talks in Abu Dhabi just concluding. We didn't have any readouts at the time of our broadcast, but we have one now. So the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Umarov, described the two day talks as constructive, with the delegations discussing ways to implement a ceasefire and monitor the halt in hostilities. President Zelensky said that the next trilateral meeting will take place in the near future. They discussed everything. He said the delegation believes the information is very sensitive so they want to come to Ukraine to share the details. If the next meeting is agreed upon, there is a chance to continue the dialogue which we certainly hope will lead to to the end of the war. So not masses of details, it seems the only tangible thing to have come out that we know about is that prisoner exchange that Dom spoke about yesterday. Now, after that second day of talks, the US European Command announced Washington and Moscow had agreed in Abu Dhabi separately to resume high level military to military dialogue between the two countries. This is that channel of communication that was suspended in the fall of 2021 months before Russia launched its invas. Now people will have different views on how welcome. That is fundamentally, if the severance of that dialogue was a punishment for Russia's invasion and conduct during the war. Again I return to the question, what has Moscow done to deserve any alleviation? It's worth bearing in mind that there is a school of thought that any dialogue such as this is serving Moscow's interests because it enables them to continue the waging the war while stalling further action from Ukraine's Western allies, as the latter waits to see what the consequences of the talks are and dare not do anything further for fear of being accused of harming the negotiations. Another advantage for the Kremlin is that the more Russian officials talk with Steve Witkoff and the US delegation, the more opportunities they have to dangle business ties and other opportunities to try and proverbially extend their hand. Just take this example. The Kremlin said yesterday it regretted the expiration of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the U.S. that's Newstart. Following our broadcast, President Trump declared that he was against keeping its limits and wants a better deal, to quote him, rather than extend newstart, a badly negotiated deal by the US that aside from everything else, is being grossly violated. We should have our nuclear experts work on a new improved and modernized treaty that can last long into the future. But the Telegraph understands that the US and Russia agreed on a handshake in Abu Dhabi to work together to replace the treaty and to continue to observe the terms of it beyond its expiration for at least six months whilst a new one is negotiated. So again, that is a positive for Moscow with new start another form of diplomatic leverage giving them the opportunity for dialogue with Washington that will last months, all while they pursue the their war aims. Meanwhile, in another exclusive story for the Telegraph, Russia secretly shipped billions of dollars in cash to Iran to help prop up the regime. A state owned Russian bank started deliveries totaling around $2.5 billion to the Islamic Republic just days after President Trump imposed punishing sanctions on Tehran during his first term. Nearly five tons of banknotes were sent in 34 bulk shipments over a four month period in 2018. Each one was worth between $57 million and $115 million. Trying to visualize how that looked. But it said bulks. But I imagine that's a lot of briefcases. And it was sent between one of the core banks in Moscow and Iran's Central Bank. These covert payments reveal an even deeper relationship between Russia and Iran than previously known. With Moscow and Tehran circumventing sanctions and traditional payment methods to keep the Iranian regime afloat, a regime that sees, of course, the US as its number one enemy and which is currently slaughtering thousands, tens of thousands of protesters who were promised support from President Trump, but then none came. Someone who has received the support they were promised, though, is Hungary's Viktor Orban, with Trump publicly endorsing him ahead of Hungary's upcoming parliamentary elections in April. Highly respected Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban is a truly strong and powerful leader, trump wrote, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results. He fights tirelessly and loves his great country and people. He also credited Orban with strengthening ties, writing that relations between Hungary and the US Reached new heights of cooperation and spectacular achievement. I was proud to endorse Viktor Orban for re election in 2022, and I'm honored to do so again, he said. Now, given Orban's working relationship with Putin and fraught relationship with Brussels over its support for Ukraine, this will come as another blow for Zelenskyy, albeit an expected one. I eagerly await to see the Hungarians condemn Trump's intervention, saying he's interfering in their election, as they did when Ukraine's foreign minister said he hoped Orban would lose, sparking that row earlier in the week. As yet, though, nothing from Budapest. But to end with some brighter news for Kyiv, the US Pentagon is trialling attack drones for new contracts that should total about $1.5 billion, inviting two Ukrainian drone makers to take part. As the Kyiv independent reports, a February 3 notice listed 25 companies invited to take part in a competition as the intro to the drone dominance programme. One of the firms invited is General Cherry, one of the largest producers of the FPV drones in the country. Other Ukrainian firms selected is Ukrainian Defence Drones Tech Corps, but the Kyiv Independent couldn't find any record of that entity in the us, Ukraine or eu. Round one will consist of a competition called the Gauntlet in Fort Benning, Georgia, the largest army training facility in the US and home of, among a number of relevant units, the Expeditionary Warrior Experiment, which in recent years has tested new drone tech. Following that phase, the Pentagon says it will order $150 million worth of prototypes from successful competitor. The budget, as I say, is pretty expansive across all phases in pursuit of what they term competitive iterative cycles measured in months, not years. So an opportunity for the Ukrainian military expertise to be celebrated in the US A rarity these days.
- [20:56]
Dominic Nicholls
What was that company you said nobody had heard of?
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David Knowles
The Ukrainian Defense Drones Tech Corps?
- [21:02]
Dominic Nicholls
Defense Drones Tech Corps? No one's ever heard of it before?
- [21:07]
David Knowles
No.
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Dominic Nicholls
Okay, yeah, Go and see if it's incorporated in Mar a Lago.
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David Knowles
Let's have a look, shall we? One for us to do after the broadcast, but we turn now to Ukraine and our guests dialing in from the country as we speak. Welcoming back to the podcast. First of all, founder and CEO of the NGO Ukraine Focus, Brock Biermann. You may recall that I joined Brock and Ukraine Focus, traveling across Europe to Ukraine, delivering ambulances back in 2024 and stopping off at the Omaha Beach 80th commemorations. It feels like a lifetime ago, Brock, when we heard President Biden saying those remarks about the sacrifices that have been fought for on those beaches were the same as being fought for in the trenches in Ukraine. But we are where we are. First of all, perhaps you could just give us a summary, Brock, of what you've been up to in the last few days. I know you've just arrived in the country.
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Brock Biermann
Yeah, we've been here for two days. But thank you very much for the opportunity to talk to you today and tell you a little bit about what's going on here. But I do want to ment that we still have a great alliance. We had half a dozen volunteers help us drive our vehicles across Ukraine all the way from Zhesh. And right now I'm in Krivori. One of our volunteers is here. She's from South Africa. Her name is Kim Hervey Percy and she's been on three missions. We had a volunteer from Australia. We've had Polish volunteers. We still have a strong alliance. We're coming back in May with 50 more ambulances. But for this mission we delivered fire trucks, vans and some anti drone units to protect the ambulances that are being attacked. But right now we are in Crevarie where we delivered a container full of 45 ICU beds to a children's hospital. And I'm here with the director of that hospital to talk a little bit about the conditions here because they are appalling. And I took a very quick tour around the hospital just moments before this program and I saw all of the damage that's being created by the Russian missile attacks. And it's just outrageous and it's criminal and it's just hard to imagine what's going on. In fact, the doctor just showed me a video of a child that they had to remove what looked like a high caliber bullet from the child's. I'm not quite part, by the way, I should tell you, he's a surgeon too, Francis. But what's going on here is tragic and I'll end with this before you start asking questions and get a chance to talk to the doctor. Since the beginning of the war, we've been here for four years. I have not seen a more important time to support Ukraine with the resources because of all of the things that have been going on from the increased missile strikes, the drone attacks. Last night we were in Kyiv and the missile attacks were going on our way here. The missile attacks were going on during the daytime, and we're just constantly on the alert for these types of attacks that is draining the resources and energy infrastructure and really putting the lives of kids, families and everyone here in Ukraine at risk.
- [23:53]
David Knowles
Well, thank you, Brock, very much for that overview. And of course we'll link in the show notes to those who are interested in learning more and supporting Ukraine Focus. But I'd like to bring in Dr. Fatali here now, and his daughter very kindly is going to help us translate. Doctor, could you, could you just give us a sense of the situation there at the moment in Kriviri? It is somewhere that we talk about quite often on the podcast, a frontline city. But you can give us, I think, more details of just about how serious the situation is.
- [24:22]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
So nowadays the Kriviri is the southwest base for the Ukrainian region. So it's a core for the people to receive this help, for militaries, for civilians. So this region is crucial for health. So here the situation is quite much severe than it used to be. The hospitals, they are a base for the civilians of Dnipropetrovsk region and Kherson region, not only the city. The power of these missile attacks is increasing and we see that we have overloading of the people that need help. This hospital is a cluster and it's divided to two clusters for children and for adults. It provides a unique health for the children. So it's the only place where children can gain this help. In the whole city and region. It's surgeon department, urgent help and neurological help. According to this, all the victims of the Russian attacks, they were faced with our help. So they were all directed to these hospitals because they are core of this help. So that was the only place where they can receive this help. And nowadays we have the list of actions that we have to do in terms of urgencies, in terms of emergency cases as well. Amount of these attacks is increasing day by day, but we are supporting by the generators, but some power stations that helps us to keep our hospitals running. And the people in this hospital, they are still receiving this help and we are doing our Best to make the situation controllable.
- [26:01]
Brock Biermann
And can I just add something really quickly? I think it's really irrelevant, Frances, is that even before the war began, this area was strained. This is a mostly industrial city. It's not the richest part of Ukraine, if you will. And I visited these hospitals and some of these rooms house five beds for the kids. And some of these beds, as the doctor was saying earlier, are 40 or 50 years old. When I say bear skins and knives or stone knives, I'm not exaggerating. So the need here is not just because of the war, it's exaggerated by the war.
- [26:32]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
So just a personal note from the director of the hospital. If we left alone with all these things that happening on the one to one with the war, it's very difficult for doctors to make this help to make the surgeries, but they would do their best. But without you, we don't know what the result we will gain in 2022. We were left alone if we wouldn't receive this help from you. But with the help of volunteers of Western and the city mayor organizations, with all this help, you save a lot of lives. Thanks for your help.
- [27:07]
Brock Biermann
And I would just add, Francis, regardless of what people are hearing in the United States, we are getting support from small communities like Eastern Pennsylvania and the Westchester Sunrise Rotary Club, who donated the money to fund this container. I'm talking about a small community in Pen, Pennsylvania that donated the money to send those beds here. And then the United Congress Committee of America, which is the largest Ukrainian diaspora organization, they sent 31 generators here. The Ukrainian community is strong in America. The community support from average and everyday Americans is strong. And it's coming not just from major cities or major population areas, but from small communities like Westchester.
- [27:49]
David Knowles
Well, that certainly speaks to what we see in our inbox every single day from listeners in the United States who emphasize that they are not the government, they are not the White House at the present moment. And our listeners, certainly in terms of our numbers in the United States have remained very strong despite everything going on. So thank you for that point. Brock, one more question for the doctor before I bring in Dom here, who's also got a couple. Is this the most serious moment for you in the war in terms of how serious things are there at the moment? Is this the most precarious time? Because the reason I ask that is, is that I think there is an assumption in certain parts of the world at the moment that we are at a stalemate and that things are not as severe as they were, say in the first Months of the war. I'm just interested in your perspective on that.
- [28:40]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
That's. Nowadays the situation is, I would say the most moderate for all the period of the war. That's mostly due to the weather conditions and also for the drain resources and also increasing amount of missile attacks. So we all the time will see how the resources of energetics hit in. They're just decreasing from time to time. And it's severe time for not only for hospitals, but for all the people. So for civilians it's just sitting and waiting when it will be better. But we have started preparing for that from the beginning of 2023. We prepared the operators, they're just helping to support these hospitals. Running heating system, separate systems that just started to prepare it and now it's running with the help of different kind of help you send to us that beds, urgent accessories we receive from our partners, new urgent cabinets. So everything was prepared from the beginning of the war and now it supports now.
- [29:50]
Brock Biermann
And Francis, can I just mention one unique thing that I've seen this trip we've all heard over the course of the last several months. The talk about giving up parts of Ukraine as part of negotiation. Right. What I have seen is a renewed commitment and resolve by everyday Ukrainians to push back on that. There really is, if you will, a renewed pushback and fight against Russia. Because from the everyday average Ukrainians that we talk to, you can see there is absolute renewed passion in their eyes that has brought back anger because of this discussion to give up parts of Ukraine.
- [30:28]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
And just a slight note that due to your help, thanks to your help and the help of our partners, we have the electricity in the hospitals all the time, every day, 24 hours per day. But civilians, they have approximately five hours of electricity and heating per day.
- [30:47]
Dominic Nicholls
Brock. Dr. Vitaly, hi, it's Dom here. Thanks so much for joining us today. And thanks the whole team you have over there. Dr. Vitaly, may I ask what are your medical priorities right now and how close are you to running short of critical supplies?
- [31:03]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
The first priority is children, that the children's help, the support of children's hospital because it's rehabilitation after traumatization. The missiles attacked and then they agreed then rehabilitation and supporting of the operational blocks, surgeon blocks. That's the crucial thing. That's lights, high quality light, operational tables and surgical calculator.
- [31:30]
Dominic Nicholls
And are you close to running out of vital equipment and supplies?
- [31:36]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
We are not running out, but we need more of these supplies because we have have more and more help that we have to provide to the civilians at the same time, we are replacing the old one because we are still working with the old equipment. So receiving the new one, we are just replacing the old one and just starting to improve our situation in the hospital. It's mainly about the high quality of the services, maybe I would say efficiency of that and efficiency, because it's also quick. It should be quick, efficient and as soon as possible. That's the reason why we're focusing on the replacing new equipment.
- [32:14]
Brock Biermann
Some of the equipment I've seen is almost as old as I am. So. And let's just say that I was born in the 60s. So the bottom line is the efficiency is the real need.
- [32:23]
David Knowles
Right.
- [32:23]
Brock Biermann
And that's what we're looking at.
- [32:24]
Dominic Nicholls
Thank you. Now, another question I'm just. Recently there's been this energy ceasefire, which didn't seem to be much of a ceasefire at all. But enough of my particular view. Did you see a respite in any of the attacks, either directly on your. Your suppliers, your hospital, the immediate area? Were you impacted at all by the ceasefire or was it a time of relative calm and ease for you?
- [32:48]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
So we haven't felt the ceasefire. So there was any impact on the regular. If we're talking about ceasefire, the situation. Situation doesn't change in the period of ceasefire, unfortunately. So the impact is the same.
- [33:02]
David Knowles
One final question from me before we go to our final thoughts and give you an opportunity to discuss anything that we've not had the time to do. There are these talks going on at the moment in Abu Dhabi. Are you optimistic that there will be a ceasefire in the short term, or do you think that this is really not a helpful exercise at the moment, that those who are optimistic about these talks are wrong?
- [33:29]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
We can see the future, so we rely on the ABE government, so we hope for the better future, but we can't prognose anything for sure. He can say only one thing. Anything could happen. The win will be ours because our country, our family, so we will stay by the end.
- [33:53]
David Knowles
And what keeps you going? You've described horrific conditions for years now. What keeps you going?
- [34:03]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
His profession. He's first of all surgeon, his family. He was born in Crimea, not born, and he grew up in the Kherson region, the part that's occupied. His relatives died, other relatives died in the occupation, the village, the district that doesn't exist. And his city inspires. He's trying to do his best to support the city, to provide the help, to provide everything the city needs. So that's what inspires him.
- [34:36]
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- [34:51]
David Knowles
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- [35:09]
Brock Biermann
And I'll tell you what, can I just say that the doctor inspires us and you really can't see it. But I'll tell you what, I look in his eyes and I can tell you this man is working 24:7 around the clock and putting everything first here to make the safer children in these hospitals and these facilities. It's just amazing.
- [35:26]
David Knowles
Well, thank you both very much for your time and for your daughter for translating for us. I'll come back to you both in a moment for your final thoughts. But Dom, first, where would you like to leave listeners today?
- [35:36]
Dominic Nicholls
Well, thanks, Francis. I'd like to point folks to a story on the BBC titled Italy Foils Russian Cyber Attacks at Winter Games. So this is a story that Italy's Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajiani, he says his country has foiled Russian origin cyber attacks targeting the Winter Olympics that start today officially start today. They've been going on. There have been some events a couple of days ago now. He said the websites linked to the Games have been attacked, including hotels in the host town of Cortina d' Ampezzo and the Foreign Ministry sites have also been hit. Mr. Gijani said we prevented a series of cyber attacks against Foreign Ministry sites. These are actions of Russian origin. They are just such joyless individuals attacking Olympic Games. Anyway, we put a link in the episode notes to that. You'll remember of course, that The Latvian broadcaster TV3 Group Group has said that it's not going to show coverage of Russian or Belarusian competitors at the Winter Olympics, preferring instead to cut to adverts. The International Olympic Committee said that eligible Russian and Belarusian athletes are able to compete at the Winter Olympics as individual neutral athletes without national flags or anthems. But yeah, Latvia, you won't be seeing them on Latvian tv.
- [36:45]
David Knowles
Interesting. Well, thanks very much, Dom. Just a quick one from me. Thanks as ever to everybody who has submitted questions to the newsletter this week. Matt in Nova Scotia asking about the energy ceasefire. He says basically, why didn't Trump ask Putin to extend it? Quite right. Mark, in the uk, what's Britain doing about Russian oil tankers seemingly freely navigating the channel? Great question and offer a few perspectives on that because there has been some developments, but it's all very technical as one can imagine Jonathan in Texas asking what what aid is available to the average citizens of cities like Kharkiv who are near the front and without heat and power? Well, we've heard a little bit about that in the answer with the doctor a moment ago. And Nikolai in Norway. Are there any studies on how blackouts and freezing temperatures are affecting children? A great question. So we answer all of those in the newsletter today. And just also to the point that Brock was making earlier on, I was at the event I referenced in my final thoughts a few days ago at the Frontline class here in London. It was a Screening of the BBC's Kharkiv War Diaries and a very interesting discussion, as these things always are, in a very moving documentary which I would recommend strongly to people. And something I think that came out of that is that we often talk about Ukrainian resilience and it's been on display here. But we have to be very careful, to quote Megan Mobs that we by mythologizing endurance, it doesn't become a quiet form of abandonment that we talk about the strength of Ukrainians because it makes it easier then for European countries not to do more because they think they, they can just continue fighting indefinitely. And I thought that was an important point. And I just wanted to thank the American gentleman who came up to me, A listener of the podcast for the past two years, he'd heard me mention the event on the podcast the day before. And knowing he'd be flying into London for work for just one night before heading straight back, he decided to spend his free evening at the Frontline Club to watch the screening and to say hello afterwards. And of course we are exceptionally grateful to him and to everybody who continues to write in and Dom, we were talking about this before we went on air. What was there was somebody who made a seven hour drive. Am I right in saying yeah, in.
- [38:51]
Dominic Nicholls
The States, in Washington, they'd driven from North Carolina seven hours just to see us.
- [38:54]
David Knowles
Extraordinary. So it just speaks to we know that you are there and you are so, so appreciated by us and of course by, by everybody that we speak to in Ukraine. And and so if ever we are critiquing the US it's very much the white House's policies. Not all of you, but let's go then to our guests for their final thoughts. Brock, you can go first.
- [39:13]
Brock Biermann
Well, thank you. Thank you gentlemen for the opportunity to talk today to you and the audience. We remain committed, we remain optimistic. The Ukrainians that we've seen just in the last few days have lifted our spirits and we'll never have enough resources to meet the need. But that means that we have to work even harder. And with the help of the doctor and the volunteers that we work with, I know that ultimately, like the doctor said earlier, we will see victory and we will see peace here in Ukraine.
- [39:41]
David Knowles
Well, thank you, Brock. And as I say earlier on, we will link to the Ukraine Focus charity website in the show notes I mentioned there in my final thoughts, the question about whether there are any studies of the impact of blackouts on children and of loss of heating. Perhaps the doctor in his final thoughts further to anything else he would like to add can offer some insights on how children are experiencing this war in Kriviri.
- [40:09]
Dr. Vitaly Gorbulinsky
In the hospital there is consistently work of new psychologists because there is a high demand of this help for now and new methodics of this psychologistic work. But unfortunately there is one more thing that could more suffering that's traumatologic impact when the children is traumatized by some actions that Russia done. But there is connected also to the psychologistic and mental issues. So for this reason for supporting it, we are opening the center of mental health for children and adults and for families mostly that will support the health, the mental health, the mental state of these families that just were impacted by war. And we hope that it will relieve in some type, in some period these traumas that was caused by the war. But the core issue will be if we don't provide this help, we will see the real problem in 10, 20 years when they grew up. So now we should focus in on the relief these mental issues to support their health, to support the psychologistic state to make it more easier in the future to deal with it. And if we for example calculate children that were for example in 20, 22, 3, 4 years now they're just toddlers, they 7, 8 years and they even doesn't know what peace is. So we should teach children what is peace in the future. We should show it. And since 2022, when the war has started, there are in this year this is the first time children saw their Christmas tree. So we are trying to support it as we can.
- [42:02]
Podcast Narrator
Ukraine the latest is an original podcast from the Telegraph created by David Knowles to support our work and stay on top of all of our Ukraine news, analysis and dispatches from the ground. Please subscribe to the Telegraph. You can get one month free, then two months for just one pound at www.telegraph.co.uk UkraineTest deploying cutting edge technology, we also release Ukrainian and Russian versions of of this podcast. These translations retain our voices and delivery so that it can reach listeners in every region of Ukraine and those parts of Eastern Europe where Russian is still widely spoken. Links to those can be found in the podcast description to this episode. You can also now sign up to the New Ukraine, the latest weekly newsletter. Each week Dom Nichols and I answer your questions, provide recommended reading and give exclusive analysis, analysis and behind the scenes insights plus maps of the front lines and diagrams of weapons to complement our daily reporting. It's free for everyone including non subscribers. You can find the link to sign up in the descriptions for this episode. We regularly have a Ukraine Live blog on our website where you can follow updates as they come in throughout the day, including insights from regular contributors to this podcast. We also do the same for other breaking international stories. If you appreciate our work, please consider following Ukraine the latest on your preferred podcast app and leave us a review as it really helps others find the show. Please also share it with those who may not be aware we exist. You can also get in touch directly to ask questions or give comments by emailing ukrainepodelegraph.co.uk we continue to read every message. You can also contact us directly on X. You'll find our handles in the description for this episode. As ever, we're especially interested to hear where you're listening from around the world. Executive producers are Francis Durnley, Louisa Wells and David Knowles.
- [44:00]
David Knowles
My name is David Knowles.
- [44:01]
Dominic Nicholls
Thank you all for listening. Goodbye.
- [44:08]
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