в четверг американское минобороны до сих пор не знало, почему оно утонулоLet -- let me just get the -- the -- the cruiser question out of the way at the beginning, at the top, because I know that's what everybody is interested in today.
We cannot confirm what caused the damage to the cruiser Moskva. We do believe that she has experienced significant damage. Our assessment is that -- that she still appears to be battling a fire on board, but we do not know the extent of the damage. We don't know anything about casualties to her crew, and we cannot definitively say at this point what caused that damage. So I -- I -- I know everybody's interested in that, but that's where we are right now. We -- we hold the ship moving to the east. Our -- our assumption is that she'll be heading to Sevastopol for -- for repairs. But -- but that's -- that's really all -- all we can say.
The only other maritime activity worth noting is that we did note that other Black Sea ships that were operating in the vicinity of her or in the northern Black Sea have all moved further south. They -- they -- they -- in -- in the wake of the damage that -- that the Moskva experienced, so they've all -- all -- all of the northern Black Sea ships have now moved out, away from that the -- the northern areas where they were operating in.
начну с крейсера, знаю, что всем это интересно.
Мы не можем подтвердить, что именно причинило разруху москве. Но разруха там дайбоже. Они там всё ещё сражаются с огнём. Не знаем, сколько трупов. Не знаем, что вызвало ущерб. Знаю, всем интересно, но вот как-то так. То, что от него осталось, движется на восток, наверно к Севастополю.
Стоит так же отметить, что все остальные корабли в чорном море поблизости от "москвы", отошли подальше на юг. Позырили такие на ущерб на москве, и такие подальше отошли из того раёна.
As for everything else going on the ground, I mean, no major changes in positions for either side over the last 24 hours. We continue to see Russia posture for offensive operations in -- in the Donbas, and continue to see additional equipment arrive in western Russia and in -- in that area to the north of the Donbas that we talked about, Valuyki and Rovenki, including, in fact, we've seen some additional helicopters make their way to be staged in -- in that area for -- for insertion.
В других местах без особых изменений. Раша готовится к наступлению на Донбасе, мы видим доп. оборудование прибывает на запад раши, в валуйки и ровеньки, ещё кстати вертолёты туда же прилетели и готовятся внедриться.
Mariupol is and remains contested. The -- we -- we don't -- we do not hold that -- assess that Russia has taken it. The Ukrainians are still fighting.
в Мариуполе продолжаются бои, рашисты его ещё не взяли
Q:
Just a couple quick follow-ups on the Russian ship status that you described to start off. So can you describe where it was when whether it -- whatever happened happened? And is what you are -- are seeing in terms of the fire, is this in any way consistent with a missile strike, or is it -- are you saying it's possible that it was just in sort of an accident? And -- and also, on the movement, you mentioned the movement of the other Russian ships further south. I assume you're saying that's -- you -- you -- you judge it -- judge that to be as a result of the perceived threat. And how many ships are we talking about there?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: So there's a lot there, Bob.
The -- the cruiser we -- we believe was about between 60 and 65 nautical miles south of Odesa and almost exactly due south, if you were to draw the line. So it -- roughly in that area when it experienced an explosion. I -- I -- I don't -- we just don't know right now, we can't say definitively what caused this explosion and the subsequent fire. We do believe that the ship is still battling with a -- a fire.
For -- for those of you who have covered Navy issues, you know that there -- there's lots of things on a -- on a surface combatant that -- that are combustible and that can cause explosions and cause fires from internal to the ship. I'm not making a judgment one way or the other right now. We're just not able to do that. It could have been the result of a missile strike, and it could have been something else. We -- we just don't know, and I'm -- I'm -- I'm simply not going to get ahead of the information that we have. We're in no position to -- to confirm or deny any of these reports out there at -- at this point, but we do believe that they're still battling a fire on board, and that they're trying to make the ship's way east for -- for likely repairs.
As for other ships that were in the northern Black Sea, I mean, I'd say, you know, about -- about a half a dozen or so were in the northern Black Sea. Not all of them -- you know, I don't want to -- I -- I don't want to paint this picture that -- that they were all nested around the -- the cruiser, that that's -- they -- they were -- they were -- our -- our best assessment, it was that they were fairly dispersed in the northern Black Sea, about a half a dozen.
And we have observed that the -- that those other ships -- so between four and five or so, those that were as close or closer to the -- to -- to the coast than the cruiser, have all moved south. At this point, we -- we hold them no closer than about 80 nautical miles from the coast.
But ships move and I -- I can't predict where they'll be an hour from now. So we've just -- we've just -- I just want to note that as a fact, that in the wake of this explosion, other ships, less than a half a dozen that were also in the northern Black Sea, have moved further away from the coast.
I'll let the Russian Navy speak for whatever decisions they made and why they -- why they made them but that's -- that's the best we have right now.
- интересно всё-таки уточнить про русский корабль. Где он был, когда это, что бы это ни было, случилось? И на что это похоже? похоже, что ракета его ёбнула? или похоже на нещастный случай? И вот то что они все отошли подальше. Похоже, вы считаете, что они отошли, потому что там была какая-то опасность? И сколько их было?
- крейсер был наверно 60-65 морских миль на юг от Одесы. Вот там на нём случился взрыв. Не знаю, что вызвало взрыв и пожар.
Вообще кто знает военные корабли, по-честному-то на них полно всего, что может загореться и взорваться. Я сейчас не хочу судить, что это было. Давайте подождём больше инфо. Не могу ни подвердить, ни опровергнуть рассказы.
Насчёт других кораблей, там был где-то пяток. Не то что они прям вокруг москвы паслись, они там были свободно так распространены.
Где-то 4-5 их было, которые были близко к берегу или ближе, чем москва - вот они все свалили на юг. Они теперь не ближе, чем 80 морских миль.
Но они плавают себе, может уже в другом месте. Просто вот захотелось отметить, что при виде взрыва, другие корабли чо-то срочно захотели подальше оттудова.
Пусть рашисты рассказывают, почему это вдруг они решили свалить.
Q: Yeah, one last thing on the cruiser. I was talking to a couple of naval experts. They said it's highly unusual and very rare that a modern warship would have that kind of a serious fire. What do you think about that, you know, from your experience?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I -- I've served on ships, several of them, and I can tell you that the -- the -- the risk of fire is ever-present and potential for explosions are also ever-present, particularly on a surface combatant, which is designed, in this case, for -- for air defense. So she has -- she has munitions onboard, she has -- she has artillery rounds, she has -- she has missiles on board, and of course, a -- a -- a propulsion plant and plenty of fuel.
So I -- I -- I -- I'm just -- I -- I'm just -- we're just not ready to -- to -- to say for sure what -- what happened here. It very well could have been from an external source, like a -- like a missile, that that range is not out of range for a Neptune -- 60 miles is well within the Neptune's effective range -- but it also could have been something else.
So again, we just -- we're just being -- we're just being careful here, but this is --
(CROSSTALK)
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: -- on any given day -- and any sailor will tell you, especially a -- especially a sailor who's served on a surface combatant -- on any given day, that the -- the risk of -- of fire and explosion is real, and that's why we take damage control and fire prevention so seriously on -- on every -- on every U.S. Navy ship. We consider every sailor a firefighter for good reason.
- я вот тут поговорил с военноморскими экспертами, и они сказали, что это очень необычно и очень редко, чтобы современный корабль вдруг взял и самозагорелся. А вы что думаете?
- я служил на кораблях, и я скажу, что риск пожара постоянно присутствует, и риск взрыва постоянно присутствует, особенно на surface combatant - надводных кораблях, которые предназначены для противовоздушной обороны. На них куча боеприпасов, артилерии, ракеты, куча топлива.
Поэтому я не готов сразу точно заявить, что именно там произошло. Может и ракета, нептун вполне мог, 60 миль в его диапазоне, - но может и не ракета.
Мы просто очень осторожны с заявлениями.
Каждый моряк вам скажет, что каждый день усть угроза пожара и взрыва, мы очень серьёзно относимся к безопасности на наших кораблях, и каждый моряк у нас пожарный.
Q: Yeah, but again, you know, the -- the experts say it's highly unusual, very rare to have this kind of a devastating fire by an accident. Would you agree with that? And also, they say it's more likely to be a missile.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: We don't have -- look, Tom, we don't have -- I mean, I'm -- I'm -- I'm sure these naval experts have more information than me but I -- I'm -- I'm -- what -- what we can see, what we can know, what we can independently verify doesn't give me, as a former naval officer myself, the confidence to say that this -- that this is -- this absolutely has to be the result of -- of a missile. It very well could be.
But maybe -- maybe these experts have more data and information than I do, but from what I've seen, we're -- we're just not ready to -- to make such a definitive call. Now, look, it -- it certainly appears, from the -- from -- from what we have been able to see, that the fire onboard her is extensive, it's big, it's not -- I mean, it's not a small fire.
So that could -- that -- but -- but that doesn't necessarily mean that -- that the -- that that -- that a fire is big doesn't necessarily mean that it was caused by a particular munition. Again, these ships have flammable and explosive material on board that can exacerbate even a small source of an explosion or fire.
So again, I just think -- I just think we need to be careful before jumping to conclusions.
- да, но эксперты говорят, что это очень необычно, такой пожарище. Вы не согласны? Они говорят, что на ракету больше похоже.
- Ну наверно ваши эксперты больше меня знают, но вот я, как бывший военный моряк, на сто проц не уверен, и не могу сказать, что это точно ракета. Может быть!
Может, у ваших экспертов больше информации, а у нас вот мало. Конечно видно, что пожар там огроменный.
Но то что он огромный, не значит, что это только от ракеты такое бывает. Повторю, эти корабли - как спички,
а у русских кривые руки.Давайте не будем торопиться.
Q:
A follow-up on the unmanned surface vessels. Do you have any -- any further information about what type they are and -- and I noticed that they've not been included in the equipment that's going to need additional training. Are they so simple to use that the Ukrainians won't need to be trained on them?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I'm not going to provide more detail about the -- about the USVs and I would not that part of the training that those Ukrainian soldiers that were already here in the states they -- they -- they did receive training on that particular system. So some of that training has already occurred.
- хочу спросить про безэкипажные надводные аппараты. Есть какая-то информация, что за тип. И я заметил, что их не включают в список, для чего украинцам нужно обучение. Они что, такие простые в управлении?
- Никаких деталей про эти аппараты я вам не дам. А обучение по ним украинцы уже прошли, когда были тут в штатах.
