брифинг минобороныSo day 79 here. Obviously, most of the activity that we are seeing and watching is in the Donbas area, and essentially, we continue to see the Russians not making any major gains in the Donbas. Very much, as we said, that would be very much an artillery fight back and forth, and that Ukrainian artillery is frustrating Russian efforts to -- to make much ground, -- including frustrating their efforts to cross the Donets River, as they continue to try to find a sense of momentum in the northern Donbas.
And -- the failure to -- to make some of those crossings is affecting their ability to consolidate their forces, because you're not getting many people across the river and that's affecting their ability again to mass reinforcements in the northern Donbas.
Basically, in -- in addition to the -- the shelling -- of their bridging efforts across the Donets, they -- they really haven't made much progress on that Izyum-to-Slovyansk axis. And so there's a lot of fighting in between Izyum and -- and Slovyansk. And again, they're just not really able to -- to force a breakthrough. And the fact that they aren't able to get across the -- the Donets River with some reinforcements is -- is making it even harder for them.
79-й день. Очевидно, большинство боёв - на Донбасе, и рашисты по-прежнему не особо продвинулись. У них там артилерийские перестрелки, и украинцы им очень мешают продвигаться, и мешают пересечь реку Донец.
И вот то что они не могут пересечь, мешает им консолидировать силы.
Вдобавок к тому, что их бомбят у реки, у них нет особого прогресса по оси Изюм-Словянск. Там большие бои между Изюмом и Словянском. Но рашисты не могут прорваться. И то, что они не могут пересечь реку к своему подкреплению, им всё усложняет.
I -- I will say that they have made some incremental gains to the west of Popasna. There -- there continues -- it's not -- not very far but they are moving outside of -- of Popasna but it's -- again, it's not significant.
And we've seen no significant battle shifts in the southern part of -- of the Joint Forces Operation area or in the Kherson area. No -- no -- no -- there's -- there's still fighting between Kherson and Mykolaiv but no -- no -- again, nothing -- no -- no major shifts one way or the other.
у них есть небольшой прогресс на запад от Попасны, в общем, они двигаются, но небыстро.
In the maritime domain, I -- I know some of you have -- been watching Snake Island, and the -- the Russians are trying to improve their defenses at -- at Snake Island. And -- and, you know, again, -- they are still in possession of it -- but there is a -- there's active efforts by the Ukrainians to dislodge them from Snake Island, and -- and what we're seeing is really the Russians just trying to -- to -- to reinforce particularly some of their air defense there, but -- but there's really no change to -- to Russian naval posture, in -- in a macro sense, in or outside the Black Sea. So nothing really to -- nothing really to report there.
на море: мы все смотрим за Змеиным островом, русские всё пытаются там улучшить оборону. Они же его захватили, но украинцы активно стараются их оттуда выгнать. Рашисты просто пытаются обороняться. В целом на море никаких изменений.
On -- on the security assistance front, you know, all but one of the -- of the 90 howitzers are -- are inside Ukraine. And -- and the sense we're getting from the Ukrainians is that the majority of those 89 -- not all of them but the vast majority of them are actually in a forward-deployed setting.
I -- I couldn't tell you exactly where or -- or, you know, what -- what rate they're consuming ammunition but -- but the -- but we're getting from the Ukrainians that the majority are -- are -- are in the fight and the feedback we're getting from -- from artillerymen inside Ukraine is -- is very positive about -- about the usefulness of the M777s.
почти все гаубицы уже в Украине, и украинцы нам рассказывают, что большинство из них уже где надо.
Я не могу точно сказать где, и с какой скоростью они тратят боеприпасы, но нам говорят, что большинство уже в бою и очень пригождаются.
And right now, by the way -- and I didn't mention this earlier -- but we assess that Russia has now 105 operational BTGs in Ukraine total. So he -- he has added -- he's continuing to add BTGs that are in the Donbas.
кстати, забыл сообщить, русские уже притащили 105 БТГ в Украину, т.е. продолжают добавлять
Q: Yes. Can you confirm, please, the situation around Kharkiv? Are the Russians away from the city? It's not encircled anymore?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: They're still fighting over Kharkiv. We definitely see Ukrainian resistance in and around Kharkiv. There is -- there have been, you know, again, continued airstrikes and bombardment by Russian forces around Kharkiv. We have -- we basically assess that the Ukrainians continue to make progress in reclaiming towns and villages around Kharkiv.
What we've seen over the last couple of days is that they have been able to push north, push the Russians away farther to the north from Kharkiv, and we talked about them pushing them to the east. I don't think we've seen any change in eastward pushing in the last day or so, but we have seen some progress by them pushing Russian forces closer to the -- closer to the border and away form Kharkiv.
- а какая ситуация вокруг Харькова? рашисты далеко? больше не окружают?
- За Харьков всё ещё сражаются. Рашисты продолжают бомбёжки и удары. Украинцы продолжают прогресс и выгоняют их из деревень и городов вокруг Харькова.
Украинцы в последние дни отпихнули их на север дальше, к границе.
Q:
I wanted to go back to the question to the call between Secretary Austin and Shoigu and understand whether the call for an immediate ceasefire -- what lies behind that and what it means? I mean, we've had Olaf Scholz making a similar call. (inaudible) So is this coordinated with allies?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Oh, very much.
Q: -- does -- so as -- okay. Go on.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: No, no. I mean, yes.
So, of course -- I mean, look. This -- our call for a ceasefire is very much in line with what the others -- other allies and partners want to see happen. I mean, so we definitely -- I think there's a sense of alignment here in terms of what we all want to see happen.
Q: And just to follow up on that, (inaudible), I mean, you know, it was only -- what is it? -- a week or two ago that the secretary was talking about helping Ukraine win and wanting to weaken Russia. Therefore, has he changed his mind on that?
And has he called for a ceasefire before? I don't remember him calling for a ceasefire before.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Yes. I think we -- the administration has been consistent in wanting the fighting to stop. And we've said it many times. In fact, the secretary himself has said the war could end, you know, today, whenever he said it. But he meant it, you know, could end that day if the Russians stopped their offensives and started to pull back.
And so, no, there's been no change in his view of what needs to happen here. There's been no change in administration policy. We want to see the -- hang on a second. Sorry about that.
There's been no change in our policy. No change in the objectives. He's been very consistent about that.
Q: All right. I don't want to hog this, but just, you know, the -- Zelensky has said, you know, there can't be a ceasefire unless the Russians withdraw, and the word "withdraw" wasn't in the readout.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I'm not going to go -- (Anton?), I think I'm just going to leave the readout the way it is. And I think it's a very honest readout as to what he said, and I -- and the readout is consistent. The policy is consistent. The secretary's statements to the minister today, again, completely consistent with what our policies have been. And I would -- I would caution you from reading into the readout that there's sort of change in tone or change in policy or change in objectives. That's just not the case.
- по вопросу звонка с шойгу - а чего вдруг призывы к прекращению огня? Шольц вроде недавно такой же звонок делал. Это что, скоординировано с союзниками?
- очень!
- ну ладно
- нет-нет, то есть да
Ну слушайте, призывы к прекращению огня постоянно же и от нас, и от союзников, мы все этого хотим.
- не, ну странно, 2 недели назад министр говорил, надо помочь Украине выиграть и ослабить рашу. Он что, передумал? Разве он раньше призывал к прекращению огня? вроде не было
- Мне кажется, мы всегда хотели, чтобы война прекратилась. И много раз говорили. Сам министр говорил, что войну можно остановить хоть завтра - если рашисты перестанут стрелять и уйдут.
Так что никто не передумал. Ничего не изменилось.
- ладно. Но вот Зеленский говорил, что никакого прекращения огня, пока рашисты не уведут войска, а про "увод" в об'явлении про звонок ничего не было.
- Давайте не будем придираться к об'явлению про звонок. Всё нормально там написано. И никаких перемен нашей политики.
Q:
The specific one is that yesterday the Ukrainians were saying that there was a support ship on fire and being towed to Sevastopol. It was called the (Vsevolod)Bobrov, B-O-B-R-O-V. Do you have any confirmation of that?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I don't have anything on the ship. We can't confirm those reports.
- были сообщения про один корабль горящий и на буксире в Севастополь. Бобров. У вас есть про него инфо?
- нет, мы ничо не знаем
Q: Is it fair to say that the U.S. is using not only -- the Ukrainians are not only using U.S.-provided artillery -- or howitzers, but also those counterbattery radars to locate Russian -- Russian artillery?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: On the battery radars, I mean, yes, let me check on how much the counter artillery radars are actually in -- being used. I don't have an update for you on that. So I'll have to check.
- можно ли сказать, что украинцы не только гаубицы начали использовать, но и радары, чтобы обнаружить рашистскую артилерию?
- радары - да, но мне нужно уточнить сколько они уже используют.
Q: Hi, -- Senior Defense Official. I want to go back to the Shoigu call with one question. Just why now? I know you said the Secretary asked for it but has this been -- did he ask for it now for a reason or has he been asking and asking and this has just finally when they said okay? Why this call at this juncture?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Yeah, I think it's a -- you'd have to ask -- you'd have to ask Mr. Shoigu. We -- we have been consistently -- and I've said this many times, we've said this many times -- that we continue to reach out, and I think -- you know, I think I've said it, you know, last week, you know, that -- that the -- it wasn't for lack of trying that we -- that we hadn't been able to establish comms, so we've been consistently asking for this conversation and -- and Minister Shoigu assented for -- for a -- a call this week, but what motivated them to -- to -- to change their mind and to be open to it, I –I don't think we know for sure.
Q: And just to clarify, I -- it sounded like you're saying that there's weekly entreaties that were being made for this call previously?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I -- I wouldn't put it, like, on a -- a -- a set period. (Inaudible), Karoun, it's not like -- you know, like -- it's not like we have it on a -- it -- you know, on a -- a reminder alert on the calendar, "every Tuesday, call and ask for a -- a phone call," but we have been consistent in trying to -- to get a -- a conversation. It's -- we have not stopped trying since the last time they've spoke, which is right before the invasion, but -- so yeah, again, it's -- it's been a consistent effort.
- опять про звонок с шойгу - почему сейчас? вы сказали, что наш министр сам просил этот звонок - у него была какая-то причина? или он постоянно просил и просил и вот они наконец-то согласились? Почему вдруг щас?
- Да, надо, чтобы шойгу согласился. Я вообще-то говорил, мы уже много раз запрашивали, так что не мы виноваты, что не было звонков. И вот шойгу наконец-то
протрезвел. Но почему вдруг щас, я не знаю.
- прям звучит, как будто вы каждую неделю к ним стучались
- ну не то что прям по календарю каждый вторник "стукнуться к шойгу", но не раз в общем. И мы не переставали пытаться.
Q:
I know you mentioned there aren't many updates in the maritime environment but I was wondering, has there been any evidence of submarines in the Black Sea or any thoughts on what the Russians might be doing with their submarines at this time?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: We have seen submarines operate in the Black Sea and we've talked about that -- usually a very, very small number, one -- one or two -- and -- and -- and we know that they have used -- (inaudible) on some occasions have used those submarines to -- to launch cruise -- cruise missiles in – into Ukraine.
- вы сказали, на море нет особых перемен - а не замечали ли вы там подводные лодки? и что ваще русские делали со своими подлодками?
- да, мы видели подводные лодки, там одна или две. И они несколько раз запускали с них ракеты.
Q: -- earlier this week, the commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, told lawmakers that the Ukrainians have been finding Russian military equipment on the ground filled with semiconductors taken out of household appliances. I'm just wondering if the -- if the Pentagon is -- is seeing anything or hearing the same thing?
And more broadly, if you guys are assessing any problems with Russia's defense industrial capacity?
Thanks.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I haven't -- Joe, -- that's the first I've heard of that one, guess I should've been paying attention more to -- to the Secretary's comments on that. So I'm going to take that question and see if we have information or corroboration at the Defense Department. I -- I just don't know.
- министр торговли говорила, что украинцы находят в рашистских танках кучи полупроводников от бытовой техники. А вы слышали про это? и что вообще вы думаете, это у них начинаются проблемы в оборонной индустриальной мощи?
- я первый раз про это слышу, кажись я проспал выступление министра торговли. Спрошу у наших. Не знаю.