понедельничный брифинг пентагонаI think you're all aware it's the hundredth -- 124th day of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. As you've likely observed on social media, Ukrainians are noting now that they do have HIMARS in their country. I won't go into any particular details this morning, but all indications are that they are employing them very well. We're continuing to work diligently to get the additional four HIMARS in the country that were announced in last week's PDA. And also of note, the second round of HIMARS training should coincide with that, as well, and we expect that to be done here in the near future. And again, I'm happy to talk about that training and other training that we're conducting with our partners and with the Ukrainians.
124-й день рашистского нападения. Вы наверно видели в соцсетях, что украинцы рассказывают, что у них есть хаймарсы. Не буду рассказывать детали, но всё указывает на то, что они эти хаймарсы очень хорошо применяют. Мы работаем, чтобы доставить ещё 4 штуки. И заодно ещё один тренинг.
Over the weekend, I know you're also aware of the Russian-executed 60 missile strikes across the country in Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv and Odesa. We're not quite sure about the Russian objectives of the strikes. They certainly could be a protest against the G7, or of the arrival of HIMARS in country. We do know, and I think all of you have reported to some extent the impact of civilian casualties in Kyiv in particular against apartment buildings that were in vicinity of that strike, or the intended location of that strike. Again, not unusual to hear of civilian casualties associated with Russian strikes, sadly.
вы знаете, что в выходные рашисты выпустили 60 ракет по всей стране, Киев, Львов, Чернигов, Одеса. Мы точно не знаем зачем. Может, протест против встречи семёрки. Может, против хаймарсов. Мы знаем, да и вы уже все сообщали, жертвы среди гражданских в Киеве. К сожалению, уже ничего необычного, что рашисты ударяют по гражданским.
In the Donbas, we haven't observed any real additional further movement out of Severodonetsk or through Severodonetsk by the Russians. We have seen Russian gains. Those gains, as many of you have been reporting, in that portion of the battlespace are occurring (inaudible), and I'm happy to talk a little bit about that, but it does not appear that they have encircled Lysychansk, and the Ukrainians are fighting very well, or very hard in -- in that part of the battlespace.
На Донбасе мы не заметили, чтоб рашисты продвинулись дальше из Северодонецка или сквозь Северодонецк. Рашисты что-то захватили, но Лисичанск они не окружили, украинцы очень упорно сражаются.
And then, as has been mentioned in open source, we're also aware of several reliefs of Russian generals in Ukraine. I'll leave all the particulars of that to the Russian MOD spokesman, but we do continue to see concerns with that leadership or -- and continued morale concerns with Russian forces.
Near Kherson in the south, we're aware of growing indications of resistance against the Russian occupation. Over the last several days we've become aware of assassinations of local Russian officials, and we're also aware that reporting suggests the Ukrainians have been successful in liberating several small towns northwest and west of Kherson, showing that despite tactical success by the Russians, they continue to hold on to what they capture to territory and prevent it from falling into Russian hands.
с открытых источниках заявили, что рашисты опять поменяли каких-то генералов. Пусть рашисты сами рассказывают, но в общем похоже они недовольны руководством.
Около Херсона, на юге, похоже растёт сопротивление рашисткой оккупации. Были убиты несколько рашистских официальных лиц. А ещё украинцы освободили несколько городков на северозапад и запад от Херсона, что показывает, что, хотя рашисты сначала и преуспели, украинцы им так просто не отдадут.
Q:
I was wondering if you could talk to us a little bit about the new medium to long range missile systems, the NASAMS that are going to be going to Ukraine. Like what additional capabilities that will give them and how long it may take to get them, how many? Just how that might impact the battlespace from your view? And one quick other thing just on this sort of broader, you said you weren't sure -- the U.S. isn't sure why there was suddenly Odesa and all the other broader strikes, is there any -- is there any suggestion that there is an effort by Russia to change its focus or would it be just some statements do you think?
Thank you.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Let me -- so on the HIMARS, so the -- I think what we're finding, and I don't want to draw a correlation between the HIMARS and the rocket strikes or the missile strikes that we talked about in the second part of your comment there, you know, as I mentioned, we have not received indications that the strikes by the Russians are associated with the entry of the HIMARS or of anything else, quite honestly. And what I couldn't tell you is if that is part of their larger -- you know, their larger portion of the offensive or not. So I don't want to connect it too.
And then the question about the air defense systems. I think you probably saw that the national security adviser talked about the air defense system. That's certainly something that we're looking at, is the way to help Ukrainians with additional air defense assets. I don't have the particulars associated with the systems. But as soon as we know that and as soon as those are finalized, we will certainly work to provide you with those details and the particulars of the systems that we're employing.
- расскажите про зенитные ракетные комплексы NASAMS, которые вроде как собираются в Украину. Какая от них польза? когда их доставят? сколько? Как они повлияют на поле боя?
И ещё один маленький вопрос - вы говорите, америка не знает, чо они вдруг взбесились и обстреляли Одесу и другие города. Может, это какой-то стейтмент от них? или попытка поменять фокус?
- вы не знаем, не видно корреляции с прибытием хаймарсов. И мы не знаем, собираются ли они опять начинать нападать по всем фронтам.
А про противовоздушные системы. Вы наверно слышали, советник по безопасности говорил про противовоздушные системы. Мы конечно рассматриваем это, как помочь украинцам защитить небо. Но у меня нет деталей про эти системы. Как только всё финализируют, я вам всё расскажу.
Q:
Wanted to ask about these strikes, mostly by way of what you think they may be targeting, you know, that the -- what weapons deliveries are obviously getting spread out across the country, there is some sense the depots are being at least targeted. Have you seen anything hit in terms of depots? And do you get the sense that that at least an aim here?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL:
So, we are seeing that they are trying to hit targets -- as an example, the target that resulted in the civilian casualties over the weekend, that target, those apartments were adjacent to or near a factory that we know constructs munitions for the Ukrainians. So it does give an indication that in that case in particular they were trying to hit a military target. I don't have evidence that they're trying to hit other logistic support areas at this time.
- эти удары - во что, вы думаете, рашисты целились? поставки оружия небось распределены по всей стране, наверно они должны метиться хотя бы в склады. Был ли подбит какой-то склад? Или они туда целились?
- мы видим, что иногда они вроде как пытаются целиться. Например, жилые дома, в которых попала ракета, - они недалеко от фабрики по производству снарядов. Это намекает, что в этот раз они может быть в самом деле пытались ударить по военной цели. Но чтоб по складам - такого мы не видели.
Q: Let me ask you more specifically then with Severodonetsk. Are they going to be able to exploit that or do they now have to stop and regroup?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: That's a great question.
I think -- you know, so they certainly wanted Severodonetsk. What's -- you know, from a military perspective, what I would tell you is the small number of Ukrainians that held the Russians at Severodonetsk for as long as they did is really something I think we'll probably all study in the future.
And when they chose to leave Severodonetsk, they chose to do it of their own accord, and to give that up in order to move to better-prepared locations for the continuing of that defense. And so, again, I'm telling you I think we'll end up studying that in our army in years to come. I think they're going to do that throughout that portion of the battlespace or the battlefield.
You know, if you look at that spot, it's not very big. And what I mean by that is the area that the Russians and the Ukrainians are fighting over right now and that the Russians are losing a large number of people to gain, the Ukrainians are making them pay for a very small piece of ground.
In most cases, the Ukrainians are leaving those locations of their accord, not necessarily because the Russians have made them do but because they are choosing to move to positions of greater advantage. And the cost is pretty significant for the Russians. I think we'll see that continue.
It is important, though, when you look at the map to realize the size of that general area is not huge. I think and this is -- I haven't put this on a map, but I think the entire area we're talking about is something like from D.C. to Fairfax for those who live in this area. So not very big.
The way it's being described in some circles you would think that it was here to Richmond or here to Norfolk, but that's not the case. And again, the Ukrainians are holding that at pretty extensive cost for the Russians.
- про Северодонецк. Будут ли они как-то использовать его или им надо пока остановиться и перегруппироваться?
- Они определённо хотели Северодонецк. С военной т.зрения, я вам скажу, такое маленькое кол-во украинцев удерживало Северодонецк так долго - это нечто, мы все это будем изучать в будущем.
И когда они решили оставить Северодонецк, это было их решение передвинуться в лучшее место, чтобы продолжить эту оборону. Эту битву мы будем изучать в нашей армии, я клянусь. И битва продолжается, просто немного в другом месте.
Этот район - он небольшой. Т.е. этот район, за который они сражаются, и рашисты мрут кучами, украинцы заставляют их платить большую цену за этот маленький клочок земли.
Украинцы уходят сами, не то что рашисты их выгоняют, они сами отходят на более удобные позиции. А у рашистов большие потери. И это продолжается таким образом.
Важно понимать, что это небольшой район. Я забыл карту, но это как от ДиСи до Фэрфакса. В некоторых кругах это так обсуждают, как будто это отсюда до Ричмонда! Но это не так. За маленький район рашисты платят большую цену.
Q: Can I just try that question once more? So there was basically a Washington Post story over the weekend citing Western intelligence, saying that Russia would exhaust its combat capabilities and be forced to stop its offensive in the east. Do you have any intel product that says their combat capabilities are near to being exhausted and they'll have to stop their offensive?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I don't have those particulars to be able to talk to any real knowledge here. I'm sorry.
- вашингтон пост писал, что западная разведка говорит, что рашисты скоро истощат свои боевые возможности и им придётся перестать наступать на востоке. У вас есть данные, что их возможности близки к истощению?
- нет, я не знаю ничего такого
Q: Sort of on a similar line, U.K. intelligence this morning said that Russia's likely to start leaning more heavily on reserve forces, echelons of reserve forces in the Donbas. Just wondering if you've seen sort of any mobilization of those sorts of forces perhaps from the army combat reserves or from other echelons of Russian forces.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I know that the Russians have employed reserves over the last month or so. The fact that the Russians are talking about reserves speaks to the impact the Ukrainians are taking on the Russian army. And again, going back to our earlier discussion about, you know, initial indications about how the Russians might perform or the Ukrainians might do so, the fact that there continue to be reports and conversations about Russians using reserve speaks to the impact that the Ukrainians are having against their army.
-британская разведка говорила утром, что рашисты стали больше резервистов привлекать, прям эшелонами. Вы такое видели?
- Я знаю, что рашисты стали привлекать резервистов уже месяц назад. Это конечно о многом говорит, как украинцы их проредили.
Одна журналистка привязалась с вопросом - ну какие, ну какие оценки, сколько ещё раша будет продолжать, сможет продолжать, ну сколько ещё это терпеть, какие у вас оценки. Пентагонское лицо говорит - нет никаких оценок, как тут оценить. - Нет, ну сколько? чо, ваще никаких?
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: I think, ma'am, I think -- listen, we're we're doing the same thing that a lot of folks are, and we're trying to analyze, you know, the Russian abilities and the Ukrainian abilities, and we certainly are working with the Ukrainians to enhance those abilities, our partners and allies, as you know, through training and other security assistance. Those things certainly change the game, and we're seeing that the Ukrainians have asked for additional capability to continue to go toe-to-toe with -- with the Russians. But I think (inaudible) --
Ну слушайте, мы делаем то же, что и все, пытаемся анализировать рашистские способности, украинские способности - и мы работаем с украинцами, чтобы улучшить их способности, и наши союзники тоже. Эти вещи - они ведь меняют дело. И украинцы просят новые штуки, чтобы быть наравне с рашистами. И в общем [непереводимая брань]
Q:
I was wondering if you could get a little more specific with this second round of training on the HIMARS, how many Ukrainians will be trained on it and how many U.S. servicemen and -women are conducting the training.
SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL: Yes, sure.
So the first thing I'd tell you is -- and this is just some personal commentary, but having been there for some of the Ukrainian training, I would tell you they're a pretty remarkable bunch. And what I mean by that is they -- their ability to really jump into things and really, you know, just learn is -- is pretty extraordinary.
So in this case for the HIMARS training, you know, a couple weeks. And it trains -- you know in the -- just over 50 plus people for the employment, it trains all different levels of people. So we have leaders as well as folks who will work directly on the system.
And people that are training them are, as you would imagine, experts in that -- in that craft. So field artillerymen and -women who are -- who are really -- and I would tell you this too -- who talk about feeling like they're making a contribution. When you talk to these men and women out there who get the chance to train our Ukrainian partners, that is a -- a real -- in terms of buoying spirit, it's a pretty big deal.
- про второй трейнинг по хаймарсам - сколько украинцев натренируют, и сколько наших их будут тренировать
- Во-первых, я хочу сказать, я был на одном украинском тренинге, эти украинцы - они офигительные. Как они быстро схватывают и осваивают - это необыкновенно.
Так что тренинг по хаймарсам для украинцев - две недели! И натренируем 50 человек. Разные уровни управления - и лидеры, и ребята, которые напрямую работают.
А наши, которые их учат, все большие спецы и, знаете, им это так нравится. Я говорил с ними, они обожают тренировать украинцев, даёт им чувство причастности.
