Page 6 - Combat Capability News Today

Them. they have suffered losses. they have suffered casualties. they have lost platforms and systems whether its aircraft or tanks or armored personnel. they still have quite a bit of capability. they are concentrating that in a smaller area in the donbas but also the south. they are trying, as i answered earlier. they are trying to overcome some of their logistics and sustainment. they wont have to as far to go in the donbas to resupply, refuel their forces in the donbas. they have a long borde...

They have suffered losses, they have suffered casualties. they have lost platforms and systems, whether its aircraft or tanks. youve seen destroyed russian platforms on the side of the road but they still have quite a bit of capability left. they are concentrating that capability in the donbas specifically but also in the south. so they are trying to overcome some of their logistics and sustainment, their interior line of communication problems, if you will. they wont have as far to go in the do...

Limited effectiveness. russian doesnt have repair parts for the vehicles showing up there. so the ability to refit the weapons, the systems and the vehicles that they is not going to be there to improve the combat capability when they start using them in the east. so yes, the numbers are large. mass tanks are on their own in combat. its not sufficient to carry this day in my opinion. >> martha: we hear about this general, the butcher of syria as hes called. we know theres been an effort on the p...

Possibility. >> so you mentioned russian troops amassing on the border. this is a trend. yesterday, you said they amassed. you had seen more of it over the past 24 hours. has that trend continued since yesterday and how much has that buildup increased? >> well, im not going to get into specific numbers for the last 24 hours, what i can tell you is what i said yesterday stands. mr. putin continues to add combat capability and forces along the border with ukraine and in belarus. and hes been doing...

What i can tell you we are not sure mr. putin has made a final decision here. we are watching that closely. number two, he continues to add to his combat capability around ukraine and in belarus. every day he is adding more forces which means every day he has more options available to him. that is what we are trying to discern, what options he might endeavor to pursue. i will tell you we still think there is room for diplomacy. here at the defense department we would like to see that succeed. . ...

Definitely going in on such and such a date. again, i would go back to what we continue to see him build there. and its not just the combined arms capabilities, its the ability to sustain these troops in the field for a period of time. even as hes added combat capability, hes also added logistics and sustainment capability. in other words, the ability to keep them in the field for longer and longer periods of time. so its a whole pantheon of things were looking at and watching. we cannot say wit...

It. now we know that hes going in and hes going in on such and such a date. but again, i would go back to what we continue to see him build there. its not just the combined arms capabilities, its the ability to sustain these troops in the field for a period of time. so even as he has added combat capability, hes also added logistics and sustainment capability. in other words, the ability to keep them in the field for longer and longer periods of time. so its -- its a whole list of things were lo...

Plenty of combat capability. and at any point, they could unleash it against ukraine. that is so important to remember. this whole thing in the beginning stages, far from over. but for right now, it does appear that these troops north of kyiv are stalled and not getting the support that they need from their own commanders. >> i was talking with steve hall earlier who talked about how people among putins supporters are actually feeling about this. what are you learning about morale among those ru...

Who basically said rather than doing a whole no-fly zone over ukraine, select a part of ukraine so that civilians are able to evacuate safely into other countries but obviously youre seeing the secretary of state blinken come out and say if you establish a no-fly zone this will mean a full-pledge war with russia. so this is a very delicate situation. this cant be done just abruptly but at the same time we got to ensure that ukraine gets the lethal aid it needs in order to survive -- survive this...

How much could those planes help the ukrainians, though? >> they could help them quite a bit. the mig-29s that were talking about are not the newest generation of aircraft, but they are a very capable aircraft. theyre basically a multirole fighter and theyre designed to provide both air to air combat capability as well as an air to ground combat capability. so these aircraft could be very useful against that infamous 40-mile-long convoy that is northwest of kyiv. it could also serve to go after ...