security correspondent ken dilanian. explain who this group is, explain their role january 6th and why they seem to fly under radar compared to, for example, the oath keepers, proud boys, et cetera? reporter: hallie a group made up of military veterans and former intelligence officers began serving as body guards to maga celebrities including former national security adviser mike flynn. the group founded in september 2020 by a former army special forces medic robert patrick lewis. after the claim the election was stolen lewis and comrades set out to scour the internet for what they called open source intelligence about fraud allegations which they sent to lawyer sidney powell, you recall, made nor outlandish accusations. the days ledding up to the january 6th asset, one ap warning, advantages violence. one january 4th said may be young national guard captains facing tough voices in the next
the us is being incredibly aggressive and de classifying and sharing information. and unlike in past crises a lot of this information can be verified through open source intelligence. the amount of footage that is available showing tank movements, satellite footage showing positions and the changing positions of the russian forces on the ukrainian border, that is visible, that is out there. so what the usd classifies that you see the state department segment asserting particular beliefs and assumptions about what russia might do but there is now open source intelligence that shows us well, it s not an invention, here are the troops, they have blue, this is their location. and that really creates a much more common body of information for the united states and its european allies used together to try to
that s on the front line. sarah rainsford, bbc news, mariupol. i m joined now by nina jankowicz. she s a fellow at the wilson centre, a washington think tank, and has advised the ukrainian government. thank you so much forjoining us on newsday. in that report by a sarra, president zelensky saying that he does not see russian troops withdrawing. what is your assessment? withdrawing. what is your assessment? , ., assessment? yes, looking at the open source intelligence assessment? yes, looking at the open source intelligence that s assessment? yes, looking at the open source intelligence that s available - source intelligence that s available on the internet as well as ordinary russians who are posting lots of videos on platforms like tiktok, we have seen no evidence of withdrawal either. in fact, there is satellite imagery showing that russian troops have built a bridge across the pre pre op river, which is have built a bridge across the pre-pre op river, which is about 64 km away
it is cold out there. those are long range deployed troops, many of them are far from their home. it is expensive to keep all of that for logistics flowing. he s got a three to four weeks window. he s not going to park this force on the border. nina, what do you think? is there a potential timeline for action because of this? well, certainly i think putin is gearing up towards some move fairly quickly, not only because of the expenses at such an operation but because it is getting warmer. right now richard could confirm, things will start to melt soon and it will make it difficult for tanks to move across the border. what we are seeing from open source intelligence is that the fact russia is moving more troops and heavier artilleries and tanks, we are talking about ten miles or so striking distance and as the intelligence
kyiv. we have seen strikes in the west of the country they have not done to this point. i know you have a lot of contacts on the ground there. give us a sense of what ukrainians are doing and what is happening with the russian equipment. the ukrainians are going on a counteroffensive. they have taken about three cities. they re actually pushing back russian personnel in certain key areas. look, i have been doing 18-hour days for the last two weeks trying to monitor furiously everything that s open source intelligence available. i have seen more videos of burnt out russian tanks, btrs, air defense systems that have simply been left in pristine condition by the side of the road. you know, we are talking about figures killed in action. the europeans are saying there s about 12,000 personnel losses on the russian side but it encompasses casualties, not just fatalities. casualties are people who are injured, rendered combat