weapons. in addition to that, of course, the u.s. is talking really around the clock with allies in the region and even around the world to see what they have, that they can contribute to this effort. weapons they may have that may be of russian origin, soviet origin, that the ukrainians would be familiar with, would be able to use readily. the u.s. effort goes on, but earlier today, the pentagon press secretary, one more time, spelled out what the limits are. we get them into ukrainian hands, places outside the country, and then ukrainians bring them into the country and they distribute them, they put them in usually some sort of temporary storage while they again distribute them to their troops and get them into the battlefield where and when they see fit. it is their property and we don t want to be in a position where we re dictating to them or trying to guide them in terms of how and when and how fast they get on to the field of battle. it is a challenge.
we re following the breaking in us as russia claims victory in mariupol and the u.s. sends more weapons to ukrainian forces. joining us now, the pentagon press secretary, john kirby. thanks very much for joining us. this new package includes more howitzers and a brand-new drone system designed by the u.s. for ukraine. how will these weapons specifically enable the ukrainian military to repel the russians in this new phase of the war? we believe these additional systems that we re sending here in this latest package are very well suited to the kind of fighting that we think we re going to see in the donbas that the ukrainians are going to face from the russians in the donbas. this is an area of ukraine that s flat, wide open. not very urban and lends itself well to mechanized warfare. you can see the russians already believe that just by what
of opportunity, while russia is slightly on the back foot, trying to regroup, trying to, you know, aim for another target in the east and to beef up all the supplies that the ukrainians need to hold them off in the east there because that is where everyone s attention or at least the ukrainians and the russian attention is going to be and actually already is. phil, the pentagon press secretary john kirby said today, quote, of course those were his words ukraine can win this war. what is the latest being sent to the military and this time russian forces seem to be regrouping and redirecting, is there any talk of increasing the sophistication of weapons being sent to ukrainian forces even if it required some training of ukrainian forces? christiane s point is such a critical one based on u.s. officials i ve spoken to who made clear this is not a status
to want such a thing. welcome back. you re watching bbc news. i m shaun ley with the latest headlines. the world men s tennis number one, novak djokovic, is due to present himself to border officials as he continues to fight against deportation from australia. number 10 apologises to the queen over fresh revelations of parties held at downing street this time on the night before prince philip s funeral. washington and kyiv have accused russia of preparing to carry out false sabotage operations to create a pretext for an invasion of ukraine. to create a pretext the pentagon said moscow had sent a group of trained operatives into eastern ukraine who could carry out acts of sabotage against russia s own proxy forces there. ukraine s defence ministry said russia was plotting to stage similar operations in neighbouring moldova. the kremlin has denied the reports. but speaking at a news conference, the pentagon press secretary,
were held at number 10 the night before the funeral of the duke of edinburgh. it was a time of national mourning, and covid rules meant indoor mixing was banned. washington and kyiv have accused russia of preparing to carry out false sabotage operations to create a pretext for an invasion of ukraine. the pentagon said moscow had sent a group of trained operatives into eastern ukraine, who could carry out acts of sabotage against russia s own proxy forces there. ukraine s defence ministry said russia was plotting to stage similar operations in neighbouring moldova. the kremlin has denied the reports. but speaking at a news conference, the pentagon press secretary, john kirby, said us intelligence indicated that the plans were well under way.