Page 173 - Vulnerabilities News Today

An impact on the battlefield in ukraine given the division and given, as nick paton walsh was referencing there, just the will to fight of russian forces here, which has been an issue for some time. lets go down to the rostov region because i want to draw attention to what prigozhin was able to take over in his brief rebellion. this is a key point for the war in ukraine. why is that? >> absolutely. because, jim, this is the headquarters of the southern military district for the russians, for the...

>> so everybody is likely trying to figure out how they can have an ordinary response to this development. i want to say that its a complete surprise in that i think its expected that you had these cracks and fissures continue to deepen, but nobody expected this kind of saga and certainly not to play out this way and certainly not like putins best but or former best but i guess. that said i remember at times of crisis in the white house the first thing that happens is you are looking to coordina...

Moscow in recent weeks. and weve seen a number of attacks across the border by ukrainian or ukrainian-backed forces. so we know the borders, the air defenses, and frankly it seemed the russian military units down here not able to repel wagners advance, all vulnerabilities there. what does that mean for the state of stability in russia and the strength of the current government there? >> so what youre dealing with, jim, is really a very weakened military force. there are several reasons perhaps w...

Into exile. the uprising exposed vulnerabilities in russias forces after -- the turmoil may continue over the coming weeks. >> i think weve seen more cracks emerge in the russian facade. it is too soon to tell exactly where they go, and when they get there. but certainly we have all sorts of new questions that putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead. >> sarah ferguson called into public to get checked after revealing she had breast cancer surgery. the 63 old duchess of yo...

Week. youve got sanctions piling up. now this crisis, how bad is this for russia not just putin specifically? >> so one of the things that i learned when i was at the white house and i handled syria was that you cant bank on these dictators follies. anyone who thinks that we are near the end, that putin is hanging by a thread and that this is its all unraveling. i would caution against thinking that. what it does show is that there are these cracks and fissures that are very real, these vulnerab...

Determine where those vulnerabilities and weak points are for the russians so they can exploit them. what im interested in seeing is can the wagner group and the conventional russian military integrate. im not optimistic that that can happen based on its most recent past and this incredible critical voice, this assault, this critical assault, verbal assault on the russian military and its leadership by prigozhin. >> not really a good sign for some sort of integration of wagner groups into the co...

Over time. >> from a military standpoint, general, what will you be watching for inukraine? a general analysis is that a counteroffensive has not exactly run over russia. having said that, is there an opportunity here that did not exist 72 hours ago? >> well, first of all, lets keep in mind for ukraines counteroffensive, it has started, but the main attack has not started. about 20% of their forces have been committed so far. i think theyre still looking for opportunit -- looking for vulnerabili...

Militarily. >> yes, ambassador, you wrote back in february, quote, putins war in ukraine has also triggered deep damage to his own country, especially to russias armed, forces the economy, society, and in the long run to his own regime,, ambassador prigozhins mercenaries overtaking a military headquarters without firing a single bullet exposed putins vulnerabilities to the world? >> without question. you know, this war in ukraine, it has undermined putin in many ways as i read about that article...

Its the first thing i asked yesterday, like, what does this mean? does this mean ukraine -- i kept thinking that the ukrainian troops would try to take advantage of this, maybe yesterday, and try to push for a big breakthrough, or something -- bust through some of those russian defensive lines, find a hole that they could punch through, while moscow was so distracted. you did not see that happen. but there is a strong belief that that is something that, you know, right now, ukraine is still prob...

This point in time, and this is slow progress, but it is intended to be slow progress. i had a lot of years in combat, and it was slow for me as well. particularly when youre talking about the trenches dug in. bonkers, elaborate defense systems. you have to fight through all of that stuff. and the ukrainians have been fighting the front line forces at this particular point trying to breakthrough that massive defense of the russians. theyre trying to find the vulnerabilities. and so that is why t...