Today at 19:59
Live in UATV studio, Mr. Cormac Smith was explaining why the decision on ATACMS missiles had to be released much earlier and why Putin can only stopped by force. We also discussed with him the real state of the Russian economy and the tremendous losses the occupiers that they take daily.
— I would like to talk about missile strikes with you, both the horrific missile strike on November 17th and the recurring strikes today on November 18th, as well as the Biden Administration’s allowance for the use of ATACMS to strike Russian and North Korean troops in the Kursk region. To start, let’s talk about the allowance to strike enemy targets deep in the territory of the Kursk region. We heard that it was a decision from Washington, but what caused it? It didn’t seem to be going well.
— Look, my view is, and I have been saying this for many months, that Washington would not give long-range permission until after the US election because I feel there was a fear in the Biden Administration that doing so could possibly harm their chances against the Republicans. Now, that’s all history.
Donald Trump has won with one of the greatest landslides in American electoral history in recent years and is now more powerful than ever. So my prediction was correct. And I’ve got to say two things about that permission: one, I suppose better late than never, but this permission should have been given at least two years ago, and these long-range ATACMS should have been provided at least two years ago.
If that had been done, probably tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainian lives could have been saved because all Ukraine has ever wanted to do is use long-range Western missiles to strike at military targets from where these murderous rocket attacks are being launched on a daily basis. You just mentioned some of those, and also elements of Russia’s logistics chain behind the front line.
The second thing is, I’m still not clear on to what extent this permission has been given. They’ve talked about hitting targets in the Kursk region, but for me, if that permission is not extended to hitting military targets anywhere within range behind Russia’s borders, it’s simply not enough. The main reason for me is to defend Ukraine, its civilians, and its infrastructure, which Russia is obviously targeting at the moment.
So, this permission is better late than never, should have been given probably two years ago, but now that it has been given, the handcuffs need to be taken off Ukraine completely, and Ukraine needs to be able to use these weapons to the maximum in defense of its people.
— I believe we will see the strike targets of American ATACMS soon, because, as Reuters mentioned before, Ukraine is already preparing for a strike with ATACMS on Russian territory. We are also developing our own missiles, as President Zelenskyy has said in a radio interview. There are four types of different missiles currently being tested to be produced in Ukraine, but it all takes time. Do you see this time for Ukraine right now? Can we still last enough to develop our own weapons to stop the daily glide bomb strikes and ballistic strikes on our territory?
— Well, you know better than I do, Pavo, that it is a very difficult time for Ukraine at the moment. It’s good news that this long-range permission has finally been given. It’s also good news that the Biden Administration has committed to giving the final $7.1 billion in military aid to Ukraine before the end of their Administration in January.
But, you know, I joined Ukrainian television the morning after Biden’s victory to discuss its implications for Ukraine, and I said then, and I’ve said a number of times in other interviews, that I actually believe there could be a silver lining for Ukraine in the Biden victory. That silver lining could take possibly two forms.
One, I hope that, with Donald Trump’s threats to pull America out of NATO, European leaders will finally wake up and realize that Europe needs to stand on its own two feet. If there’s one area and one area only that I agree with Donald Trump on in recent years, it’s his criticism that many European NATO members have not paid their fair share, paying less than the NATO minimum of 2%.
Now we are seeing hopeful signs from Emmanuel Macron in France, Poland is now committed to spending nearly 5%, the three small Baltic states are at either 3% or between 3% and 3.5%, and the new NATO members of Finland and Sweden are both approaching 2.5%.
Germany is somewhat different. We had the very cynical and, in my view, completely pointless phone call between Schultz and Putin on Friday, which obviously President Zelenskyy came out very diplomatically against, giving his view that it would achieve nothing, because we know that Putin negotiates in bad faith and always breaks his word when it comes to Ukraine. The truth that Ukraine knows, and the rest of Europe needs to finally face, is that Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine and will only stop when he is stopped. A just peace for Ukraine will never come from negotiating with Vladimir Putin.
— After the phone call between Schultz and Putin on November 17th, we saw massive strikes on energy infrastructure, followed today by deadly strikes on Sui and Odessa’s residential areas with ballistic missiles. Is this a kind of sick diplomacy, showing that no matter what you do, I will continue to kill?
— Exactly, and we saw that Schultz called Putin on Friday. What response have we seen from the Kremlin to this diplomatic effort? We’ve seen some of the heaviest drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian targets, particularly over the last two and a half to three years. Putin’s spokesman, Peskov, recently said they had no interest in negotiating around freezing the current lines of contact, which, by the way, should be totally unacceptable to Ukraine.
The question that Western audiences need to ask is this: who would be willing to give up 20% of their territory to a genocidal invader simply to live in democratic peace, as is their right?
More importantly, how many millions of their fellow citizens in the UK, France, Germany, or the US would be willing to abandon their land to daily systematic rape, torture, murder, and pillage, as we know Russian troops are carrying out in the occupied territories of Ukraine?
— The situation on the front line is very tense. We have daily assaults by Russians, and now up to 100 North Korean troops are being deployed to fight against Ukraine. This is the hardest and most brutal assault in all of 10 years of war right now, comparable only to the scale of World War II.
— I’m very aware of how hard this is for Ukraine to sustain. We see that, for the first time in a long time, Russia is starting to make advances, albeit slowly. But we need to remember that these advances are being made at enormous cost to Russia. Russian casualties have been varying between 1,500 and 2,000 a day for almost a month now.
This is not sustainable, and this is one reason why Putin has had to bring in North Korean troops. He’s finding it harder to recruit Russians to fight, despite having no compunction about sending tens of thousands of his own people to their deaths. The truth is that Russia is probably in a far weaker state than they would like us to believe. Western leaders need to realize that Russia’s economy is in bad shape. This is the time to put the boot in on Russia. I have been saying this for some time.
A large part of that boot, I hope, will be the effective use of not just ATACMS from America but also the Storm Shadow missiles from the UK and the SCALP from France. Britain was the first to give long-range missiles to Ukraine in the summer of 2023 with the Storm Shadow, but with the restriction that they couldn’t be used behind Russia’s borders. We’re still waiting for permission for these from France and the UK, and I personally hope that permission will be given soon.
— Maybe this gesture has been more symbolic. Some people say we received it two or three days ago, but it was only announced yesterday. We can only guess why it was made public, but we can be sure these projectiles will land on Russian airfields and logistics centers, preventing them from committing more crimes and genocide in Ukraine. Thank you very much for this insightful interview. Do you have any final remarks?
— Well, I look forward to Ukraine using this long-range permission. I’ve already said that it’s better late than never, and I believe it can make a significant difference. I have huge faith in Ukraine’s military command, and I do think that in the next two months, they can use this to put Ukraine in a much stronger position. When Donald Trump comes to power, I hope European leaders wake up. I hope permission has already been given to use SCALP and Storm Shadow missiles.
My final thoughts are that Russia is undoubtedly a lot weaker than they wish us to believe.
They still make veiled threats about retaliation, but I find it amusing. Russia is incensed that Ukraine can use British, French, and American missiles to strike military targets, while they’ve been using Iranian drones and missiles for over a year to strike Ukrainian civilian targets. Russia lies. They are a mafia state, and diplomacy won’t get anywhere with them.
The only way Russia can be dealt with, and this has been true as long as I’ve been alive, is from a position of strength. Putin will only stop when he is stopped.
