Speaker 1: The Ukrainians believe Moscow is making its unfounded claims about
Speaker 1: Key of preparing to use a so called dirty bomb
Speaker 1: because Russia's troops are pinned down in this area and
Speaker 1: Carlson's commander believes it's only a matter of time before
Speaker 1: they ouced Vladimy Putin's army from here by the end
Speaker 1: of the year. We believe Hassan will be under Ukrainian
Speaker 1: flags by the end of the year. That's only a
Speaker 1: couple of months. Uh. We'll see how pinned down is
Speaker 1: the Russian army in that area of the country. And
Speaker 1: I think that's like like the actual trained army where
Speaker 1: they have weapons as opposed to those new conscripts are
Speaker 1: old fat men. They're shipping in with no uniforms or weapons.
Speaker 1: We thought we'd check in with someone who's more in
Speaker 1: the know on this than certainly I am Jeff McCaslin,
Speaker 1: CBS News military consultant, founder and CEO of Diamond six
Speaker 1: Leadership and Strategy ll LC. Uh, Jeff, welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Armstrong and Getty Show. So are we about to
Speaker 1: see a major battle there in the Curissaneri? Good wealth
Speaker 1: to do that if there's evidence that the Russians are
Speaker 1: preparing to defend the city, and so it might be
Speaker 1: a house to house, you know, inner inside a city fight.
Speaker 1: This is an important battle, of course, because her Son
Speaker 1: was the first major city captured by the Russians of
Speaker 1: the onset of the invasion back in February, and the
Speaker 1: problem the Russians of god is her Son sits on
Speaker 1: the west side of the Niper River and Nipa River,
Speaker 1: and as a consequence, as Ukrainians have been trying to
Speaker 1: encircle them, looks like they're being more and more success
Speaker 1: someone doing so, the Russians are confronted with the problem
Speaker 1: of either withdrawing or being surrounded and forced eventually too surrender.
Speaker 1: They are, as you suggests, evacuating an awful lot of
Speaker 1: civilians out of particular city, suggesting again that they think
Speaker 1: their position is non tenable. And there are reports actually
Speaker 1: that senior military commanders have gone to Mr. Putin and said,
Speaker 1: you know, we need to pull back. This is we
Speaker 1: can't hold this and he has told them basically to
Speaker 1: stay and hold it at all costs. If they did
Speaker 1: get surrounded the so I read their Russian soldiers, would
Speaker 1: that be the end of the war. Would it be
Speaker 1: that big a deal or not. No, I don't think
Speaker 1: it would be the end of the war. It would
Speaker 1: be a major disaster for the Russians. It would be
Speaker 1: very difficult for Puttin back in Moscow to cover up
Speaker 1: the disaster like this for the folks back at home,
Speaker 1: But it would not be the end of the war.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, who could even push Mr. Putin more and
Speaker 1: more into a corner and encourage him to escalate even
Speaker 1: prother Wow. Yeah, that's a good point. So a strategic
Speaker 1: victory by the Ukrainians, major disasters you called it, by
Speaker 1: the Russians might make it more likely the world gets
Speaker 1: drug into a nuclear conflict. It's it's certainly as possible
Speaker 1: that you know, the Russians are doing this this information
Speaker 1: campaign right now in which they are claiming that the
Speaker 1: Ukrainians are preparing to detonate a so called dirty bomb
Speaker 1: on Ukrainian territory. No, there's no evidence that that is
Speaker 1: in fact happening. Most people believe this is preparation by
Speaker 1: the Eruptions, perhaps to do so themselves and then try
Speaker 1: to blame on Ukrainians. Yeah, that's an ugly story. Um.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you this question because it came
Speaker 1: up earlier in the show, and I hear differing opinions.
Speaker 1: You know, you got thirty Democrats that send a letter
Speaker 1: to the President saying hey, hey, let's back off on
Speaker 1: the whole Ukraine support. You got a chunk of Republicans
Speaker 1: that feel the same way, and Kevin McCarthy said no
Speaker 1: blank check for Ukraine a week or so ago. So
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's a growing sentiment in the House,
Speaker 1: but so far we've got bipartisan support. But to that question,
Speaker 1: how big a deal is this? I was going to
Speaker 1: read from David French in the Dispatch at some point.
Speaker 1: He wrote a big piece yesterday saying this is the
Speaker 1: biggest story in the world and it's crucial that we
Speaker 1: continue to back Ukraine until they've defeated the Russians. Do
Speaker 1: you think this is the biggest story in the world.
Speaker 1: Is it crucial? I think it absolutely is, without a doubt.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's just look at this way. If he
Speaker 1: is successful and using military force to take territory that
Speaker 1: clearly belongs to a neighboring country, and what's to keep
Speaker 1: him from moving on to the balt of view public
Speaker 1: to lab Let's any Estonia parts of Poland because he
Speaker 1: thinks they can get away with it. What's to stop
Speaker 1: the Chinese? I'm saying, obviously, the international community is not
Speaker 1: gonna respond to these things. The norms that we established
Speaker 1: at the end of the Second World War. The territory
Speaker 1: is not seized by armed aggression or no longer valid,
Speaker 1: and therefore we can move on on Taiwan. So I
Speaker 1: think it's absolutely crucial that we are successful. You know,
Speaker 1: it really bothers me is when McCarthy said that, and
Speaker 1: Progressive Democrats said that. One thing we know for sure
Speaker 1: it brought a smile to Vladimir Prutins right. Oh, absolutely, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: without a doubt. And I don't want to drag into
Speaker 1: politics discussion because you're a military expert, but it's disappointing
Speaker 1: that there aren't more Republicans and Democrats who have been,
Speaker 1: you know, voting for all this funding. At least throw
Speaker 1: it into your speech on the campaign trail now and
Speaker 1: then why it's important for the United States to back
Speaker 1: this effort so that you don't have the support start
Speaker 1: to drip away a vote by vote. I guess that
Speaker 1: being said, you know, the Pell opinion polls that I
Speaker 1: look at suggests the American people are pretty strongly behind
Speaker 1: this continues. The majority of both the House and the
Speaker 1: Senate strongly support this. Ms McCarthy, Mr mcconoal, I'm sorry, Uh,
Speaker 1: the Senate Minority leader has been very outspoken about BIPARTIST
Speaker 1: and support for Ukraine. We did see about ten Republican
Speaker 1: Senators vote against the most recent package for Ukraine, and
Speaker 1: about fifty Republicans in the House and back in May
Speaker 1: um and that might expand somewhat, and there might be
Speaker 1: some insistence that greater oversight is put in place to
Speaker 1: ensure that the funds that we're providing are in fact,
Speaker 1: you know, getting to where we think they're going, which
Speaker 1: not necessarily a bad idea, But I still think by
Speaker 1: and large there is a strong support for supporting Ukrainians.
Speaker 1: And uh, the question of when it should be over though,
Speaker 1: the Ukrainians get to make that decision for themselves, but
Speaker 1: we can stop funding whatever we want. Also, do we
Speaker 1: if they get back everything going back to February? Is
Speaker 1: that good enough for us? Or do we continue to
Speaker 1: fund them until they try to push the Russians out
Speaker 1: of Crimea, which might be a pretty tough task. That'll
Speaker 1: be a pretty tough task, no doubt about it. And
Speaker 1: I think for not only the Biden administration, but frankly,
Speaker 1: the Europeans are returned the statusco anti, that being the
Speaker 1: borders that roughly were in placed back on the February
Speaker 1: with a real spanking and the Russians in the process
Speaker 1: might well be acceptable. And the other thing were watching
Speaker 1: only is support here in the United States, but support
Speaker 1: here in Europe where I am right now, which does
Speaker 1: also seem to be a bit brittle and based on
Speaker 1: the amountain kind of military assistance men of European countries
Speaker 1: are providing. They're they're providing just enough military equipment to
Speaker 1: you know, keep the Russians at bay and hopefully move
Speaker 1: them back to their status coo anti without providing them
Speaker 1: so much military hardware that the Ukrainians would would launch
Speaker 1: the kind of major offensive you're talking about to take
Speaker 1: back Ama or even start trying to strike cities on
Speaker 1: Russian territory. Doctor Jeff McCaslin, retired colonel from the U. S. Army,
Speaker 1: Senior Fellow at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at
Speaker 1: the Naval Academy, appreciate your expertise and opinions today it's
Speaker 1: always a pleasure. Armstrong and