even before the signing of the law on additional aid from the united states, ukraine secretly received atakams missiles and apparently already had time to use them. in the kremlin. have already reacted to what russia will oppose, we say in today's edition of the bbc, i am olga polamaryuk. american aid, which was finally signed by joe biden this week, may reach ukraine in the near future. the aid package, worth almost 61 billion dollars, will be divided into parts, the first of which will be for 1 billion dollars. the biden administration reported that air defense and artillery equipment will be included there shells, ammunition, combat vehicles bradley infantry vs. tank systems, this package should

help protect the front of the city and resist russian attacks, this is what the us department of defense said, joe biden himself said that deliveries will begin immediately after the signing of the law, but it just became known about the approval of additional aid, the american media reported, ukraine received atacoms long-range ballistic missiles even earlier. later, the us officially confirmed it, but washington says it will not be decisive. in this conflict there is no some kind of silver bullet. one remedy will not be the final solution. the situation in this conflict will be changed by a combination of opportunities combined with the bravery and skill of ukrainian soldiers. so we think it's good that we can provide them, but i don't expect that one remedy can be a silver bullet in this conflict. and the united states secretly transferred missiles to attacks from ukraine not for the first time. last year, president volodymyr

zelenskyi officially confirmed that it was the ukrainian military that hit two airfields of the kref army at once with missiles occupied berdyansk and luhansk, then deliveries were not reported either, well, but now we are talking about missiles with a larger radius, what are atakoms missiles and why are they so important for ukraine? atakoms ballistic missiles formally belong to the class of operational-tactical missiles, those provided to ukraine now have a range of up to... 300 km, and it is this range of 300 km, experts say, that could allow the armed forces of ukraine to hit important targets. it is not known exactly how many such missiles have already been handed over to ukraine. new york times writes about hundred, but will they be able to change the situation at the front? defense spectator justin crump analyzes. ukraine had these missiles before, with a shorter range of about 150 km, but there was a lot of talk about... later on giving them

missiles with a longer range, about 300 km, but then the argument was that these missiles would give ukraine the ability to more strikes on targets in russia, but the ukrainians have always had restrictions on the use of these weapons precisely because of this, so the red line that the united states did not cross was always existed, but now it is known that more advanced systems were supplied to ukraine, which the ukrainians recently used for... yes in crimea, and there should be even more of them in this latest aid package. these missiles are indecisive in war, but with them the ukrainians will have much more opportunities on the battlefield. they will be able to reach more territories that russia occupied in ukraine. it is unlikely that they will use them for purposes in russia itself, but they will be able to hit russian headquarters and their logistics centers. in addition, the use of longer-range missiles makes it possible to fire from a greater distance from. love, so it significantly complicates the life of

russian troops in any part of ukraine. we will discuss it together with our guest. dmytro zhmailo, an expert of the ukrainian center for security and cooperation, joins the broadcast. mr. dmitry, i welcome you on the air, thank you for joining, we just heard the opinion of a british expert, and he believes that the attack missiles will not significantly affect the situation at the front, that it will not be such a turning point in the war. and what is your opinion, what do you think? you? i partially agree, because we are still very, very far from the turning point, but what we, what this help gives us, first of all, is a missile that is land-based, compared to the same taurus missiles or the storm shadow missiles that is air-based, that is , it is necessary to use aircraft for their launch, which ukraine lacks, thanks to these missiles, we can reach a critical point, taking into account... the offensive potential

that the russian federation is currently forming, taking into account that we have hymarс installations, which can carry one such missile and mlrs installations, we can bring these ... closer to the front in order to hit the concentration of russian aircraft, helicopters, attack aircraft, which is actively using guided air munitions now, in order to further drive it away from front line the next step that we will need to do in ukraine, which the general staff is working on, in particular, is the destruction of the enemy's logistics, that is, the destruction of supply routes, destruction of bridges, destruction. crossings, destruction of warehouses, in order for this the russian machine, and this huge group, which is located in the occupied territories, began, well, roughly speaking, to tie up this russian bear and destroy its logistics, so that ammunition is not delivered, so that

all the necessary equipment does not reach the russian front on time and weapons, so if we talk about the use of these systems and the use of this aid in general, then here... the pace of deliveries will be very important in order to knock down the offensive potential of the enemy and the offensive they loudly announced at the first stage, which should start from day to day. and what could these potentially be goals? all the same, if ukraine received missiles with a long range of up to 300 km. well, it is obvious that everyone is listening, this is, of course, the question of the crimean bridge, but the crimean bridge is, it is the general headquarters and the armed forces of ukraine. have all the detailed plans, of course, to destroy it, but it is a very complex structure, which in order to hit it effectively, it is necessary to destroy the supports, and this is a complex operation, which will necessarily be required, which will be done when for this will be a suitable moment, if we talk

about potential targets, then in crimea there are from 150 to 200 such targets, this is the main crimea is such a supply hub for the russians for the entire southern group, if we talk... about specific cities, then there is such a city as dzhanko, which is a large logistical transport hub for the russians, through which all these supplies come, so all the vessels and arteries of the occupiers will have to be cut so that they cannot deliver to the front line all the necessary and necessary supplies that it can be, it's airfields, it's roads, it's bridges, it's crossings, it's warehouses, it's basing. aviation and, accordingly, the basing of air defense, ukraine was actually preparing for the use of these weapons, because in order to counter these missiles, although the russian forces claim that their complexes are allegedly modernized s-400, they can shoot down up to 70, from 70 to 90% of launched missiles, but , as we

can see, this does not correspond to reality, because even earlier strikes on crimea actually destroyed these very installations. s-400, so there are actually very, very many targets, and certain ones we will see the results of application very soon. yes, mr. dmytro, please stay in touch, we will talk with you, but now we want to talk about russia's reaction. foreign minister sergey lavrov said that any weapons given to ukraine would be a potential target for the kremlin and that it would not help negotiations. oleksandr lukashenko became active in belarus. spoke again about nuclear weapons during the meeting of the all-russian people's assembly, last summer it was reported that russia had delivered tactical nuclear weapons to belarus, and lukashenko confirmed this the day before, he said about several dozen russian nuclear munitions, it was a quote, but what is the purpose

of such statements, what do western experts say? belarus was not directly involved in this conflict, but it was a kind of base for russian forces in the past. moscow and minsk signed a nuclear agreement in 2011, which allowed russia to station its forces on the territory of belarus. from a military point of view, this is simply an expansion of russian territory. in recent days, lukashenko and his leadership made a number of statements regarding the threat from nato in poland. in addition, they claimed that the ukrainians wanted to penetrate into belarus, seize territories and declare independence there. lots of claims, but very little evidence. there was also a belarusian statement that... drones from nato countries were to attack minsk. the kgb claims that they managed to prevent this. it is unlikely that nato countries will send a drone to ukraine, which is not directly involved in this conflict. there is no evidence for such claims, and no evidence for claims about nuclear weapons, though it's possible. so who benefits? of course

, russia, which is trying to increase pressure on ukraine and provide assistance to ukraine , was met with gnashing of teeth by the russians, because such support would hinder them somewhat. plan to continue the conflict and break up ukraine. yes, we are returning to the conversation of dmytro shmailo on the phone. why , in your opinion, is lukashenko talking about nuclear weapons again? because they started, because with the supported package of providing western weapons to ukraine, accordingly, all enemy forces are now being activated and something needs to be answered, because the west finally did step, the ukrainian armed forces take steps every day to destroy the enemy, and it is necessary to give at least some kind of answer, the old answer is , of course, to start threatening with nuclear weapons, which , in particular, has been used for a long time... by the russians and their satellite countries, in particular, belarus. in response to this, as far as we know, poland requested

the united states to place american nuclear weapons on polish territory. accordingly, what we see now in belarus is actually a rehearsal of this media response, which is now being successfully moderated moscow. ugh. well, if russia during these two years of full-scale invasion, it also adapts, in particular in the use of drones for... electronic warfare, then what can the russians oppose to long-range missiles, of which there will be more in ukraine? the russians, just as we, well, it is no secret to anyone, do not achieve a balance of power with the russians, because in some positions the weapon technology is 10 times superior, therefore, accordingly, we will continue to try to resist in difficult conditions with our military skill and cunning , apply point. hit the enemy the russians, on the other hand, will become more active, they will collect reserves faster and try

to pressure and oppress us with mass, therefore, at this stage, the strategic initiative and interception of the strategic initiative will be on the side that sets a higher pace. if the western allies will deliver all the munitions to us on time, deliver all the aid that they have announced, and we will be able to deliver pinpoint painful strikes at ... such an intensity that the russians will not be able to rebuild, recover from the strikes, and quickly rebuild their logistics routes supplies, then we will gradually take over this initiative, if it is really fast, then we will be able to knock down the offensive potential of the russians in at least one and a half months, and we will be able to see the first results, regarding the change of the initiative , after six months, when we will be able to spend the entire this very i will do the work, the russians, on the other hand , will press more with numbers, they will carry out more

of these frontal attacks within their capabilities in order to prevent us from recovering and simply press even more. thank you for such an answer, expert dmytro zhmailov of the ukrainian center for security and cooperation was in touch with us. thank you. well, to summarize, can western aid to ukraine turn the tide of the war at the moment? and this is what the ex-deputy of the british said. defense secretary james hippie on bbc news night. the provision of this assistance is not a turning point in the war. this is worth realizing. this wave of aid from the usa and great britain strengthens the ukrainians in their struggle, stabilizes the front line. atacoms from the usa and storm shadow from great britain will allow the ukrainians to fire at targets deep in the russian rear, and in this way hinder their advance in... in fact, the ukrainians need at least a year, or even two, to prepare for a full-scale

offensive. and for this, this incredible heroic army of volunteers, which is now on the front lines, must be capable of complex anticipatory sophisticated military maneuvers. the west, their donor community, has to teach them this, but it takes time, so it's not a tipping point. we just we tell putin that we have patience. and this was the opinion of a western expert, if you want to know more, subscribe to our pages on social networks so as not to miss the most important news, we are on facebook, instagram and tiktok, on youtube, you can watch our episode if you missed it on the air. well, that's all for today, more stories on our bbc.ua website, and we're on the air on monday, as always, at 9 p.m. all the best and take care.

they mass kill ukrainian civilians, they kidnap and torture. ukrainian patriots, activists, politicians, volunteers, they forcefully deport and russify tens of thousands of ukrainian children. when the russians retreated after a month-long occupation, they left behind evidence of war crimes that shocked the world. for eight months , the russians ruled in kherson. there were

tortures, murders and disappearances. they discovered another terrible one. find russia is deporting thousands of children from ukraine, from the territories it invaded and raising them as russians. against the background of mass murders, torture and abduction of children, their state propaganda and politicians repeat time and time again: let's destroy the ukrainian nation, just dumb down these children, just dumb down. does this mean that everything the russians are committing...in ukraine is genocide, politicians started saying this word as early as the spring of 2022. the exposure of what putin has done in ukraine seems to me quite close to genocide. yes, i called it genocide because it is becoming increasingly clear that putin is trying to erase the very idea of ​​being ukrainian. i

think it is absolutely correct that more and more people say and use the word genocide in relation to what... russia. i think that we should call a spade a spade and what is happening in ukraine is genocide. but is genocide really the right name for the crimes committed by russia in ukraine? under the political surface there is a sharp dispute between the most famous scientists and lawyers. these political statements are just that , political statements, but genocide has a very clear legal definition. i just don't think we have enough evidence to... i firmly believe that there is no doubt that a case of genocide. i have concluded that he meets the criteria for genocide under the un convention. we can definitely say that the military and political leadership of the russian federation is quite realistically

charged with the crime of genocide according to the highest international standards. why opinions are divided. who is right, what evidence of genocide did the russians leave and what is missing, should ukraine even try to prove this crime, or is it really important? with the help of exclusive testimonies of a number of victims of russian war crimes in ukraine, in-depth interviews with the best experts, documents and chronicles of russian war crimes, we sought an answer to one of the main questions of the russian-ukrainian war: is genocide really being committed in ukraine. william schabas, one of

the world's foremost authorities on genocide. in the fall of 2022, more than six months later. full-scale russian invasion of ukraine, he published an article in which he claimed: there are no sufficient grounds to talk about genocide in ukraine. i thought that many of the allegations were not sufficiently supported by evidence for to start talking about the term genocide. and since then i have actually become even more convinced of this opinion. ukrainian scientist dmytro koval, co-author of the ukrainian parliament's declaration that genocide is taking place in ukraine. he also wrote an article about it together with three other ukrainian colleagues. in her text, he directly opposes william shabas. in your opinion, what russia or the russian

armed forces are doing in ukraine is genocide or not? yes, in my opinion, this is genocide. such an opinion is defended not only by ukrainian scientists and teachers eugene finkel of johns hopkins university, who specializes in mass violence, published a column in the washington post in april 2022 under the headline what's happening in ukraine - genocide, period. the first thing that convinced me that genocide was taking place was bucha and the killing of civilians in bucha. and since then, i believe, what we see in ukraine has only strengthened these conclusions. mass killings of civilians in kyiv. the region was discovered in the spring of 2022, after russian troops retreated from there. they took place in various cities and towns, but

bucha became their main symbol. then the first serious statements about the genocide were made. once it was a quiet suburb of the ukrainian capital. today, the town of bucha is synonymous with death and desolation. here. hundreds of ukrainians died, many were apparently executed by the russian military. bodies with signs of torture, rape and execution are exhumed. some seem to have been killed with their hands tied. russian soldiers did not care about age or gender. one of those whom russia... killed in buchi was a 41-year-old man welder oleg abramov. russian soldiers killed him practically next to his

wife irina. i had a very good husband. on my birthday, which was in the 21st year just before the war, he wished me. he said: "faith in you, everything, everything will be." you have me, the russians came to their house on march 5, there were four of them with machine guns, oleg went outside with them, one of the soldiers stayed with irina in the house, asked where the nazis were, i said i don’t know who is not here nazis "here you are, you have nazi rule, we are forced come to arrange such a life for you as the people in donbas are suffering, all of you

will be destroyed here. intentions to destroy everyone were voiced by the russian military in many telephone conversations intercepted by the ukrainian special services. we have to kill everyone, and children , and women, everyone in a row.” it was destroyed, that’s all, there will be no such hatred, you child, it was necessary to put out the fuck, that’s why i i will do so, oleg abramov became one of the victims of this intention. going outside, iryna saw his body next to four russian soldiers. you know, standing like that, and

thinking like that, it can't be, he's the only one, it can't be. on the one hand , you understand that he is dead, because his head was almost gone . and on the other hand, what can't be. it is not true. started screaming and then started asking them to kill me. iryna does not know why the russian military decided not to kill her, just as she does not know why and why they killed her husband. she can only guess. they were his sections, they led him down the street, they interrogated him, maybe... so that he spoke ukrainian, maybe there was some tip-off, i don't know, what happened in buch and other

places was a whole targeted attack on people, whom we consider ukrainians, not by ethnicity , but by nationality. activists, statesmen, veterans and even just people who spoke ukrainian. or were considered patriots, the tone of the discussion in the russian media changed from "we liberate ukraine" to ukrainians must be destroyed, and this happened almost immediately after bucha. almost immediately after the discovery of mass murders in buch, the russian state media ria novosti published an article by political technologist timofiy sergeytsev, what russia should do with ukraine, explaining in it... i have decided to conduct a special military operation, we will strive for

demilitarization and.. denazification of ukraine. in an article by a russian political technologist, being a nazi simply means being ukrainian. denazification will inevitably be de-ukrainization. the name ukraine is not allowed save for a completely de-nazified state entity. a significant mass of the population of ukraine are accomplices of nazism and must be punished. historian timothy snyder called this text a russian textbook on genocide. one of the most openly genocidal. documents he had ever seen. eugene finkel agrees with this assessment. they managed to destroy the ukrainian identity and turn people into russians. the mere fact that a person has a ukrainian identity or is a ukrainian would be enough to become a target. according to with this column, this article, which, let me remind you, was published in the state media, and such

things were not. without direct approval of the state, approval from the leadership of the kremlin. the scientist reminds that the direct voice of the state was also heard a few days later. dmitry medvedev, the former president of russia and now the head of putin's united russia party and deputy chairman of the security council of the russian federation, wrote in his telegram: deep ukrainianism that is fueled. poison and an all-encompassing lie about one's identity, that's one big one fake this phenomenon has never existed in history and does not exist now. changing the bloody and full of false myths consciousness of a part of current ukrainians is an important goal. it sounded like an echo of timofey sergeytsev's article. soon a deputy of the russian state duma spoke openly on russian state television about

the extermination of millions of ukrainians. we will get a maximum of 5% incurable. there are 2 million people in numbers. these 2 million people had to either leave ukraine or be de-nazified. that is, to be destroyed. so russian propaganda began not only to justify but also to encourage violence against civilians. we believe that the killing of civilians is one of the key criteria for identifying genocide. and it is this criterion that convinces shabas that war crimes are taking place in ukraine, but not genocide. the larger the scale of the killings, the more reasonable is the conclusion that it is done with the aim of destroying the group. and i think that in practice, the worst months in terms of civilian casualties were the first months of the conflict, and then it went down. therefore, the evolution of the crisis is not

reinforced the argument that is happening. is it really so? opponents of william shabas do not agree with this conclusion. i am not sure that the violence has decreased. we know about the cases of izyum, buchi, boredyanka, irpen, kherson, because these cities were liberated. i am deeply convinced that when the ukrainian army reaches such places as, for example, melitopol, we will see. and evidence of mass murders, we just don't have access to these places now, no one but the russians do. with each deoccupation, as we have seen, new confirmations of new atrocities appear, until deoccupation of the izyum oblast, even i, despite the fact that by this time i had already written the declaration of the verkhovna rada, and we had made significant progress in the work on the article, i could not imagine that we would find mass burials of local

residents under the izyum. the armed forces of ukraine liberated izyum, a city in the kharkiv region in september 2022 . 447 bodies were found in mass graves there, of which at least 414 were civilians. this area has become a huge crime scene. forensic teams carefully remove hundreds of bodies from the ground. this is where horror acquires names and numbers, russia's unprovoked invasion. killed many, we already knew that, but only now in the liberated cities, such as izyum, we learn who and how exactly was killed. with the de-occupation of new portions of the territory, with the de-occupation of mariupol, we will be faced with more and more terrible statistics and confirmations that a genocidal campaign was indeed taking place there, so...