Retired Lt.General Ben Hodges argues that Ukraine must retake Crimea to win the war against Russia and achieve security. #CNN #News
Transcript
In 1954, then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided that Crimea, a peninsula in the Black Sea, should be part of the Ukrainian Socialist Republic instead of the Russian one. And so it was transferred, and so it stayed Ukrainian terri Even after the breakup
of the Soviet Union. But in 2014 Russia took it back with force. Today, many have suggested that Russia will never let it go. And Ukraine can never get it bac My next guest begs to differ. Retired General Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of Army Europe,
wrote about his view in a recent piece in The Economi He joins me now. Welcome, General Hodges. Let me first ask you, what do you make of the state of play right now, given that we’ve been hearing all this talk about the Germans
Tanks, the Americans giving Abra What is happening on the ground Well, it’s important that the United States and Germany and U.K. and others are finally deliverin this sort of capable clarity that would give Ukraine overwhel combat power for an armored thru That would be an important part
of the next counteroffensive. My only regret is that it’s take and it’s still going to be month before the American contribution The Abrams tank specifically can be part of this. Is there a big Russian advance being planned from what you can tell on the gr
It does seem like there’s a bit of a stalemate rig What’s going on as you see it? I would not call it a stalemate because a stalemate implies that both sides are doing everything they can. And and you just can’t move eith I would say actually right now
We are in this phase of the war where both sides are preparing for the next mobile phase of the The Russians of course, have tal about the next round of mobiliza You hear even the Ukrainians tal there might be 500,000 Russian soldiers that are being mobilized.
I’m very skeptical about those n And, of course, the Russians want us to be worri and thinking about a looming off so that we’re so that we’re focused on that rather than focused on the main which is helping Ukraine liberat So tell us why you think just
strategically this is the right thing to do. Because, you know, a lot of people say, look, this was Russian until Khrushche gave it in 1954 that this is this would be Putin’s red line, that this would be the one thing it is 95% Russian
This is the one area that Ukraine should not go into on the contrary say very much it is the place that Ukraine sho stage an invasion. So it’s important to remember, of course, that everybody, including the United States, rec that Crimea is sovereign
territory of Ukraine. So there’s no disputing the sovereignty of of Crimea as part of Ukraine. I can’t imagine a situation where it would be a good idea for Ukraine to go ahead and give up Crimea. Crimea is the decisive part of t
Ukraine will never be stable or safe or secure as long as Russian forces still occupy Crimea. And they’ll never be able to rebuild their economy as long as the Russian fleet is there sailing out of Sevastop interdicting traffic coming in and out of Odessa.
So in terms of what’s decisive, how can we how can we press Ukraine to go a and give up Crimea? Okay. So now explain to us why it’s doable militarily. I mean, Russia is a much bigger This is a matter of pride for th
The much bigger economy, defense And yet you say this is doable. So I’m not so sure that it’s a matter of pride for all Russians. You’ll remember, 500,000 Russians left the country last year rather than be mobilized. I’m sure they like going down
to Crimea, to the Black Sea for their holiday, as we saw las But there are no Russian soldiers that want to be in Ukra War is a test of will and the test of logistics. The Russian logistics system is barely able to supply
the Russian troops that it has in the field right n The Russian Black Sea Fleet is terrified of going anywhere n the Ukrainian coast. And Ukraine doesn’t even have a So I think when you start comparing populat and logistical systems, Ukraine does not have a manpower
They’ve got over 700,000 people in uniform. And another 2 million that are ready to step forward and, of course, will power. It’s very clear that Ukrainians have the superio will the soldiers as well as the people what Russi And I think this is
what you’re alluding to. What Russia has, of course, is m They they don’t care how many ge We see that they’re losing between six and 800 people a day killed. They’ll keep pushing those troop into the meat grinder in hopes of eventually overwhelming Ukrainian defenders
But as the SEC here says, General Cavalier is supreme allied commander. You’re a precision can defeat mass if you have enou How likely is it do you think the Ukrainians are going to take your advice? Well, one thing I’m sure of is that th
absolutely going to keep fighting to get back Cri because they know they will never be safe or secur and they know they’ll never be a to rebuild their economy. And they also know based on the history of the last 30 years, that Russia will never live up
to any agreement, but the Russians will wait for us to lose interes as we did after the invasion of Back in 2008. So I think this is why Ukraine r this year. This needs to happen now. And it’s got to be very frustrating for t
When they hear the Joint Staff or the Pentagon the administration talk about, oh, it’s going to be very hard. I don’t think they can defeat th this year. And then that’s used as a reason not to provide capabilities that would help them win this ye
So kind of a self-fulfilling pro And I think this is a manifestat of the fact that the administration just cannot bring themselves to say they want Ukraine to actu Instead, we talk about we want them to be successful or we don’t want them to lose.
And that’s why we stopped short of providing what’s needed.
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America ALWAYS loves war!
Putin vs Globalists
Did this general forget about 2014?
Dosk head.
Screw Ukra8ne
Russia crossed the West's red line when they invaded Ukraine!
LOL – if Kyiv crosses Russias red line, it will just get destroyed sooner.
The functioning of the Ukrainian language and the Constitution of Ukraine from ukrainian: https://youtu.be/06ws7sf1XU4
Fake news..Russia is clearly winning
Most of the trained army personnels are from nato and us. Ukraine doesnt have experience personel. Mostly died or injured
This guys numbers are wrong. Ukraine HAD 700,000 troops. They now have 100,000 tops. 600,000 have been killed, imprisoned, or have run for the borders.
The few tanks we are sending will be decimated on arrival. The Abrams will arrive after Putin has complete control of Ukraine.
These two pansies are exactly why we will never win against Russia. 1: they are weak men you can tell by their voice and clothes 2: they stand for men’s tampons. The west will never win a war against Russia as long as we are the champions of men’s tampons.
77th brigade, bumming the failed NATO project
CNN and its experts are engaging in propaganda that basically is sending Ukrainians into the graves. It's time for Ukraine to surrender and save their people.
Which red line? Putin has a lot of „red lines“.
Ben Hodges is the sort of commander the west needs. He has a deep and wide understanding of the issues and the likely outcomes.
I agree with General Hodges that Ukraine needs to retake Crimea for its own peace of mind and National Security. That being said taking Crimea will be no easy task. The Ukrainians don't have the assets for an amphibious assault. Nor do they have an air force capable of achieving air superiority over Crimea. That leaves a ground assault as the only viable option. There is only one 5 miles of passable land and that gap will become an absolute killing zone for Russian artillery. This war has taught the only thing the Russians are good at is overwhelming blanket fire artillery strikes. Advantage Russia.
Obviously He is warmanger of Us propaganda…
Delusional general.
2½Melia Place to meet up with U Regards Gavan XXOO R U in Coffs Harbour tomorrow afternoon 2
US Gen expert. How did your expertise work out for iraq and Afghanistan
GO UKRAINE, I will continue to support and stand by their side in the war they are fighting.
The Ukrainian President and the Ukrainian people want their land back.
Crimea was always Ukrainian territory since inmemorial time.. Catherine the great took it in 1870s but Nikita gave it back in 1952.. he said it needed to be part of Ukraine.. Glory to Ukraine,,!!!
Why does everyone ignore that Ukraine is running out of troops? All the vehicles/jets/tanks/artillery doesn't matter if you don't have an army to use it.
Well, maybe I'm not seeing the picture clearly. I guess we'll know for sure once Ukraine's 'Big Offensive' succeeds or fails!
Crimea majority Russ
Has anybody thought about the possibility of the slow supply of weapons being planned? Russia is like a barrel of powder. The western countries are slowly depleting it of resources and hoping to create internal fights in Russia. This approach is much too cynical for western media and public opinion because it means they are intentionally waiting for hundreds of thousands more Russians ad Ukrainians to die so they are just playing dumb and undecided when in fact they know exactly what they are doing and it might actually be the best option they have
Hodges corrects conventional wisdom effortlessly.
🙄 you should at least get the opening right. At the time of the decision of making the Crimea peninsula a part of the Ukrainian Soviet republic Khrushchev did not yet have the authority to make such decision, it was some committee, also it was a land swap to simplify administration.
More important than that – it is irrelevant in the context of the 2014+ events! Ukraine just happens to be a sovereign country and driving your tank onto their lawn is Nono-land. Here the discussion could and should end.
For the sake of entertainment we could add here that in ´94 the Budapest memorandum was signed, in which sovereignty was explicitly granted to a couple of post-soviet countries including Ukraine and as part of the deal these countries gave up their soviet-inherited nukes. Later in the 2000s, Putin is on the record, saying that Ukraine of course is a sovereign country and brother nation of Russia and whatnot
Translation. US defense industry needs another war now that Afghanistan is over.
It's unfair Russia destroying Ukraine. The Ukraine must be allowed to destroy military or infrastructure inside Russia.
So Putin’s reason for this war is his fear that NATO countries (democracies requiring a wide internal consensus) would all vote to attack Russia, and by surprise, no less?? No, it’s all about fear of the west influencing ordinary Russians with ‘dangerous’ ideas of freedom and democracy. He cites all the times Russia has been attacked, but every one of those times were by dictatorships, not democracies. Look at the flip side of Russia’s/ USSR’s history since WW2 in Eastern Europe. We can’t let Russia rebuild the USSR, that ain’t gonna happen.
Q
Too much fake news…bunch of stupidos🤬😡🗑🪂👽🛸
This is a circus…it's a joke..what a disgrace 🙉🪂🛸👽🤡🎪🦧😡🤬⚰🗑🙀
Ben Hodges is the man to lead the decisions of the weapons that Ukraine needs NOW!
Fareed is always a very negative newsreader. That needs to change; we need more positive newsreaders. Period!
General Hodges is absolutely right. Ukraine will never be safe or secure as long as Crimea is in the hands of the Russians. The Russians can't be trusted and it would be just a matter of time until they used Crimea as a launching pad. This is exactly why the former eastern blox countries of twere so eager to join NATO. They knew that Russia couldn't be trusted.
🤦🏻♂️…so now they wsnt to force a nuclear conflict 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️…ridiculous statements!!….overwellming power!???….overwellming nukes sre going to erase the western from the map 🤷🏻♂️…kits playing with fire !!!
CNN owned by the elite
Lol….Another Washed Up Soilder Sticking his 2 cents in….He ain't involved..Dosent know all the details from the Ukraine Military Command…WTF Do you constantly used RETIRED PEOPLE Who don't know CRAP now their REGULAR CITIZENS NOW….🤣🤣😂