Transcript of NewsX 'debate with Team Zelensky

Transcript submitted by a reader

NewsX Anchor, Joshua Barnes: 1:57
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed a swift retaliation following a Ukrainian drone strike in Kazan, Tatarstan, that damaged, attacked residential buildings and an industrial facility. Though officials reported no casualties, Putin warned that attempts to destroy Russia would be met with multiple times more destruction. In Moscow, Putin met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to discuss gas transit as their contract with Ukraine nears expiry. Fico criticised Kiev's opposition to the deal and shifted Slovakia's stance towards Russia. Meanwhile, South Korea claimed that over 1,100 North Korean troops fighting in Russia have been killed or wounded.

2:36
Kyiv revealed that these soldiers were issued fake documents to hide their origin. North Korea continues to provide weapons and manpower to Russia, escalating tensions in the region. We're first going to go to our correspondent Aditya Wadhawan. Aditya, I'd like to speak to you about these comments from Vladimir Putin and go into some more specifics, because there was strong language used in rebuttal and response to the attacks that his country has seen over the past couple of days.

Aditya Wadhawan, Correspondent: 3:02
Well, absolutely, Josh. It is a very tit-for-tat situation. You know, this, the war has been going, you know, for the last two years, this Russia-Ukraine war is nowhere, it is, there is nowhere it is seen ending, you know. Because recently, you know, if Ukraine attacks, then Russia retaliates. If Russia attacks, which is usually does-- Russia is actually aggressor in this case-- then Ukraine responds. So it is a very complex situation when we talk about Russia-Ukraine war. Recently, this is sort of a hypocritical thing. On one side, Vladimir Putin says that he is ready to compromise on war with Ukraine, and he will hold talks with the newly-elected US President Donald Trump. But on the other hand, he is warning of a retaliation [for] a missile attack on the Russian city. So it is a very complex situation that needs to be monitored. Josh. Back to you in the studios.

NewsX: 4:02
Yes, and we are now joined by two guests, firstly Gilbert Doctorow, international relations and Russian affairs expert. And we also have Glen Grant, who was a former advisor to the Defense minister of Ukraine. Glen, I'd like to come to you first.

We're looking at a situation here where a retaliation has been promised. In terms of the reaction in Ukraine and the feeling within Ukraine, is there fear amongst people that the attacks could be on a level that we've seen previously in terms of large amounts of drones, missiles and potentially the use of an intercontinental or ballistic missile?

Glen Grant: 4:35
No, not at all. The general-- and I was there last week, so I can talk with a certain degree of certainty-- the people have accepted that what Putin says and what Putin does are two different things. Everybody's expecting attacks. They've been expecting attacks since the war started, and they're getting them, but they don't think there's going to be anything worse than what they're getting at the moment. So it's just bad. The disappointment is not a worry about Putin, but disappointment is with the West not being quicker in providing support.

NewsX: 5:10
Looking at the feeling within Ukraine, I want to come back to you on that point. Is there no sort of fear amongst the people or is it something that, like you say, they've come to terms with, in terms of the fact that these attacks are going to happen. But surely a threat is still a threat, and there must be some concern amongst people.

Grant: 5:28
Yeah, well, the threat is adjusted for in people's minds. If they know that, if they hear from the air defence people that a rocket is coming their way, then they go downstairs into the metro or wherever they can hide, into the cellars. So there is common sense on that side. But it's no worse now than it was five or six months ago, for example. What is Putin going to do differently? If he throws more missiles, then there's going to be a gap between those missiles coming, because he hasn't got a bottomless pit of missiles to throw at Ukraine.

NewsX: 6:07
Gilbert Doctorow, I'm going to come to you. In terms of the response from Putin and the threats that have been made for-- "destruction" is a word that has been used. Do you think that the response will be proportionate in regards to the amount of drones that were sent over from Ukraine?

And also do you think that the impact on the front lines will be seen as well? Of course the North Korean soldiers are there fighting on the front line. How do you think both of these fronts, a front from the air but also a front on the ground, may step up now because of Putin's comments?

Doctorow: 6:42
Is this directed to me?

NewsX:
Yes, please, Gilbert. Thank you.

Doctorow: 6:45
All right, please. I disagree with the comments of the first participant, that there's no difference. The Russians have now destroyed over 80 percent of the power generation capacity of Ukraine. They have forced massive cutbacks in supply of energy across the country. Yesterday was the largest flow of Ukrainians across the border leaving the country that we have seen since the war began. So don't say they're hiding in the metro. You can't live in the metro. You can avoid a single attack, yes, but you can't live there and you certainly can't live on the 10th floor of your apartment house if you have no water and no electricity and no heat. People are getting the message; they're leaving.

7:35
To compare what the Ukrainians have done in their strike on Kazan with what the Russians are doing is to demonstrate perfectly how this war has been pursued. The Russians have basically gone after the Ukrainian military. They have killed, perhaps killed or wounded seriously, perhaps as many as one million in the last two years, of whom 560,000 were wounded or killed in the last year, of whom 45,000 were killed in the gambit of Mr. Zelensky in the Kursk province of Russia. This is devastating for the country in every sense, demographically, in terms of the economy.

The Russian attacks that may come will depend, in each case, on the seriousness of the threat that Russia perceives from every tit-for-tat response from Ukraine. What the Ukrainians did, as I said, their attack on Kazan was perfectly in line with their whole strategy of public relations war rather than kinetic war. They have attacked residential buildings. They attacked a high-rise house in Kazan to provide for viral social media pictures of their striking that building, similar to the 9-11 attack on the World Towers. We watched their drone explode in the midst of that building.

9:09
The net result, which the social media did not post, was what happened to that building. No one was killed, and it was a rather small damage. However, it made a wonderful show, and it seems as though the Ukrainian military goes for big shows and not for big actions, because they don't have the wherewithal to do big actions. Their attacks on the Russian military using ATACMS, using HIMARS have been negligible, because they simply don't have the wherewithal.

When you say, when my colleague says that the Russians are running out of missiles, I'm sorry, I disagree entirely. The latest estimate coming out of the States is that the Russians have a production capacity of 25 of their Oreshniks per month, 300 a year. Or as they said with some humour on Russian television, enough for each European capital.

NewsX: 10:00
Thank you, Gilbert Doctorow. We're going to have to move on, but thank you very much for joining us. Also thank you very much for joining us, Glen Grant.