Indigenous weaponry: Ukraine's drone attack on Pskov military airbase a 'serious strike for Russia'
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00:00 We can now bring in Alexandra Filipenko, a political analyst who joins us on the program.
00:04 Thank you very much for speaking to us here on France 24 today. I wanted to ask you to get
00:10 your assessment of where things stand on the ground right now. Thank you for having me. And
00:16 as of now, and I think the most important thing that we've heard and that we've seen
00:21 is that is what the Ukrainian Defense Ministry have said. They commented on the drone strike
00:28 in the airfield near Pskov, near Pskov region inside Russia, deep inside Russia, I must add.
00:35 And the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that they are working from the Russian
00:39 territory. The UAV attack, the drone attack on the airfield in Pskov was carried out from the
00:45 territory of the Russian Federation, according to Ukrainian Defense Ministry. And after that
00:50 attack, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian long range weapons
00:55 are successfully used against those targets. And that strike that damaged at least four military
01:05 airplanes and maybe even more, that is quite a serious strike for Russia that Russia absolutely
01:12 didn't expect because they didn't expect any of the military equipment to be damaged. And after
01:18 that, the Secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Denilov, he published
01:24 a video after the words of President Zelensky, he even published a video that shows a test of a new
01:31 Ukrainian made missile weapons. So, and after that, he even commented that Sevastopol is waiting,
01:39 meaning Crimea is waiting, Kamchatka is waiting and Kronstadt is waiting. Kamchatka is far eastern
01:45 region of Russia and Kronstadt is by St. Petersburg. So by posting this video and by saying
01:51 those words, actually the Secretary of National Security and Defense Council notes that Ukraine
01:58 now has some weapons and they don't need to rely on the European Union or the United States,
02:05 only on them. They can produce weapons themselves. And I think this is the most important things
02:11 that we've heard in the last few days. You mentioned all those strikes inside Russia,
02:18 in Northwestern Russia, on that airport, as you mentioned there. Is that the new focus of the
02:24 counter offensive? Because we are seeing this uptick in drone attacks inside Russian territory,
02:30 when what we're hearing on the ground is that things are going slower than Western allies had
02:38 hoped they would. That is true too. And I think we've all heard how some Western analysts and
02:47 American analysts are trying to compare the situation with the Korean War, with the 38th
02:53 parallel, when the Korean War stalled in 1953. Of course, the death of Stalin played a big part
03:00 there, but not getting into details, into historical details, a lot of analysts are now
03:08 saying that maybe there should be drawn some kind of a parallel between Russia and Ukraine,
03:15 where the war just stops and no one gains any more territory, no one gains any more ground.
03:22 Of course, Kiev is not ready for it. And looks like right now the main goal of the counter offensive
03:29 is to let Russians know that the war is going on. Because I must tell you, as having a lot of
03:35 insiders, let's say, still in Russia, it looks like nothing is going on, nothing is happening.
03:44 Moscovites are amazingly used to what is happening right now. The only inconvenience looks like is
03:51 that some airports are being closed, mostly every day for a few hours, airports are closed down.
03:59 And that's the only inconvenience. Alexander, I just want to jump in there,
04:02 because what you're suggesting sounds like a stalemate. Is that what we risk seeing in the
04:07 weeks and months to come? Because now it's the 1st of September, today winter is just around the
04:12 corner. How much time does Ukraine have to catch up when it comes to this counter offensive?
04:18 Looks like Ukraine actually has some time until the end of September,
04:23 until they must change tires, let's say, even wait for some time, because we know the situation on
04:31 the ground, that the mud doesn't let any technical devices, let alone tanks and some cars to be
04:39 driven at that mud. And that period between October and sometime in late November, there
04:48 is going to be a full stalemate. So now Ukraine needs to get on top in the air. They need to have
04:57 that control of the airspace. And that is their goal right now, to have those long range missiles,
05:04 to have those drones that are up and running and drones from Ukraine or from allies. And so that is
05:11 for now, that is the main goal, as I see it, a stalemate on the ground, but trying to get ahead
05:19 in the air. That seems like the main goal of Kiev right now.
05:23 And when do F-16s enter the equation and how long does it take to train pilots to fly F-16s?
05:29 That might take a few months from now, because the decision has been made, but all pilots must
05:36 be trained. And I'm staying in Lithuania and Vilnius, and I know that in September,
05:41 a lot of pilots will be in Lithuania to be trained and trainers are coming here also.
05:48 So it is going to take quite some time, because first of all, I must say that a lot of pilots
05:54 need to first learn English in order to be able to read the instructions and be able to be taught
06:02 to be pilots. First, they need to learn the language. So this takes a lot of time. And this,
06:09 again, looks like from the end of September till the end of November, it is going to be a stalemate.
06:16 And that is why Kiev is trying to get ahead in that drone game, because this drone game,
06:23 let's put it this way, actually changes the warfare, the modern warfare definitely is
06:28 changed by that. Indeed, it is a very different means to war. Thank you very much for that,
06:33 Aleksandra Filipenko, joining us there.