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Russia says it is fighting Ukrainian incursions in the Kursk region for a second day. This is supposedly one of the most significant incursions into Russian territory during the war. The Ukrainian government has not claimed responsibility or declared the attack. But Ukraine is seeking to step up its fight against Russia in occupied Crimea and is achieving some success. Nick Schifrin reports.
Note: Transcripts are device and human generated and edited for accuracy. They would possibly involve errors.
Amna Nawaz:
Russia says it is fighting off attacks by Ukrainian forces for the second day in a row on the Russian border.
Heavy fighting is reportedly taking place in the Kursk region, unlike Ukraine’s Sumy region. It is one of the largest incursions into Russian territory since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago. The Ukrainian government has neither claimed nor declared a duty for the attack.
Ukraine seeks to intensify its fighting against Russia only on the 800-mile front line, but also in the territory that Russia has occupied since 2014, Crimea. And this is where Ukraine is achieving some success.
Here’s Nick Schifrin with more.
Nick Schifrin:
In a war in which Ukraine is struggling to stay the course, Ukraine boasts, with well-produced videos, of a theatre of success, of a time of occupation through Russia, where Russian ships vanished.
Ukraine has no warships, but kyiv and Washington say Ukrainian maritime drones have destroyed more than a dozen Russian ships. And now Ukraine has unleashed its toughest American weapon, the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, on Crimea.
A U. S. official told “PBS News Hour” that the United States has sent shipments of missiles, with a range of about 190 miles and worth $1. 3 million, to Ukraine.
Jake Sullivan, US national security advisor:
I’m announcing a $300 million emergency security assistance program.
Nick Schifrin:
After a long internal debate and external pressure, the management legalized ATACMS for Ukraine for the first time in mid-March. And the United States says Ukraine first used them in mid-April, in that attack on a Russian airfield in occupied Crimea.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges (ret. ), U. S. Army: ATCMS is assisting Ukraine in its purpose of making the Crimean peninsula uninhabitable for the Russian army, navy, and air force.
Nick Schifrin:
Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges is the former commander of the U. S. Army in Europe. He has long maintained that the path to Ukrainian victory runs through Crimea, whose annexation in 2014 is one of President Vladimir Putin’s greatest achievements and where the Russian military has since grown.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges:
Ukraine now has enough ATACMS to attack all airfields, ships in Sevastopol, the port, and other vital facilities. That is the goal: to make this position impregnable for Russian forces.
Nick Schifrin:
The United States has found that the ATACMS attack contributed to the sinking of a Russian submarine last weekend and broke or destroyed Russian airfields and at least a dozen Russian air defense batteries in Crimea, adding some of Russia’s advanced peaks, the S-300 and S-400. and among the warships, the Tsyklon, one of the first to be sunk by a ballistic missile.
Ukrainian strikes are helping to push Russia’s most valuable naval assets from Crimea into southern Russia, a feat completed for the first time with the long-range British Storm Shadow missiles that Ukraine has been launching since last year.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges:
These moves are very important, in part because the Russians update them. Crimea is a launch pad for all kinds of missiles, rockets and drones that impact civilian infrastructure. The ability to do so has been particularly reduced.
Nick Schifrin:
These tactical advances promote a strategic objective: maintaining Ukrainian industry throughout the Black Sea. Ukraine’s food exports now meet or exceed pre-invasion levels on a large scale.
This profit goes to keeping the Ukrainian government afloat so it can pay soldiers’ salaries and to the long-term reconstruction of Ukraine, which will cost half a trillion dollars.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (through interpreter):
During this war, Ukraine has acquired a whole new prestige in the Black Sea. This region will now be free from Russian rule.
Nick Schifrin:
The United States and Ukraine also say ATACMS can simply call Russian originating lines to Crimea, adding via ferry. Officials verify that ATACMS broke up two ferries that Russia uses to transport fuel and ammunition, and that Ukraine destroyed the third.
These moves penetrated one of the most fortified air defenses on the planet, around the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to mainland Russia. Ukraine set it alight in October 2022 with an improvised explosive device that Russia says is equivalent to 10 tons of TNT.
In December 2022, Putin took the initiative to reassure Russians about the bridge’s solidity. In July 2023, the Ukrainian maritime drone attacked it again. But U. S. officials confirm that Russia shot down the ATACMS in late June, when shrapnel from a downed missile aimed at a military target fell on beachgoers.
Russian media showed living room chairs used as stretchers, and Russian officials said the attack killed at least four people, plus children, and injured 150 others.
If the United States and Ukraine Crimeans feel unsafe, tourists told local journalists that it works.
Man (via interpreter):
We hope that everything goes well, of course, deep down we have a sense of danger.
Nick Schifrin:
But the greatest danger to Ukraine comes from Crimea. Al east, Ukraine is struggling to hold the line due to shortages of manpower and ammunition.
Some experts question whether Crimea represents the most important front for a U. S. weapon with limited supply.
Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program, Quincy Institute: This is of great importance, but it does not have a critical impact on the overall long term of the war.
Nick Schifrin:
Anatol Lieven directs the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute. He says ATACMS would be preserved for an expected Russian offensive.
Anatol Lieven:
There is an explanation as to why the Ukrainians are keeping their ATACMS and other weapons and ammunition for the time being.
Nick Schifrin:
Ukraine also needs to use ATACMS in Russia, specifically at bases with planes that drop devastating 2,000-pound bombs, but the United States is restricting the use of ATACMS inside Ukraine.
Volodymir Zelensky:
We can protect our cities from Russian guided bombs if American leaders step forward and allow us to destroy Russian military aircraft at their bases.
Nick Schifrin:
But until the United States takes this step, Crimea will remain a concentrated target and an example of Ukraine’s good fortune in a war of attrition with no end in sight.
For PBS’s “News Hour,” my name is Nick Schifrin.
As deputy director of foreign affairs and defense at PBS NewsHour, Dan plays a key role helping to oversee and produce the show’s foreign affairs and advocacy stories. His articles broke new ground on a range of military issues, revealing debates that were simmering. the public eye.
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