Brian Mann
Appearances
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
Good morning, Steve. Why does this city matter? Well, you mentioned Pokrovska is important for its coal and its rail and road connections. They're vital to Ukraine's army. held Russia back from cutting into the heartland of Ukraine. If Pokrov falls, cities like Dnipro, home to nearly a million people, will be far more vulnerable.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
So everyone I met yesterday said this battle is crucial and the fighting is grim. Okay, so what did you see when you visited that embattled city? Well, this was a city of 60,000 people. Yesterday, I saw empty gray streets, houses and shops and hotels just shattered by Russian bombs. I met Ukrainian soldiers. deeply weary, worn thin by this fighting.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
One man who would only give his first name, Vitaly, had just come back from the front lines in an American-made Bradley fighting vehicle that had been heavily damaged by a landmine. The situation's pretty bad, Vitaly told me. The Russian drones are the worst. He actually used a curse word to describe the hovering machines that rain bombs from the sky.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
I asked if he thinks Ukraine can hold out in Pokrovsk, and he said, if it doesn't work, we at least have to try. Most military analysts, Steve, say the reality is Russia's army is simply much larger. They have more men, more artillery, more shells.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
They're not. One of the hardest things I saw yesterday was people still in the streets. Pokrovsk is a frightening place. There are Russian drones everywhere. They pummel the city with grenades and larger bombs. But officials say they think roughly 11,000 Ukrainians are still hunkered down under the threat of this violence without gas or heat or running water.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
I met one elderly man who called himself Sergei, who had turned up yesterday at one of the evacuation points. I was born here. I didn't want to go because this is my hometown, Sergei told me. I was born here, but now I have to leave.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
Well, they're getting creative, in part by also using attack drones. I was taken last night to a secret Ukrainian drone command center. where the military let me watch in real time as their drones hunted and killed Russian soldiers. I was speaking to one Ukrainian technician named Yuri at the chilling moment when a Ukrainian drone stopped a Russian attack.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
So what we just saw was actively a bomb dropped from that device and struck near that Russian.
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GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
So what I saw yesterday was Ukrainians being as ruthless as they can trying to hold Povrovsk. They're making Russians pay a terrible price. But Ukrainian soldiers also acknowledge they're facing assaults by larger units that never seem to end. We've seen Russia slowly advance. And if they do finally take this city, it'll be Russia's biggest, most significant victory in months.
Up First from NPR
GOP Stopgap Bill Fails, Battle For Ukrainian Town, Syria's Interim Government
Thank you, Steve.