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00:00Nearly 1.5 billion dollars in additional aid to Ukraine hints that the US may
00:06lift its objection to Ukraine striking well inside Russian territory and
00:10renewed sanctions amid the accusation that Iran is providing missiles to
00:15Russia. Now those are the main headlines as the US Secretary of State Antony
00:18Blinken and the British Foreign Secretary David Lammy pledged
00:20additional support to Kiev. The aid is aimed largely at bolstering Ukraine's
00:24energy grid that Russia has of course repeatedly pounded ahead of a very
00:28expected difficult winter there ahead. It remains though that question of
00:32Ukraine being allowed to strike inside Russian territory that still is difficult
00:37to overcome. I'm going to take that discussion back to Washington to brief
00:46the president on what I heard. I know that that David's doing the same and
00:49both of our bosses no doubt will discuss this when they meet later this week. From
00:54day one as you've heard me say we have adjusted and adapted as needs have
01:00changed as the battlefield has changed and I have no doubt that we'll continue
01:05to do that as this as this evolves. Antony Blinken there. Well our
01:08international affairs commentator Doug Herbert is with us here on set. Doug it
01:11sounds there that Ukraine has not quite got what it wants in the
01:16US but it might be close. Yeah it might be close. Listen we heard slightly
01:19wooded language there right from Antony Blinken Secretary of State. Adjusted
01:24and adapted policy. Look throughout this war we have seen the US and the
01:28Western lines of what they are willing to provide to Ukraine shift at
01:33incrementally throughout the war ultimately meeting Ukraine's demands. We
01:38see a similar pattern here. And yes you're right. You can't rule out the
01:41possibility that they'll keep the ban in place. But it looks like Blinken and
01:46his counterpart David Lammy they're each going to go back to their bosses. Joe
01:49Biden Keir Starmer Keir Starmer is meeting with Joe Biden in Washington on
01:53Friday and they're basically going to lay down the lines the new information
01:56given to them by the Ukrainians. Look the situation as of now is the Ukrainian
02:01arsenal has a lot of these Western supplied long range long range missiles.
02:06We're talking about three major suppliers right. The US giving these so
02:09called attack comes which have a range of about 300 kilometers. You have France
02:14with its scalp missiles which is about 250 kilometers a little less. And you
02:18have the UK with its storm shadow missiles same range as the French runs
02:22about 250. It's significant the ranges because it would give Ukraine what it
02:28says is an absolutely necessary ability to strike what it says are legitimate
02:33military targets. This is air bases airfields from which Ukraine says Russia
02:38is launching a lot of these missiles that are devastating that are raining
02:42havoc across Ukraine. You mentioned the energy grid on that and other civilian
02:47infrastructure. It desperately wants to be able to not have its hands tied
02:51behind its back. As of now Ukraine is only able to use those missiles that I
02:57mentioned the scalps and the attack comes and the storm shadows for short
03:02range attacks on the border areas notably around Kharkiv where there had
03:06been a big Russian and a lot of fighting a few months back and in the
03:11Belgrade region area also right across from Kharkiv. It wants to extend that
03:16range. The U.S. has said until now and this is this is important Stuart. U.S.
03:20has said in not lifting the ban that it wouldn't make a difference if they did
03:23because Russia's already moved assets air assets from about 16 airfields in
03:28Russia further back to rear areas out of range of those missiles and Ukraine has
03:32too few of its attack comes anyway to make a difference. The Institute for the
03:36Study of War says trying to sort of fight back on that argument saying it
03:40would make a difference because beyond those air bases Russia has not moved
03:44assets or at least there's no sign of from at least maybe over 200 other
03:48military and paramilitary airfields and other sites that could be legitimate
03:54targets for Ukraine that would make a difference in this war. So they say that
03:57the U.S. argument is becoming thinner and thinner for not lifting that ban. The U.S.
04:02has one possible justification. Antony Blinken alluded to this the fact that it
04:06claims Iran has been delivering these new long-range ballistic missiles to
04:10Russia which also are making the fight for Ukraine a lot harder. That could
04:14offer the U.S. an opt-out a justification for lifting the ban. How crucial is
04:18all this ain't Doug? I mean Vladimir Zelensky certainly seems to recognize
04:21that it is vital for the survival of Ukraine. Yeah he has said explicitly the
04:25U.S. has been Ukraine's key military backer. Yes there were several
04:30months a few months back you'll remember when Republicans in Congress at the
04:33behest of Donald Trump were holding up curtailing that military aid perhaps
04:38posing presenting a big setback to Ukraine on the battlefield which it's
04:42yet to really make up for even though those arms are trickling in again. But
04:47Zelensky has said it in recent days he says that sort of Ukraine's ultimate
04:52situation and destiny in this war depends in large part essentially on the
04:57United States and its position. This is also one of the cases why Ukrainian
05:02officials are not just pleading to lift that Western ban but they're pleading I
05:05mean for the election obviously for an outcome that they think will be in their
05:09favor. But its foreign minister is asking NATO allies along the border with
05:14Ukraine where Russian missiles have been hitting in western parts of Ukraine to
05:18start to fire missiles from their own territory that is NATO territory not
05:21from Russian territory to shoot down those missiles in western Ukraine
05:24because they are jeopardizing NATO. So there's a lot going on here where the
05:29Ukraine is basically pleading with the West this is in your interest
05:33it's your dire interest your borders are being threatened and in the U.S. case
05:37it's your own national interest which is ultimately affected by the destiny of
05:41Ukraine Europe and the U.S.
05:43Our viewers might just have noticed we've had a debate this week between
05:46Donald Trump and Kamala Harris two months to go until this election under
05:50two months now. Of course everybody in Ukraine watching that election very
05:55closely because that is going to be pivotal isn't it?
05:58Millions were watching Ukraine reportedly the public broadcaster there
06:02carried this debate because as you said this debate has existential
06:06ramifications for a lot of Ukrainians. Donald Trump was directly asked during
06:11the debate you know does he want Ukraine to win? Does his policy
06:17in support of Ukraine winning this war? He gave something like a 400 word
06:22response it was a yes or no question essentially yes or no he didn't answer
06:26the question he gave a 400 word response where he simply says I want the war
06:30stopped which alludes to Donald Trump has sort of bragged that's the word I'll
06:34use throughout that he unlike anyone else would be able to end this war
06:38within 24 hours and he even said that in the debate itself he said this war
06:43would be over if I'm elected before I actually take the office because I would
06:46already be on the phones with Ukraine with Russia to get this war over.
06:51What that means when Ukraine hears Donald Trump saying this during the
06:54debate it means that Donald Trump would favor Ukraine's capitulation because
06:58ending the war tomorrow would essentially mean ending the war on
07:02Vladimir Putin's terms. Those terms are keeping all the territory he seized
07:06and basically dismembering Ukraine as a sovereign state at least as it
07:11existed before February 2022 so that's a no-go for Ukraine for obvious reasons.
07:17Donald Trump's arguments that he wants the war stopped are essentially a signal
07:21to Ukraine when Ukraine hears that it hears no we don't necessarily want
07:25Ukraine to win this war we just want the war to end and if that means that Russia
07:29ends up with all the territory it's captured so be it at least I've ended
07:32the war. Donald Trump didn't explicitly say it that way but that's how Ukraine's
07:36hear it and that is really how Donald Trump has implicitly suggested he would
07:41push his Ukraine policy. Let's remember he was one of the biggest ralliers of
07:45his Republican Party to curtail that military aid I was speaking to that was
07:49frozen for many months in Congress. There is bipartisan support
07:53Republicans and Democrats voters in America for continued military aid to
07:57Ukraine. If Donald Trump is elected the plug on that continued support may be pulled.