All Episodes
Previous Next
Oct. 2, 2024 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
27:40
Patrick Lancaster : LIVE from Ukraine War Zone - #KURSK Frontline - #Donetsk
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024.
Our intrepid and fearless and wonderful friend, Patrick Lancaster, joins us live from somewhere in Ukraine or Russia.
We'll find out exactly where in just a minute.
There's a little bit of a delay in communicating, but it is Patrick.
He is here live.
Patrick, my dear friend.
I'm glad to see you are alive and well and handsome and healthy and happy.
Welcome back to the program.
Hi, Judge.
Normal, thanks for having me.
It's great to be back.
And we've got a lot to talk about.
Okay.
Can you tell us where you are and in so doing, what is the status, what is the state of the war between Russia and Ukraine in early October 2024?
Yeah, Judge.
I'm actually in a little bit of a transition period.
I just came from the front in the Akersk region of Russia, where starting on August 6th, Ukraine came across the border and invaded big Russia, however you want to call it.
It made an incursion on Russia.
It now controls a large territory in the Kursk region of Russia, and I've been covering the front line there and talking to civilians, talking to the soldiers, talking to the generals, and there's a lot going on there.
But at the moment, I just arrived in Donetsk, which is much south and actually in the disputed People called it the People's Republic.
Western law says it's part of Ukraine.
Russian law says it's part of Russia since September of 2022, when there was a referendum where the people voted to join Russia.
A lot quieter than it was the last time I was here, but still people are dying and getting injured by Ukrainian shelling on civilian areas every day, and there's still fighting going on on the front line.
Last time I was here from the center, well, actually I should say about six months ago, the center of Donetsk was about six miles from the front line, and now it's pushing 15. So Russia has been pushing Ukrainian forces back.
It's a lot quieter as far as incoming shelling to the center of Donetsk.
So we've got a lot to go further here and investigate the situation, but we've got a lot to talk about in the Kursk region, if that's all right with you.
Yes, of course.
That was going to be my next series of questions.
Tell us what you saw in Kursk and what is the status of it now.
We understand in the West, Well, what I can say is I spent quite a bit of time there.
And arriving, I had a chance to speak with one of the top generals, if not the top general on the front line, the Chechen general, Russian general.
The OPTI and had a very interesting interview with him and he was on one hand quite hopeful that the war would end soon but also quite nervous about what it would mean if the war does not end this year.
He looked at the possibility of if the war does not end this year that unfortunately it might go into a Nuclear World War III.
So we all hope that doesn't happen on both sides.
I think no one wants that to happen, and that should be the most important thing, is that Russia and the United States do not go to full-out war and do something that leads to the end of the world.
Or World War III.
Patrick, what is happening in Korsk?
Is there still fighting going on?
Are the Ukrainians still there?
Are there still hundreds of square miles of Russia that are Ukrainian occupied?
Or have the Ukrainian forces been repelled?
No, they have not been repelled.
They still control a...
In the last weeks, the Russian counteroffensive has gone and started, you could say.
And I was there on the front line with the assault groups and went with them deep into the front line where they assaulted Ukrainian positions and took control back of some of the territory that was controlled by Ukraine.
Now, when I say the front line, things are a lot different in Kursk because it hasn't been a war zone for the last eight years.
So the front line, it's very fluid.
There's not so much, you know, set trenches and, you know, here's the front line.
No, it's more like, oh, there's a bunch of bushes over there and some trees.
That's where they are, and we're across this field over here.
It's a very, I don't want to say it.
So it's like, you know, one day this area of trees is controlled and the next this area is controlled by Russia and Ukraine's over here.
So it's a constant fluid motion on the Kursk front line.
Several times with the special forces, the Russian special forces, and it seems like there's definitely a motion happening to repel Ukrainian forces.
And my last time speaking with one of the generals, he predicted that Ukrainian forces were going to be pushed out within a couple of months.
So we'll have to see what time tells about that.
Okay.
Patrick, you sent us a video, which I believe you took.
Or your photographer took, in course, we're going to play it now, and then you and I will talk about it.
Chris Lancaster, number one.
So this is another one of those times, do you think?
Are you going to make it back?
Because it's a very dangerous situation.
It's brilliant.
Just 100 meters from the other side.
Something like this.
Very dangerous.
How are you going, bro?
This is Ukrainian food.
Is it okay?
Yes.
Yes, yes, yes!
USA!
It's from USA, right?
USA or British.
Here's the number.
Definitely 100% Western weapons on Russian soil.
Yes, made in USA.
What is it?
This is the tourniquet.
Yes, tourniquet.
Yes.
We came from there.
Here, here.
This is a brutal, brother.
Now I'm not sure exactly how much farther we're going to get, just so you understand what we've been doing.
We've been going one position at a time, closer and closer up, kind of a half circle to the Ukrainian position, to the very front line.
So I think we're going to try to get a little bit closer, get more of a better look of where they are exactly and what the situation is.
What's that?
Yes, yes.
I'm Remington.
Ukrainian trophy All right, well that was quite a
We were getting closer and closer and an explosion and gunfire.
And then we had to get out of there quick.
Wow.
So my takeaway, and you take it from here, is that there's unmistakable evidence of American and British ammunition on the ground in Russia having been used there.
And that you...
What were you doing there and what did you see besides what you narrated in the film?
Well, basically, we received information.
That some of the Russian positions, Russian troops had taken over.
These Ukrainian positions moved the front line back.
And we went to investigate these abandoned Ukrainian positions.
Well, as you kind of, I don't know if you really could tell from the video, but they weren't fully abandoned.
There were still bodies, Ukrainian soldiers laying there.
But we found a lot of American...
American, European, and NATO weapons on the ground, on Russian soil, literally, just scattered around the dirt.
I mean, we saw at least ten different examples, not even ammunition, but food.
There was also so many reports of Western mercenaries being on the ground.
And by the amount of English lettering on the food and just, you know, we found crackers from Sweden and I think we found a Swedish grenade launcher, U.S. tourniquets, a lot of U.S. bullets, American bullets, you know, as you saw in the video.
I mean, this isn't just a little one-off video.
I mean, I documented my whole trip in and out of this area as we went closer and closer to the front line.
As we got, I think it was just 150 meters from what we were under the impression that that was Ukrainian territory in these bushes, some of the foliage area closer to us.
The Special Forces I was with said that they located an assault team or a sabotage team or something like this.
It happened so fast, it was really unclear at the moment what was happening.
But they engaged, and the other tree line engaged, and then we got out of there pretty quickly.
So that's one of the examples of my...
That was near the city of Shuzhou, which is one of the hottest areas.
I mean, really, a lot of crazy things going on there, both as far as the military perspective, but the soldiers and the civilians.
It's really hard to think.
We have another clip from you, which is an interview of an Armenian soldier, though born in Moscow, he's Armenian, who says he wants to become Russian.
Now, it's not clear to me who he is or what...
Why did you volunteer for the special military operation?
Well, my first goal is Russian citizenship.
My second goal...
I was born and raised in Moscow, and I still haven't fulfilled my duty to it, to my motherland.
So you were born and raised in Moscow, but you don't have Russian citizenship?
Yes.
And how is your service going?
What do you do here?
My service goes well.
There are minor issues, but in general, I am in a great unit.
I have a lot of problems, but in general, I have a great unit.
I have a good team here and a good commanding staff.
I guess the laws are different.
If he was born in Moscow, why is he not a Russian citizen?
Why does he have to fight in the Russian military in order to acquire that citizenship?
Can you explain that, Patrick?
Well, as I understand, the laws in Russia are a bit different than some of the other Western countries like the United States.
Like, for example, us in the United States, we've got the law of land and blood.
As far as I understand, the law, which, of course, land and blood means if you have blood, one of your parents is an American citizen, then so are you.
And as far as land, of course, if you're born in the United States, you're an American citizen.
Russia's a little different, and they have the law of blood, and you have to obtain citizenship through a different process if you don't have...
Are there many foreign males in the Russian military who joined in order to acquire Russian citizenship?
Amen.
Yeah, I've met quite a few.
I actually interviewed in the Kursk region another man from Japan.
And he's been fighting in the Russian military, I think, for close to a year.
And he's in the Special Forces as well.
And he's actually a former Japanese Special Forces soldier.
And as far as I understand, he's going to be trying to obtain citizenship.
But I don't think that's his main goal.
I think he, you know, is for the more ideological stance fighting for the Russian.
Now, Patrick, do you have a feel for the Zelensky government and how stable or unstable it might be?
The war's been going on for two and a half years.
The Ukrainian losses have been nothing short of catastrophic.
It's October, but in 45 days, winter will be there.
And fuel supplies and energy infrastructure have been radically diminished since last winter.
Yeah.
Weather's already changing fast here.
The temperature is going down.
And things are going to change fast when the Russian winter comes.
Of course, we're going to have the money time before that, but we'll have to see how much the effects of the...
The degradation of the energy system and heating systems and things like this affects the fighting force of Ukraine, and we hope that people stop suffering on both sides, and hopefully by the new year the war will be over.
But, you know, it's hard to predict that.
I mean, it's been so long, and this is a 10-year war.
Of course, Russia just pulled in two years ago, but...
But the fact is, Russia has been making a lot of gains this year and in the last weeks.
Of course, Ukraine made a huge gain in Kursk, so things are very fluid.
But the fact is, as far as Donbass goes, Russia has been really...
We're going to play another clip, Patrick.
This is of a man with whom you spent a good deal of time.
This is a tragic story describing how Ukrainian soldiers killed his pregnant wife and his neighbors and fellow villagers indiscriminately.
Chris Lancaster, number three.
No, this is targeted killing, just targeted civilian population.
I just do not know how to choose the words correctly.
It's genocide.
of the Russian people.
They just killed everyone who was in the territory indiscriminately.
...the territory.
...
без разбора.
Did they kill, did Ukrainian soldiers kill his pregnant wife?
Yes.
As he explained it to me in the full report, when Ukraine came across the border on August 6th,
He realized he had to move his family, and his family consisted of himself, his one-year-and eight-month-year-old son, his pregnant wife, his two-months'pregnancy, and his aunts.
And he decided that since they had two vehicles, he was going to sit in the first vehicle to try to...
If any fire went at them, he wanted to take it himself and hope that they would make it in the second car.
So they were driving through the shelling, through the attacks, and they came around a turn and immediately came face to face.
I mean, they're moving.
They're moving fast.
As far as I understood, they're going and going and going, and they come around on this dirt road, this turn, and there's trees, so they couldn't see exactly what was on the other side of the turn.
And they come around this turn, and first he comes face to face.
What is this Ukrainian soldier?
Well, he said he assumed it was a Ukrainian soldier, but as he remembered, there was no chevrons or anything like that.
So he said it could have been a mercenary, a foreign mercenary.
He wasn't sure.
But the fact is, it wasn't a Russian soldier.
It was a pro-Ukrainian soldier that had come across the border with Ukrainian forces into Kursk Russia.
He said he came two meters from this soldier.
And then the soldier looked in his eyes, saw it was a civilian car and a civilian, a man without a uniform, and opened fire.
And a bullet went through the bill of his hat in the back, and several went through his car.
And he was not hit.
And then the soldier kept shooting and turned the gun on the car.
His family's car.
But they were going so fast.
I mean, it wasn't like they talked to speak to him and he started firing.
They're moving and it was just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
So it kept going around the turn because it was like a half moon in a turn.
And then he thought everything was okay.
And so they're going, they're going, they're going.
And when they got out of sight from this soldier, he slowed down and his family's car hit him from behind.
And then he realized there was a problem.
And he got out of the car and saw that their car had been hit and saw blood coming from his wife's side.
And she was huddled over their two-year-old, one-year, eight-month-old, trying to protect him.
And he was also hit.
And so he picked up his pregnant wife and kid and brought the ants into the front car, drove to the hospital.
And a doctor tried working on him.
He himself tried to...
And as far as the last I've heard, luckily their young son is still alive.
But just, you know, a horrible situation.
horrible situation.
What is the attitude, if you can, about I mean, for example, President Zelensky is technically not the president anymore.
His term expired and there was no election.
Is he, as we say here in the U.S., on thin ice?
Well, you can imagine the opinion of the draftees or the mobilized soldiers.
I mean, how for so long now it's been a full draft and they're just literally taking people off the streets in cups to send them to the front line with little or no training.
You know, Russia had a mobilization, and it was done, done, and then done.
But Ukraine has just had this constant mobilization where they're just picking people and sending them to the front.
So none of those people are probably very happy with them.
And all the military battalions that have lost so many people, so many friends.
You know, we can only imagine.
I mean, I'm not over there.
I basically, as you know, stick to what I see with my own eyes.
In my reports, I don't really give my opinions.
I just give the facts to the people that live it.
But, you know, we can imagine what the Ukrainian soldiers are thinking.
Before we go, Patrick, can you tell us, without jeopardizing your own safety, of course, where you're off to next?
Well, right now I'm in Donetsk and we're going to be doing a little bit of investigation in Mariupol, working on a film, a documentary film, and I assume I'll be hitting up the Lugansk front and also going back to the Kursk front as well.
Because that's really something that needs to be shown.
This has really brought up a new part of the war.
I mean, you know, Ukrainian forces control, you know, a lot of kilometers, square kilometers of Russian land in the Kursk region.
So, I mean, things are changing rapidly.
Hopefully the war ends soon and people stop dying.
But until then, I've just got to keep on doing my best to report what's happening.
Patrick, you're a brave man, to say the least, and you're a great man, and we are deeply grateful, not just I and the Judging Freedom team, but the many, many thousands that are watching you live and will be watching you once we post this in the streaming venue.
Thank you, Patrick.
Godspeed.
Stay well.
Come back again whenever you want, my dear friend.
All right.
Thanks a lot for having me.
As I said, Judge, it's been great.
And for your followers, everything I said is always backed up on my YouTube channel.
So just go check it out.
See the full report yourself if you have any doubts.
If you have doubts, watch everything on my channel and watch as many different sources.
Nobody can give you all of the information.
You need to educate yourself.
And I'm glad you're here with me, Judge, and we can help show the world together what's really happening, what the Western mainstream media is not showing them.
Thank you, Patrick.
All the best.
Just to remind the viewers, Patrick is crowdfunded.
And you'll see on the screen the links to Patrick's videos and...
Coming up at 1.30 this afternoon, Aaron Maté.
At 2.30 this afternoon, Phil Giraldi.
▲
Export Selection