Judging Freedom - Patrick Lancaster: LIVE from Kursk, Russia - Frontline Report!

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Patrick Lancaster: LIVE from Kursk, Russia - Frontline Report!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, January 29th, 2025. Patrick Lancaster is here with us live from the Kursk region of Russia. That's the region of Russia invaded by Ukrainian forces. But first this. What is this? Well here we go. Back up to the danger zone. It's something that makes me a little more uneasy today. Actually I had somewhat of a nightmare last night that I got hit by a Kamikaze drone.

And their arms appeared to be tied, across, one across chest, across the other above the head. Was that after they were dead? How did they die? Couldn't see any entry wounds. The bodies appeared to be whole. They could have been of fighting age. Well, it appeared Ukraine forces put their bodies there tied their hands possibly before or

after being killed uh how they were killed not exactly clear but we can firmly say ukraine forces placed their bodies in that bomb shelter tied their hands when they tied them on clear again but these are the facts here on the ground the civilians dead hands tied placing a bomb shelter by ukrainian forces patrick that of course was a harrowing video which you sent us. Where are you, Patrick? First of all, welcome to the show. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your intellectual honesty and thank you for continuing to reach out to us from the ground is a unique and tremendous asset appreciated by all the viewers and listeners, not the least of which is my team and me. I'm glad you're safe and sound. Where were you when you made that video that we just ran? ran. Hi, Judge. As normal, thanks for having me. I know it's always on somewhat of short notice, but when I feel we can show the world something you're not going to see in other places,

I reach out to you. And I'm really thankful for us to be able to show the world together what's happening. But on your question, yeah, horrible situation. Actually, the coughing going down the stairwell, that's because of the smells of the bodies. But the village I was in was the Ruskoia Porchechnya village in the Kursk region of Russia. As you said, the region that in August Ukraine came across the border and incurred or invaded, however it wants to be put, but Ukraine came into undisputed Russia and took over a very large amount of territory. And that village was a village that had been controlled by Ukrainian forces. And just days prior to me getting there, Russian forces pushed Ukraine out and took out a lot of Ukrainian soldiers in that village. And I was the first journalist in to the village. And unfortunately, with the soldiers showing me the village,

they weren't even fully aware of what was where because they had just gotten their days before as well. And the village is totally destroyed. We came across several dead civilian bodies. What is the status of control of Kursk. Back in August, of course, the Ukrainians thought that they could change the dynamics of the war by actually invading Russia. In the West, we believe that this has not succeeded and that the fact, and in fact, the Russians are gradually pushing them out. What is the status of forces in Kursk, in Russia now? Are the Ukrainians still there? Are they resupplied with ammunition and food and other necessities? Are they resupplied with additional troops?

Yes, they're still in the Kursk region controlling territory. Compared to what they were controlling in August when they first came across is a big difference. It was estimated and reported that Ukraine controlled about 1,500 square kilometers of territory in the Kursk region when they first came across and made their initial invasion or incursion. And it was quite a surprise to many people that they were able to take so much territory. And I went there, as we talked about in previous shows, just after the initial invasion or incursion by Ukrainian forces, I just heard horrible things from the civilians that were able to leave. Some of them didn't get all their families out, like a man lost his pregnant wife when she was shot by a Ukrainian soldier on the

road, and their one and a half year old son was injured. But now things have changed. And even just weeks after when I was there before in August, Russian forces, I documented that them beginning to take territory back. And now the difference between August and now is over two thirds. It appears that Russia has taken back. So it was about 1500 square kilometers and now about 400 square kilometers, give or take. Of course, it can't be 100% accurate on the number, but that is what the estimates seem to portray. And not far from what I have been seeing on the ground in the several different fronts I've gone to.

Spent over a week with Russian forces at different fronts in the Kursk region. And I mean, it definitely, you know, I've seen many things in this time here, but the time in that village, unfortunately, just coming through. We tracked across many fields and forests to get there because it was so dangerous. The skies are just filled with Ukrainian kamikaze drones that could just take you out at any second without you knowing. So we had to trek many, many kilometers with heavy gear on, you know, my bulletproof armor is pretty heavy, and it was pretty physically exerting, and then just mentally exhausting when seeing, you know, first just going across scores and scores of dead Ukrainian

soldiers in the fields, in the forests, at their positions that Russian forces had taken back, and then getting to the village. And the first bomb shelter, because basically the only thing that was left was besides a couple houses, was these doors going down to bomb shelters or food cellars, whatever you want to call them. And the first one we went to, there were two men, what appeared to be men, dead, laid flat in the cellar. It was a fairly deep cellar, so it was, I mean, fairly shallow cellar, so it was somewhat cool still. So they didn't really, they hadn't started to decompose. Were these civilians? I mean, are the Ukrainian soldiers killing Russian civilians inside of Russia? Well, we came across at least two different examples.

And this first example was, yes, two civilian men from what they appeared to be. Their bodies were very extremely molded. So it was difficult to say the cause of death. There was something that appeared to be bruising on one of the legs that we could see, but their bodies were just fully covered in white mold, all the skin that was exposed. But their hands, one man, his arms were tied across his chest. It wasn't clear if that happened pre or post-mortem, and another with his hands above his head in the same. But unfortunately,

another cellar we went to was a bit of a different story. Immediately, I was hit back by just the overwhelming smell of rotted human flesh. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to play, we're going to play a clip that you sent us,

which is a video version of what you've just described. As you know, this clip's about two minutes long. We'll play it. And then you can tell, even though you narrate it in it, you can tell us in Q and a form, exactly what you it in it, you can tell us in Q&A form exactly what you saw. Chris, Patrick won. This is a Ukrainian Cossack armored vehicle that was destroyed by Russian Akhmat special forces.

That's a kamikaze drone flying overhead. I don't know, maybe they just didn't see us or maybe it's not Ukrainian. Oh, Russian forces are shooting at it now. So that probably means it is Ukrainian kamikaze drone. Not 100 meters away from us it was. Obviously in my YouTube report I'm going to be quite heavily editing these dead Ukrainian soldiers. This is what, already two, four, five, six. My name is Max. I'm from here. I was born in Kursk. I'm a deputy of regional parliament. Two months I am a soldier of special force Ahmad.

Now we are staying in Huterberdin, it's the village where was a counterattack of Ukrainian forces a couple of days ago. It was not easy because the enemy used drones, different kind of machines and a lot of units. But because of clever position of our commanders we found the holes in the defense of enemy and win in this battle. We stop the Ukrainian forces from this place. They wanted to come inside the Kursk region. And it seems there's many Ukrainian soldiers still lying on the ground here, dead.

Here is hundreds, hundreds. What do you think the people in the United States or Europe need to know about what's happening here? They maybe don't know. You know, the simple people in America have to know that we are friends and we are a friendly country. From different news or from the newspaper, some powers try to say about us that we are wild, we want blood, we want to take some lands. It's not true. So this was obviously a Russian soldier, educated and fluent in English. Patrick, what do they think of you when they see you, a blond-haired, blue-eyed American boy asking

them questions about the relationship between Russian, the Russian people and the American people? Well, many are kind of taken aback sometimes and nervous about a potential American spy, you could say, and people have expected. But once they realize my work, just those facts and everything, they relax a bit more. Now that soldier there that was speaking English, he was actually a soldier in the Akhmat Special Forces, but also a deputy in the Kursk Parliament. And he was fighting in Kursk to defend his, as he says, motherland and family. And he is an active fighter in the fight. And that village was actually a different village than I was referring to earlier.

This village is the village of Berdine, which days before I had come to that village, so we're looking at about a week and a half ago now, possibly a bit more, Ukraine had one of their special counter-offensive or counter-attacks that this particular one had been picked up in the Western mainstream media and said, oh, Ukraine's making another offensive and a curse.

When I went to location and clearly the Russian forces had pushed them back, burned their equipment and killed many of the Ukrainian soldiers. I mean, everyone has a family, father, son, brother. And, I mean, the streets were just littered with bodies of Ukrainian soldiers. Have you come across any fighters for Ukraine in Kursk who are not Ukrainian, whether they be American, Polish, Romanian, German, British? I have not seen any corpses of Ukrainian soldiers that I could identify or not identify foreign soldiers, or non-Ukrainian soldiers. As far as the prisoners of war that Russia has, they obviously have many that are foreign Western soldiers and mercenaries.

But I stay very far away from anything that has to do with any possibility of making a spectacle of a prison of war in order to follow the Geneva Convention, as we all do or should do. So I definitely make a point to walk that line firmly. But to address the counter offenses by the Ukrainian forces, they keep saying they keep doing these counter offenses when in reality it's just an attempt to come across the front line a bit and then they get knocked back. And in fact, in the last 24 hours, Russian forces say that Ukraine has made eight of these counterattacks

that were immediately subdued. And Russian forces claim over 400 Ukrainian soldiers have died, been killed in the last 24 hours, and one Ukrainian soldier captured. So it's not really good numbers for... Since the presidency of Donald Trump, which is now just 10 days, has the American government, as far as you can tell, continued to supply the Ukrainians with military weaponry and ammunition? Well, I think it's a bit too soon to, you know, really see for sure what the effect is yet. But I can tell you, I have been going out of

my way to talk to the soldiers in many different locations, many different fronts, of course, about what they think about Trump's promises to end the war and bring peace. And they all have a hope that he can do something. And I say, well, okay, what can he do? And they say, stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine and the war will stop. So, I mean, they all want the war to stop. They want to stop killing each other. Everyone wants people to stop dying. There's no question about that. It's just about how.

And the world needs to understand how Russian laws work, uh just the situation is Russian law says that these there's five regions of Russia but that are considered Russian uh by Russian law including the Kursk region that have Ukrainian troops on them and Russia cannot stop until those regions do not no longer have Ukrainian troops on them, regardless of what the Western law or Ukrainian law says about the situation. Is there any question in your mind, but that the Ukrainian military is close to the end of its days, and the Russian military is approaching triumph. Well, the idea of the soldiers in the Kursk region is that the Ukrainian forces are going to be leaving Kursk soon, in some estimated a month, two months, something like this. I even had an exclusive

interview with the top frontline general there. And the overwhelming opinion is that Ukraine is going to be out of the Kursk region soon. As far as how fast the rest of it's going to go, it all depends on the money, following the money. The constant supply of money and lethal aid to Ukraine is what is continuing the death of soldiers on both sides. There's no question about that. I mean, that's what's going to stop the war. Patrick, I hope you stay well and stay safe. You are a brave, brave human being to stick your nose right in the middle of these battles, to take these pictures, to interview these soldiers, and report back to us. Stay well, my friend. Stay in touch with us.

Everything you do is so deeply and profoundly appreciated. I can't wait for the day when I get to meet you in person. Not where you are, where I am. Okay. Judge, can I make another point before we go? Yeah, sure. Please. uh yeah thanks judge one thing i just want to be a hundred percent clear to the people about the first village we're referred to um the just is a clear overview the first basement i saw dead civilians in um they were placed there before or after death. It was unclear. Um, and there wasn't enough information to make real assumptions on what happened. The second cellar we went to going down the, uh, stairs, the overwhelming smell of rotting flesh.

And the, uh, first thing I saw was at least two humans that were destroyed by what appeared to be an explosive uh that was dropped we have we have the video of this that you sent us let's play this and then you can continue the narrative patrick two all right so that appeared to be tied. One across the chest, the other above the head. After they were dead, how did they die? Couldn't see any entry wounds. Two civilians, dead, hands tied, placed in a bomb shelter by Ukrainian forces.

Civilians or soldiers? In the basement, in the second basement we were in, as I said, two civilians destroyed by an explosive device next to a dog. And in the back of the basement, there were two elder women killed and an elderly man, what appeared to be an elderly man. So there was at least five dead civilians in the second basement. There might have been as many as seven. But what appeared to happen was someone dropped a grenade in the basement and killed this family that was hiding.

Now, this clearly happened during the time that it was controlled by Ukrainian forces. There's no question about that. The smell was overwhelming, and it was like walking on a soup of human flesh in the basement. It was just a horrible experience, but the world needs to understand what happened there. There's no question that this family, what appeared to be a family, or maybe they were neighbors of civilians, were killed by some sort of explosive. At least several of them, the first wave, were killed by some sort of explosive being thrown down in that basement where they were hiding with their dog by what could only be assumed of Ukrainian forces

because it had to be in the time that Ukraine controlled that village because the Russian forces just controlled the village days earlier. And so this elderly people and people that I couldn't even identify were killed by not much question, but Ukrainian forces while they were hiding in a basement. Horrible situation. I hope it gets investigated otherwise civilians russian civilians murdered in russia by invading ukrainian troops patrick again you are the personification of personal courage thank you very much for your time and for all the chances you take to bring the truth back here to the west

we hope we see you again soon be well pat, Patrick. Thank you, Judge. Thanks for having me on again. It's great to see you. Of course. A great human being whom, of course, I have never met in person, but whose work we all appreciate and whose courage is second to none. Coming up on Judging Freedom at 12 noon today, Colleen Rowley, former FBI agent, notorious for critical of FBI management at noon. At 1 o'clock, Professor Jeffrey Sachs. At 2 o'clock, Colonel Douglas McGregor. At 3 o'clock, Phil Giraldi.

Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. We'll be right back. I'm