Judging Freedom - Patrick Lancaster : Ukrainian Shelling - LIVE from Belgorod, Russia

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

Patrick Lancaster : Ukrainian Shelling - LIVE from Belgorod, RussiaSee 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 Thursday, March 28th, 2024. Patrick Lancaster, the intrepid, indomitable Patrick Lancaster joins us live from Belgrade, Russia, where he just recently experienced bombing by the Ukrainian forces. Patrick, it's a pleasure, my dear man. You're so good to call us. You're so good to be so good and be so well. We're happy to have you here. Thank you, my dear friend. I want to start by... Thanks for having me, Judge.

That's normal. Of course. I want to start by playing a clip which you provided to us, which is your arrival in Belograd. It's Belograd under fire. There are some parts of this clip that you're narrating. There's a scene of you outside. There's a scene of you in the basement of a building.

And then we'll just lower the volume and you can talk over and tell us what we're seeing. All right. Sounds good, Judge. So this point right here is just as I arrived to the city, the sirens started going off and people started running to the basements. And then as soon as things got a little calm, I was a little caught off guard. Then it started heading to the actual impact site, which turned out to be only about two or three hundred meters from where we were at the time of the alarms. And then we come up here to the actual apartment building that was hit by one of these, what appeared to be a Western-supplied vampire rocket, or technically it could have been a drone.

It was a little hard to tell um on the scene uh but we filmed what we could here and it was just amazing thank god no one was killed because we see just there's three vehicles here that were just totally destroyed and um as we saw more of the just devastation here caused by this falling debris that fell from about the uh somewhere above the 10th floor as we can see uh here uh we decided to uh go forward and uh talk to the locals about the people that lived in this building about what was really happening and they said that it was ukraine this man here that it it was Ukraine firing on the apartment building just because they want to scare them, you know, terrorize them, as the locals put it.

And they said this was just a civilian area, no military near them. Let me stop you for just a moment. Where is Belograd? How far into Russia proper from the Ukraine border is Bel of Ukraine. And this border is where Ukrainian forces have been trying to push into Russia. Now, I mean, this is Russia. This is not something that's disputed, that Russian law says it's Russia and Ukraine says it's Ukraine. This is Russia. On every map in the world, this region is shown as Russia. There's no question about what country this is. This is Ukraine pushing into Russia. And the last two weeks hitting it very hard. This is Ukraine pushing into Russia by attacking civilian targets, right? Are there any military targets in Belgrade that

would justify this kind of an attack? Well, I can tell you what it seems they're doing and also what the locals have been telling me. Purportedly, the major weapon that's being used is the Vampire 122 millimeter rockets that are a grid weapon that come down in almost a square. And it seems Ukraine has been launching these rockets across the border into the city, just in the center. And they've been landing in different spots around the center. And unfortunately, on December 30th, they actually killed 14 people and injured 108, which 15 of what was children, during the holiday celebrations

in the very center square of the city. Chris, let's run the airstrikes video where Patrick is actually in the street while the missiles are coming down All right, so as you see another evening of attacks on Dalgorod just over the center of well that's an incoming that hit just over the center of the city anti-air is engaging Ukrainian rockets The building shook a little. The window shook a little on that one. Patrick, how is it that you can be calm when you're standing outside of a building while these rockets and missiles are coming down? Can a person become acclimated to war like this?

Yeah, unfortunately, Judge, it's, well, I mean, I guess it's fortunate in some situations, but I mean, I've just become a little bit numb to some of the situations. I just use my head to react as much as possible in the right way to both cover the story and be safe. Sometimes one goes a little higher than the other, but it is what it is. How were you able to- It was actually last night. Go ahead. Yeah, that footage was last night. As soon as the sirens started going off, I went out to the balcony and started filming the explosions overhead.

And then after raced to the scene of the impacts themselves, and that's this. And there were several apartment buildings that were damaged and several vehicles that were hit by these purportedly vampire rockets. And just did best to cover that situation. And, yourolled because it's wartime? Or are you simply welcomed by the Russians because of your intellectual honesty and extraordinary reporting. Well, I assume you mean the borders between the disputed area and proper Russia. That's what you mean? Yes, yes, yes. Okay, yeah. That border is the border that was in place before the war started in 2014 and stayed in place pretty much the whole time. So, you know, I got a visa and, you know, it just acts as a normal border and people that are allowed to be in Russia legally get to cross back and forth. It's pretty standard.

It's just there's no stamp. How do the Russian people that you've interviewed in Belgorod react to themselves being targets by the Ukraine forces. I guess we're freezing here for a little bit. There he is. Patrick, can you hear me? Alright, so I'm Patrick Lancaster and right now we are in an ambulance of the city region of Belgorod, Russia. This is especially for medical disasters and we are headed to the border, the front line between the Belgorod region of Russia and Kharkov region of Ukraine,

where the intense fighting has happened and is happening, where Ukraine is pushing across or attempting to push across the border. We're bringing you everything we can here on the ground from Belgrade and showing you as many different parts of the street from the Ukraine border in the front line. The tree line you see just across the way is Ukraine in the front line. And they have brought the sick woman into the vehicle, and now we're headed back away from the front line. Patrick, are you back with us? Wow. Yeah, sorry about that, Judge.

No, no, no, quite all right, quite all right. No need to be sorry. Your courage is second to none. I was asking you about your interviews with local Russians and their reaction or almost indifference or fearlessness to, or terror, whatever it may be, to the incoming missile attacks from Ukraine? And do they wonder, why are they attacking us? We're a bunch of old people in a little city.

Why are they attacking us? Well, honestly, the people of Belgrade are a bit new to the war. I mean, if we compare them to the residents of Donetsk or Lugansk, especially Donetsk, who have been living under the shelling, Ukrainian shelling, for the last 10 years, they're not as acclimated to it as much. But I would have to say the people and the government are reacting very well, you could say. Out of all the cities I've been to in war zones in the last 10 years, I'd say this is the most prepared city, you could say. There's different structures in place for people to be a bit more safe. I mean, they've got first aid centers around the city almost every few hundred feet.

They've got government-made shelters that are set up around the city in the most shelled areas that when the siren goes off, as I said, they're farther enough away from the front line so the Russian radar picks up the rockets as soon as they head out. So there's a little bit of a break or a little bit of time where they can let the sirens go and then people stop and they see these shelters on the side of the road like here and get out of their cars or run up to them if they're walking, run inside these and they've got a few seconds to get a little bit safer.

And these shelters actually save lives and there's over 227 of these around the city. And each one of them has a sign on it showing the direction that the first aid center is. And every first aid center is just a few meters from the location or across the street or something like this. And inside many of these, I believe this one in particular didn't yet have it, but in other ones around the city, there's these signs that give directions on how to perform different first aid operations, like putting a tourniquet on or something like this. And they actually have QR codes where the people can, with their telephone, scan the QR codes, and then it gives a video

instruction on how to save people's lives with this first aid equipment that's at these different first aid centers. All right, what are we looking at now, the inside of one of these shelters? Yes, this is the inside of one of these shelters, and it's literally only about 20 meters away. This is the square itself where 14 people were killed on December 30th, and 108 were injured by one of these rocket attacks. Wow. Are there signs of any Russian troops? There's surely no signs of Ukrainian troops there.

Well, the heavy fighting is going on on the border where Ukraine is trying to push across. And so, you know, obviously there's troops there. I haven't yet been able to get to the fighting itself, but we'll see what happens in the next days. But there's intense fighting going on, not far from here, that's for sure. What's the attitude of the people, that the government is doing the best it can to protect us and the Ukrainians have no business

here? I mean, this is Russia proper. This is not a disputed area that Ukraine claims is really Ukraine and Russia says is under international law Russia. This is Russia proper. So let me restate the question. How extraordinary is it for the Ukrainians to be invading Russia proper? Well, it's pretty, I wouldn't say surprising because they did this nine months ago when they tried to push across and were pushed back within hours. But for the last two weeks, they've been trying to push across the border. Russia says all the attempts have failed, and as of days ago, Russia claimed that there's been at least 3,500 deaths of Ukrainian soldiers that have been pushing across or attempting to be pushing across. says that Ukraine is just randomly attacking civilians in the city, just launching and just not really caring where these rockets land. That's the opinions and what the locals say here that live in this city.

And that's what it appears to be. So, you know, we'll see. But these are Western-supplied weapons that Ukraine is using to attack this city and try to push into Russia proper. So we'll see what happens in the future. You've supplied us with another tape of an interview you did with one or more civilians. We're going to run that now. And then as it trails off, you can describe what's happening. Opened fire on civilian areas of Belgrade at 3.20 in the morning, and several were injured.

We're here with one of the injured men, and we're going to have a talk to him about what the situation is and what happened. Okay, so this man was a security guard in this little construction area in a residential area. And luckily he was sleeping, because I said it was 3.20 in the morning when these shells came down. He was sleeping right here on this couch in this little guard shack. And he's pointing out how the shrapnel came through the window and through the wall and then into that wall and then also he's going to be showing how that piece of glass was broken and blew into his head and injured him and now he's showing the actual impact site right next to that home there where the

Ukrainian rocket hit destroyed that fence and the shrapnel went through him and then right here I also just go through an overview of what he had to say. Is it unusual for the Ukrainians wantonly to be attacking civilians rather than targeting military assets? Yeah, I mean, it's very disheartening to see these people having to go through this here in this city and across the front line. But it seems that Ukraine is using civilians as a tool in this war, a weapon, by using weapons against civilians. I mean, there's no question that Ukraine has been targeting civilians and just randomly firing. So, I mean, if you're randomly firing in the center of a city, that's targeting civilians, and that's a war crime. The West is giving them more and more weapons to continue these war crimes.

Okay. You just read my mind. Is it obvious the origin of these weapons, and has this developed any animosity amongst the public towards the West, the United States in particular? I mean, if this bomb comes down and explodes the shack and the guy lives only because he was in his bed, if he had been standing up, the shrapnel probably would have killed him. Does he know that those explosives were made in Michigan? Yes, there is no question that these people understand that the reason this war is continuing is because the West is continuing to supply Ukraine. They understand that the weapons that are killing their children and friends and family members are given to them by the West. How adequate are the, I know you said there

are first aid shelters and we can see the bandage on his head. How adequate is the medical care? In other words, when this guy was hit in the head with the flying glass, was he able just to walk or run to some place where a healthcare professional could clean and dress and secure the wounds? Well, the closer towards the center, yes, that's how it is. But in this particular case, this impact was a little bit closer towards the edge of the city. So in these cases, what happens is the emergency services, the ambulance, and the firefighters race to the scene of the impact because they almost immediately know the general location of where the rockets come because you've got to think through the traveling of these rockets, they're tracked by radar. Calls come in right away to the police and emergency services.

I was actually in the call center of the emergency services just yesterday filming material for our upcoming film on the situation in Belgrade. So, I mean, it's really amazing to see the readiness that this city has for these situations, even though they're new to the war relatively. What's your feeling on the big picture here, Patrick? Do you get a sense from where you are that is the same sense that we have, which is that Ukraine is on its last leg?

Well, the best, the United States, they keep making that last leg longer for quite a while. I mean, there's no question that this war is continuing because of the support from the West. There's no question that this war continued past the first couple of months after Russia came in because Ukraine wouldn't come to the Sable and let the Donetsk and Lugansk regions leave Ukraine because they wanted to leave Ukraine. Ukraine would not give them the right to self-determination. So there's no question about this. When it's going to end, I don't know.

I hope it ends soon so people stop dying on both sides. In these areas that you visit, are people cognizant of the geopolitical forces around them, like the concert massacre in Moscow or the vote of the UN Security Council, or is it more a hour-to-hour, day-to-day struggle to stay alive when these bombs are coming in? Well, of course, the terrorist attack in Moscow weighs heavy on the hearts and souls of the people of Russia. It's a big shock to these people. I mean, you can imagine. But these people are living under war. So as you say, they're trying to stay alive. They're trying to keep their family alive. And they're trying to become acclimated to the war.

So they're taking one day at a time. Patrick, you remain a model of courage and intellectual honesty. And I don't know how else to say it. Thank you so much for calling us. Thank you so much for all you do. You know, we will post your materials as soon as you get them to us because the world needs to know what's going on. Your eyes and ears are more intellectually honest than any of the Western media, Patrick. You perform a tremendous service for millions of people. Stay well, stay safe. And I mean this from my heart. Happy Easter to you, Patrick. Thank you, Judge, to you as well. And thanks for having me on. And I'm glad we can show the world a little bit of what they're not going to see in other places. You got it. And

you'll be right back here as soon as you want to be. Thank you, Patrick. All the best. Thank you, Judge. All right. Well, when we prepared this day yesterday, we did not know that Patrick would reach us, I think, at three in the morning. But just to remind you of the rest of the day, at 11 o'clock Eastern, Scott Ritter, with the latest on the Moscow terror attack, at one o'clock Eastern, ask the judge, live interaction with me, ask me anything you want about the U.S. Constitution or American law or these topics that we cover on air. At two o'clock Eastern, Colonel Larry Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff in the State Department and a fierce opponent of what's happening in Ukraine and happening in Gaza. At three o'clock, Kyle Anzalone of antiwar.com. And at four o'clock, we're pretending it's Friday. It's our intelligence

community end of the week roundtable with the boys, Larry Johnson and Ray McGovern. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Thanks for watching!