The MeidasTouch Podcast - Ukraine military counteroffensive against Russia is having STUNNING SUCCESS (Ret. Commanding General US Army Europe Ben Hodges)

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

On The Mighty, we feature some of the most impactful responses, reactions, narratives, musings, and rants of Meidas content creators. New episodes of the traditional MeidasTouch Podcast drop every Tuesday and Friday morning. The rest of the week, we deliver The Mighty! The Ukrainian military has launched one of the most successful counteroffensives in military history against Russia. Retired Commanding General of US Army Europe Ben Hodges breaks it down exclusively for the MeidasTouch Podcast. “Russia went from the second most powerful army in the world to the second most powerful army in Ukraine,” Hodges says. Shop Meidas Merch at: https://store.meidastouch.com Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/meidastouch Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 The Tony Michaels Podcast: https://pod.link/1561049560 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get 60% off when you join at datemyage.com today. That's datemyage.com to connect with thousands of singles worldwide. datemyage.com today. That's datemyage.com to connect with thousands of singles worldwide. datemyage.com. This is Brett Mycelis, co-founder of Midas Touch, and you are listening to The Mighty. On The Mighty, we feature some of the most impactful responses, reactions, narratives, rants, and musings from Midas content creators. New episodes of the Traditional Brother podcast drop every Tuesday and Friday morning. The rest of the week, we bring you The Mighty. Over the past few days, we have seen a seismic shift on the ground in Ukraine, with the Ukrainian military launching one of the most successful

counteroffensives since the Battle of Kiev. The Ukrainian counteroffensive has reshaped the entire war, with Russia now in retreat as the blue and yellow flag is raised once again in previously Russian-occupied territory across Ukraine. Midas Touch co-founder Ben Maiselis caught up with retired commanding general of U.S. Army Europe Ben Hodges to get a full analysis of the current state of the war. Take a listen. Discover the magic of Bad MGM Casino, where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games with a live dealer.

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from John Spencer, because this is one of the tweets that I've seen out there about what's going on right now that explains it in layman's terms. Just in case you are still not informed, Ukraine has regained, liberated over 1000 kilometers of land and cities. Ukraine is winning. Ukraine is defeating Russia, once thought to be the second most powerful military. Ben, what can you tell us about what's going on? Hey, Ben. Well, first of all, Russia, which once was the second greatest military on the planet, is now the second greatest military in Ukraine. What you just read is exactly right. Ukrainian forces have launched a very effective counterattack. It's still early days, but it's incredible how much movement there has been, how much progress they've made. It's a combination of things that we could talk about, but it really has the feel that Russian forces have cracked.

And so it's almost like once you get momentum going, it's very difficult for a defender who's untrained or had to happen for Ukraine to prevail. And Ukraine had the upper hand. We talked about at the time some of the new weaponry. But what's happened in the past week or last few days where I've just seen this real sense of like things have really, really changed? Well, first of all, the Ukrainian general staff gets huge credit, I think, for maintaining very disciplined OPSEC, operational security. I mean, we've all been fairly surprised.

The Russians were surprised. And the fact that the Ukrainians could get this many troops and equipment and vehicles into place, and also to deceive the Russians, to cause the Russians to shift forces down towards Kherson, weakening the place where the Ukrainians actually wanted to attack. So that's number one. You're talking about a high level of professionalism and skill. Secondly, and this is where the U.S. and other allies have helped, the shaping operations that Ukrainians have been doing the last few weeks, constantly pounding Russian logistics, destroying ammunition storage, hitting headquarters time after time after time, all of these things, plus partis a lot of disruption, chaos. And so that weakened what was already, I think, an undisciplined Russian defense with people that really didn't

want to fight anyway. You know, when we hear about, you know, we're talking about some of the most incredible counteroffensive since World War Two, when we learn in the history about the Battle of Normandy and D-Day, all of the kind of ways that Germany thought that the U.S. was going to be invading from different areas ultimately before it went into Normandy. What it sounds like you're saying, too, here is that the counteroffensive took place in different locations. And so the Ukrainian army almost made Russia feel like they were going to one location, which they were, but then brought the troops, another counteroffensive in another area. And can you maybe break that down in kind of military terms? And am I understanding it in layman's terms somewhat correctly? Yes, you are. So everybody will remember there was so much talk about this coming

Kherson counteroffensive, big southern counteroffensive. I mean, it was coming from the capital in Kiev. I mean, it became a big topic. And there was so much talk about it that I think that the Russians believed, OK, that's where it's coming. And so they they shifted some forces, a significant amount of force down towards Kherson and the southern part of Ukraine to be prepared for where they thought this attack was coming. So, of course, that was by design on the Ukrainian side. It appears to me, I'm not reading any classified information, but I mean, that's what it looks like.

And while the Ukrainians have done a lot of fighting around Kherson, it looks like their main effort was the one in the north, which now was able to attack a much weaker part of the russian defenses that was and and so this is the uh it was a great example of deception that they misled the russians where they really wanted to attack so what should we be looking for now in these coming days um what other signs should we be looking for you know I think it was one of the first times that we had, uh, Zelensky say, I can't say too much, but you know, we're going to win, you know, words to the effect of we got this, but what else can we expect to happen in the

next few days? Uh, I think three things that I'm going to be watching, obviously, uh, for the Ukrainians to be able to sustain this. I mean, you know, when you're on the offense, you're burning through a lot of fuel, you end up with a lot of casualties, you use up a lot of ammunition. Can they sustain the momentum of what they're doing? My sense is yes, but we'll see as they go deeper into the Russian rear area.

But that'll be one thing. How can they maintain momentum? The second thing is I'm really, I believe that Crimea is the ultimate objective here. That with as they attack with both that northern

main effort, but also if they break out from Kherson, it all starts coming down towards Crimea, which is the real prize. I mean, that because of what it represents psychologically, but also the capabilities that the Russians have there. This will be important to watch. But the third thing I'm watching is what the heck is going on in Moscow and St. Petersburg? You know, there was reports today that the city center of Moscow had been sealed off. And I don't know that there's going to be huge riots

or this could have just been normal preventative measures. But you do get the feeling that people in the Russian capital are very uneasy about what's going on. And people, Russians who have been occupying the territories that they unlawfully took, they're leaving now and the Russian government had told them to start heading back or are people leaving on their own? I see those videos of like long lines of Russians leaving occupied territory and going back into Ukraine? What's that? I mean, I think it's a little bit of both. I think probably I saw where the spokesman, the major general or two star general from Russian Ministry of Defense,

was saying that, I mean, they're trying to spend this as if this was all planned and it was under control. And we we really want to focus on Donetsk anyway. And so we don't care about these other places. And you've probably got a lot of people that were there that came from Russia that were part of the occupation or, you know, I'm not sure what the wide variety of people. And then you've probably also got some people that are saying, you know, I'm not sure what the wide variety of people. And then you've probably also got some people that are saying, you know, we need to get out of here before the fighting comes closer. So I think it's a it's a mix. This is the kind of confusing situation that goes on when you're on the receiving end of a of a surprise attack like this.

And Ben, anything else you want to tell all of our viewers about Human Rights First or any of the organizations you're working with, if they want to support the type of work that you do? Ben, thank you very much. I did join Human Rights First about three months ago. I still get to work and focus on all the things I care about with the Black Sea and NATO and Ukraine and the Baltic, NATO's eastern flank, if you will. But with the addition of, I mean, it's time for me in my professional life to broaden that a little bit and focus on the defense of democracy, not only overseas, but also at home. And I'm just real concerned with all the things I'm seeing happening in the United States here over the last three or four years. And so I wanted to get more involved with that. And I do believe that protection of human rights is an important

part of our national security strategy. I mean, it's part of who we are that gives us strength. So I like to work on that too. So one other thing, if I can take one more minute of your time, is to ask you about the top secret sensitive information. I mean, you were someone who would be familiar with that type of information at the highest level. What is your response to knowing how they were kept at Mar-a-Lago? Like, what was your reaction to this how they were kept at Mar-a-Lago? Like, what was your reaction to this whole situation that's taking place for someone who handles this type of material? I was appalled. I mean, you know, brand new lieutenants, the first day in your early days as an officer, you, you learned about security clearances and how to handle certain things. There's, There's a reason these documents have

special covers on them so that they're easily recognizable as, huh, this is a document that requires special handling and it's got a cover so that somebody can't just walk by and read classified information that's sitting out on a desk or a table or you forget about it. They have bright red, all of these kinds of things. And so it's just, it's hard to imagine how anybody at that sort of level, plus the people around the president, the former president, I mean, to be that careless or willful is, it's appalling. Ben Hodges, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Ben. Thanks, Ben. And thank you to retired Commanding General Ben Hodges for sharing with us

your expertise. We'll be sure to keep you up to date on the war effort as it unfolds. We here at Midas Touch stand with Ukraine and will always stand with the fight for democracy both here and across the globe. You may have heard that there is a brand new way you can support our unapologetically pro-democracy media network on Patreon. That's right. Head on over to patreon.com slash Midas Touch

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