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Brigadier General Peter B. Zwack {Ret.}

Category: Publications

Russia Ukraine Conflict

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Fwd: Kyiv based show “On the Edge” interview request

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Zrussia

6/10/2025 11:27 PM
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IntvuGENERALZwack.docx32 KB
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Philip Ittner (02:54)
General Peter Zwack, thank you so much for joining us here at On the Edge. ⁓
Normally we don’t do kind of newsy kind of things, but this is ⁓ an event. What
happened here with this Operation Spider Web is an event that is going to be a
milestone ⁓ in the history of this conflict. But I’d like to get your impression as a
military man. What?
What does this mean? mean, what is your take on the scale and scope of this?
Peter Zwack (03:28)
We have a new revolution of military affairs going on in the 21st century. And the
Ukrainians have taken it to a new step. ⁓ While drones, unmanned aerial vehicles,
et cetera, have been around a while, the application and use of them ⁓ with, I
would say, Ukraine leading the way.
has really, really opened a paradigm shift, not just in the air, but on how you deploy
forces on the ground and at sea. And the innovation, ⁓ and there’s nothing like
innovation when your nation is in a existential fight for its life and creativity. ⁓
led to this remarkable feat. ⁓ Imagine the Russians, they’ve got, you know, ⁓ four
or five strategic bomber bases, far out of touch, seemingly from the front. And
they’re hit as far away as the Russian Far East near Kutsk.
up near the Arctic Circle, near Murmansk, and a couple in the mid-drift, if you will, of
Russia. Complete surprise. Simultaneous strikes. Imagine the coordination to do
that and how the Ukrainians
unbelievable imagination in Chutzpah. How did they get these wooden crates to
within a few miles or kilometers of these air bases, unseen, unknown, hiding in plain
sight, one near a FSB headquarters, ⁓ the tops pop and out come UAVs.
And they are directed, and I think there’s still a question, how they were
programmed, the first person view, was there a person nearby, was it AI? Don’t
know, but they landed with real accuracy on a number of Russian strategic
bombers.
seemingly safe in sanctuary. And don’t know the number, it’s being banded around
between 10 aircraft and 20 aircraft now. And…
You know, I don’t think the Russians have lost but one or two ⁓ major aircraft, big
aircraft since the beginning of the war. And that’s mostly by accident. And a couple
of what we call AWACS, the A-15, the radar, you know, which are really, really
important for strategic command and control. ⁓
Philip Ittner (06:55)
Mm-hmm.
Peter Zwack (07:04)​
They don’t fly over Ukraine, but they fly off of Ukraine and they kind of direct ⁓
flights, missions or over the Black Sea. And yeah, I mean, the bear bombers and the
TU-22s, ⁓ blinders, mean, they will fly, stand off as far as the Caspian Sea.
Philip Ittner (07:10)
or over the Black Sea.
Peter Zwack (07:32)
And if you remember earlier on, their nickname were milk cows ⁓ flying ⁓ over the
Russian side. They’re flying from Belarus, Black Sea when they had control, which
they don’t anymore. ⁓ It’s remarkable. And I can’t imagine the consternation in the
Kremlin.
Philip Ittner (07:32)
Hmm.
Right, right.
Peter Zwack (08:00)
and Russian ⁓ FSB headquarters and the security services. How could this happen?
And knowing a little bit about the Russian system.
there will be major repercussions. And if people are just fired, they’re lucky. And
there’ll be a real shakeup. ⁓ So the other piece of this, it’s opened up another, ⁓ I
think for all of our nations, another lane in modern warfare.
Philip Ittner (08:25)
Mmm.
Peter Zwack (08:43)
You know, can you get these things close to, from an American point of view, close
to an American base in the United States or internationally? the end of the North
Sea, they could be fired off of ships. And so this has opened up a lot. Now for
Ukraine,
Philip Ittner (08:43)
Mm-hmm.
Diego Garcia or at Interlic.
Peter Zwack (09:13)
Huge shot in the arm. Huge, huge motivator. population had to have been beside
itself, almost disbelieving. Yeah, it looks like that the reports were a bit
exaggerated, but even a bit exaggerated, it was extraordinary. And it showed the
world. It showed the Russians.
It showed my country and your country, the United States and our allies that the
Ukrainians still have a lot of moxie and they still have quote unquote cards to play,
which they did in, and again, in remarkable fashion. I could go on and on, but… ⁓​
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