Depending on Chief Lloyd Austin meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy today at an annual defense conference in Singapore, the two reportedly discussing the state of USAID to the Ukrainian war effort. In the face of Russia's heightened offensive over the last few months, Natasha Bertrand has more from Singapore.

Jessica, President Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to the Shangri-la dialog in Singapore earlier today to try to rally Asian leaders around Ukraine's fight against the Russians. But he also met here on the sidelines with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, where the two discussed Ukraine's most urgent battlefield needs at the moment, including their desperate need for additional air defense systems. But importantly, Zelenskyy also wanted to take that opportunity to thank Secretary Austin as well as President Biden for that very important decision that the US made just last week to finally allow Ukraine to strike directly inside Russian territory in order to help defend itself against Russian strikes that are coming from just over the border of Ukraine inside Russia itself. A real game changer that Ukraine has been pushing the United States for for quite some time now. So Zelenskyy repeatedly thanked the United States for that decision. But one of the major reasons he was actually here at this forum this weekend was to speak directly to the Chinese, who have been accused by the United States and by the UK of directly supporting Russia's war effort in Ukraine by bolstering its defense sector. And Zelenskyy told reporters earlier today that he tried to meet with China Chinese officials while he was here today, but the Chinese actually refused to meet with him.

So while Zelenskyy did not get everything that he wanted this weekend, he did get the opportunity to speak directly to some very key Asian leaders and secure their participation and their support for this peace summit that he hopes will eventually be able to come up with a formula to finally end this war between Ukraine and Russia. Jessica.

Natasha Bertrand. Thanks so much. And let's discuss us those talks and more with senior military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hurtling. Great to have you on this Sunday afternoon. I want to start first with the decision that Natasha was talking about in her report that the US will now allow Ukraine to use American munitions to carry out strikes inside Russia. Help people understand what makes that decision so impactful.

Yeah, some American weapon systems, Jessica, just have to put a caveat on that. Because of the tactical battle in and around Kharkiv, there's a decision now by the President to allow some weapons, like the Himar shooting short-range artillery up to 50 to 70 kilometers away, to strike targets on the other side of the border. What Mr. Zelenskyy is very upset about is he wants more latitude in using a Takums missiles that have anywhere from 170 to 300-mile range. He wants to strike deeper into targets in Russia, and the President has not allowed that. There has been the availability of some weapons to go against those Russian forces that are actually loggering on the other side of the Ukrainian border in Belarus and in Russia, and that's a very good thing. There's been many of us who have said that should have happened a long time ago. But there's a concern. The risk involved is that the Kremlin will see anything that strikes deep into Russia and that could to possibly miss the target and maybe hit, I'm going to give an example, hit an apartment building with Russian citizens could be an extreme provocation that the Russian leader could use to say, Hey, see, I've been telling you all along, this is a US war.

They're using proxies to do this. They're giving them their weapons. So that's part of the calculus in all of this. And it's frustrating for the Ukrainians. But truthfully, having been in these meetings, I understand the risk calculation involved.

Mark, I'm going to let them know I can't hear you. I'm going to take that out. I'm going to let the control room know I can't hear you, but I'm hearing myself. But I'm going to keep asking you questions. I do want to ask you about what your take is on the CNN reporting this week that the US issued Abrams tanks aren't performing well in the field in Ukraine. There's this discussion about how they were really made for the desert, and obviously Ukraine, not the desert. What do you make of that?

I will say in one word that's hyphenated, that's BS. It's getting mixed. I'll just use the initials. These tanks have been basically made for a NATO environment in Europe. I was on these tanks for almost three decades in Europe, didn't have some of the problems that I heard nick, Patent, Walsh talk about with that tank crew. They were upset because the tank was broken down. I'll remind folks that I said it was not the best tank to give to Ukraine because there are maintenance challenges, and you have to have a highly trained crew to address some of the things. But some of the indicators they talked about, condensation on the instruments, that's BS. The fact that Russia knows how to hit these tanks, it didn't have enough armor, that's BS. That they couldn't clear wood lines or they would shoot multiple rounds in a building and it wouldn't explode. I know for a fact, having fired these vehicles and having been a tanker all my life, that this is a crew that's not either selecting the right weapon system or isn't maintaining their tanks very well. Now, at the same time, I'll say this, Jessica, that whenever you get two disgruntled tankers on a tank that's broken down, they're going to give you every reason why it doesn't work and how this piece of crap is something they shouldn't have.

But remember, Ukraine continued to ask for these vehicles, even though they knew that there was a high maintenance standard to keep them running.

And I also want to ask you about the fact that President Zelensky tried to meet with Chinese officials while he was at this event. They didn't take him up on that offer. Do you think that there is any pathway there for them to have some success appealing to the Chinese, even though the Chinese and Russia have been quite cozy at this point?

In my view, Jessica, I'm not a Chinese expert, but I do know a little bit about the Chinese no chance in the world. He is not going to persuade President Xi, who is very stoic and who is, in fact, supporting the Russians, to switch over to the Ukrainian side because he knows that he wants to keep this... I believe President Xi wants to keep this war going on because it involves both Russia and the United States in this action. But it will be difficult for him to support Ukraine. The good thing is President Zelenskyy was able to persuade, I think, several other Asian nations to provide support to the Ukrainian cause. And that's been something that's been important as well.

All right, Lieutenant General Mark Hurtling. Always good to have you on. Thanks so much.

Thanks, Jessica.