 Kiev asks Paris to help the Ukrainian armed forces hold out on the defensive during this year. The Ukrainian authorities hope to hold out until 2025, after which the Ukrainian army will go on the offensive, which should end in the victory of Kiev. Representatives of the Kiev voiced such plans at the negotiations, asking Western allies to help survive this year. France could become Ukraine's main ally. Kiev is asking Paris to help with arms supplies to hold out on the defensive this year, and then go on the offensive that Zelensky is raving about. As one French official who participated in negotiations with representatives of Kiev said, they are asking for a significant increase in arms supplies. The Ukrainians tell us, help us hold out in 2024 and in 2025, we will be able to resume the offensive. The Figaro newspaper quotes the official as saying, According to the French, the Ukrainian army is now on the defensive, successfully repelling the offensive of Russian troops, and they simply do not have enough weapons for their own offensive operation. But a top official at the Russian Ministry of Defense told that Ukraine's previous attempt to defeat Russia on the battlefield was a total disaster, and Kiev should not expect anything different the next time. In an interview published by the German newspaper Build earlier this week, Zelensky revealed that Ukraine has a plan for a counter-offensive, but would need more weapons and supplies from its Western backers. I would remind you that the implementation of the previous counter-offensive plan in 2023, which commander-in-chief Zelensky has delicately called not successful, resulted in the death and serious injury of more than 166,000 members of the armed forces of Ukraine, as well as the loss of 789 tanks, 2,400 other armored vehicles, and 132 aircraft, the Ministry of Defense official said. With Ukrainians unwilling to volunteer for the cause of Zelensky's madness, Kiev has updated its mobilization rules to recruit new cannon fodder, the official added. Iran and Chinese drones are overwhelming US warships. While America leads the way in high-end exquisite military hardware, powers like Iran and China are churning out large numbers of low-cost attack drones to overwhelm these weapons. According to popular mechanics, America's opponents know that missiles are effective, but they simply aren't sustainable in the long run. Paul Scharr, Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based defense think tank, has been warned that current weapons quickly become unaffordable against massed drones. Taking out a thousand-dollar drone with a million-dollar missile is not a cost-effective solution. Scharr tells popular mechanics. Search drones force warships to expend munitions which could leave them open to attacks from larger anti-ship missiles, but not shooting down the drones is not an option. The goal of our potential opponents is to send over large numbers of cheap drones to deplete our kinetic arsenals. Andrew Lowery, CEO of the Los Angeles California-based high-tech weapons maker Epirus, tells popular mechanics. That's why his company developed an alternate approach, a nearly unstoppable microwave weapon. The US Navy's current long-range air defense missile is the SM-6 standard missile, costs over $3 million. It's overkill against a 400-pound drone puttering along at 100 miles per hour, costing just a few thousand dollars. The next level of defense is the medium-range Evolved Sea Sparrow missile. This costs 1.5 million a shot. The high cost means the US Navy only acquires these missiles in small numbers intended for defense against attack aircraft and anti-ship missiles. As such, the latest Navy budget includes just 125 SM-6 and 145 Sea Sparrow missiles. The Houthi rebels attack with basic low-cost drones imported from Iran and assembled locally in garage workshops. The Iranians are not the only threat. China has a formidable drone force and is developing swarming attack drones to aid in a possible invasion of Taiwan. Tens or hundreds of drones could attack simultaneously far too many for existing defenses to cope with. Lowery says their technology has a proven, publicly demonstrated ability to counter swarming drones. This is how we got here today. I'm shaking. The neighbors are shaking too. Well, we're completely...