In our 100th episode on this tragic conflict, we'll be bringing you all the latest news and we’ll be asking two big questions: has much changed in that time? And what happens next? The big news from the front line is that Russia continues its hugely costly, and frankly inexplicable, attack in eastern Ukraine to capture the town of Avdiivka.

Interested in donating to Saul David's SBS Charity Paddle? Follow the link here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/saul-david-1697547606357

If you have any thoughts or questions on the conflicts in Ukraine or Gaza, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we’re going to again use the midweek podcast to focus on Gaza. Events there are simply too important for us not to address and things are developing, the conflict there is likely to be every bit as significant for global politics as the war in Ukraine.

Saul and Patrick consider the options open to the Israeli Defence Forces in what can only be a fiendishly difficult operation before going on to look at the possibility of the Israel-Hamas conflict exploding into a regional war with all the dangers that will bring with it.

Interested in donating to Saul David's SBS Charity Paddle? Follow the link here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/saul-david-1697547606357

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this weeks Battleground: Ukraine Saul and Patrick discuss the big news that Ukraine has fired its first US long-range ATACMS missiles at two airports in Russian-occupied Ukraine with devastating results, which begs the question: why weren’t they supplied earlier?

They also take a look at some diplomatic developments, including Putin's arrival in Beijing for a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, while Joe Biden travels to Israel to underline America’s support for Bibi Netanyahu’s government as it plans its response to Hamas’s savage attack on its citizens.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We'd like to introduce you to a new podcast we believe you would like to hear.

Disorder takes a look at the way the world makes decisions and why now it seems so disordered. From Climate Change to Tax Havens, to Unregulated Cyberspace, to the Wars in Ukraine, Syria, and Libya. Jason Pack, NATO Foundation Senior Analyst, and Alexandra Hall Hall, a former British Ambassador, discuss with world-leading experts, senior diplomats and cultural icons, the fundamental principles lurking behind today’s global issues.

Listen, follow and rate where you get your podcasts.

For more information on the show, and hosts, click here

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In another special edition of Battleground we return again to the subject of Gaza which is looming so large. In this episode Saul and Patrick try and explain what some of the forces are that lie behind this apparently endless conflict. Why is the bitterness on both sides so intense and how is it that a solution seems so difficult to find? Well as it happens both Saul and Patrick have written books which shed some light on both those questions. History may not help us predict the future but it is the only means we have of understanding the present.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of Battleground: Ukraine Saul David and Patrick Bishop, discuss the main news from the front line this week that Russia has intensified operations in the Avdiivka area of Donetsk Oblast. They look at a story that has emerged from occupied Kherson Oblast where Ukrainian partisans are said to have used a car bomb to kill a local head of Putin’s political party. They also of course, take a look at the potential consequences for in Ukraine, as a result of the unfolding situation in Israel.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special episode of Battleground, Patrick and Saul react to the deadly Hamas attack that was launched on Israeli territory on Saturday morning. Drawing on their expertise they discuss how this happened, the wider historical context, what happens next, and of course what this means for the war in Ukraine.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After indications that a Ukrainian breakthrough might have been imminent, progress on the battlefield slowed down this week with no news of further significant advances. Saul and Patrick discuss this and the details released by Kyiv of an extraordinary amphibious aid mounted by their special forces, which resulted in putting Ukrainian boots on Crimean soil for the first time since 2014.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Slovakia, Robert Fico won the election on a pro-Moscow ticket, Saul and Patrick examine the significance of this and answer listeners questions which includes a sighting of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week's big interview, Patrick speaks to Francis Scarr from the BBC's monitoring service, Francis is a member of its Russia team who analyse Russian TV and social media, and specialises in the TV political talk shows, which dominate the schedules. Francis shares his fascinating array of knowledge about the Russian media landscape and draws from his own personal experiences from years spent living in Moscow.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Battleground: Ukraine - Patrick and Saul David discuss a fascinating week in which the word breakthrough has been heard everywhere. The Ukrainians are claiming a series of small victories that collectively could bring about a decisive and favourable shift in their fortunes. Also in the news is the spectacular cruise missile attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, they discuss the significance of this and more, and answer a host of interesting listeners questions.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected]

Producer: James Hodgson

Twitter: @PodBattleground

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices