“The weaknesses they have shown are very serious indeed…the quality of troops and fighting spirit, despite all their deprivations, the Ukrainian side is beginning to expose what a dreadful mess the Russian units are in .”

Ukraine have been taking advantage of Putin’s weaknesses on the battlefield as Russian troops turn on each other, says The Standard’s defence editor Robert Fox.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“In terms of ability, competence, sophistication, Ukraine is streaks ahead.”

Ukraine’s ability to develop sophisticated strategies with their drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and airfields is making “Putin and his advisers think”, says former clerk in House of Commons for the defence committee Eliot Wilson.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“It’s bringing the fight a lot closer to the Russian military inside Russia.”

Ukraine’s newly developed long-range missile packages have breached Putin’s walls and are targeting oil refineries and infrastructure inside Russia, says former US special envoy to Ukraine, Ambassador Kurt Volker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Now we’re seeing Ukrainian cruise missiles come online...there’s the possibility they can get the upper hand again.”

Ukraine is developing their capabilities when it comes to cruise missiles as they are more accurate, says director of military sciences at RUSI Mathew Savill.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Putin’s generals or his elites around him may see that enough is enough and he could be forced out.”

Targeting Russia’s oil supply will bring Putin “to his knees” as it will hit the war economy where it hurts, says analyst at the Atlantic Council Michael Bociurkiw.

[3:13 PM]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“They have been able to sink the Russian navy in the Black Sea, without a navy, but with sea drones.”

Russia expert Diane Francis and Chatham House’s Orysia Lutsevych discuss the last four years of the Ukraine war and how the Ukrainians have “reinvented warfare” by striking Putin’s navy and key infrastructure with it's innovative drone warfare.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Let the Russians brag about their inexorable advance all they want while Ukrainians figure out how to slaughter them to the tune of 40-50,000 a month.”

Former commander of the US army in Europe General Ben Hodges, The Times’s Maxim Tucker and former advisor to the Ukrainian ministry of defence Yuriy Sak join Philip Ingram to reflect on the last four years of the Ukraine war.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“That’s a huge figure which is, at the moment, more than Russia’s recruitment rate.”

Putin could be forced into difficult decisions that could threaten his regime after Ukraine’s commander-in-chief reports that Ukraine killed 32,000 Russian troops last month alone, says The Times’s Maxim Tucker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.