“It really caused a breakdown in the cohesion of many units, which meant they couldn’t coordinate either the attacks against the Ukrainians or defence against Ukrainian attacks.”

Elon Musk’s decision to cut off Starlink access to Putin's forces “took them by surprise” and has halted Russian attacks on the frontline, says Major General Mick Ryan.

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"If he sits down with Zelensky and Trump, then it becomes obvious who the person is who doesn't want peace, and that's Vladimir Putin,"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments on peace in Ukraine show Putin is still under pressure not to accept any US/Ukraine peace terms or be pushed into a trilateral meeting, says Sir Bill Browder on Frontline

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"Once Putin takes a step back, that's it he's done."

Putin is facing "internal divisions" after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov voiced concerns that agreements made with Trump in Alaska had collapsed while Kremlin hardliners push for Russia not to sign any agreement, says Prof. Scott Lucas on Frontline.

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“A small number of cheap, AI-guided attack and interceptor drones … can knock down Shahed systems.”

Putin’s Shahed systems are being wiped out by innovative Ukrainian and European drone systems, says former Major General Chip Chapman.

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“He is wagering the Russian economy in this war, not the army any more.”

Putin’s army is “flagging and failing, and getting degraded by the day”, which is consequently dragging down the Russian economy, says the Atlantic Council’s senior fellow, Diane Francis.

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“Why didn’t we do this two or three years ago?”

The Kremlin is “rattled” as Europe signs an agreement stating that vessels which change their flag will be deemed flagless and liable to boarding after a Russian oil tanker was found in the Atlantic, says former British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

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“There is a slight issue that there may be a restricted flow of information to Putin.”

As Putin has grown older and “more autocratic”, the intelligence reaching the Russian leader has thinned out, says former Defence Committee clerk and secretary to the UK delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Eliot Wilson.

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“This is existential.”

Putin’s insistence that the Donbas be signed over to Russia in peace negotiations highlights his inability to take the “heavily fortified fortress”, says former British diplomat Cormac Smith.

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“We’re getting closer to autonomy at the end, so if the Russians try to break the connection between the pilot and the drone, the drone can continue on.”

Ukraine is “winning the drone war” as it moves closer to finishing “autonomous drones”, says military historian and professor Phillips O’Brien.

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“He’s recognising desperately that he’s not winning on the battlefield.”

Putin’s recent attacks on Lviv show his desperation, as his battlefield failures have forced the Russian leader into a “dilemma”, says former US ambassador to Ukraine William B Taylor.

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