“They are taking one or two villages; that’s not going to make a difference.”

Putin’s war is becoming “impossible” as Russia is not making any breakthroughs on land, says the deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme and the head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, Orysia Lutsevych.

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

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

“If he is met by strength, he will back off.”

“Faffing around” and “grovelling” to Trump will not deter Putin as he only respects strength, says General Sir Richard Shirreff. 

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

“If the roundabout stops, he falls off.”

Putin is becoming “more wild,” pushing too many soldiers to the front without being able to supply food or fuel, says the Evening Standard’s Robert Fox.

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

He has now weakened Russia dramatically as a result of his invasion of Ukraine, and yet he keeps going.”

Putin is at risk of “leaving the scene” after his “abnormal” activity leaves Russia too fragile to break Article 5, says former US ambassador to Nato Kurt Volker.

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

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

“Putin is showing his allies, what little there are around the world, that Russian cannot be relied upon.”

Russia is not coming to Iran’s defence, despite the regime's drone supplies to the Kremlin, says senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center Michael Bociurkiw.

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

“I think there is deep paranoia within the Russian intelligence establishment about China’s activities.”

Xi may be on the verge of betraying Putin, as a leaked FSB document claims China is an “active threat” to Russia, according to Ian Williams. 

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

“The conversations amongst MPs are kind of mentioning the nuclear option more than before.”

It’s “inevitable” that Ukraine will start building its own nuclear weapons through the Soviet nuclear power stations in the Western part of Ukraine, says Professor Vlad Mykhnenko.

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

"There is no way that the Russian spin machine and propaganda machine can spin this into anything but a flipping disaster." 

Ukrainian attacks Russian military infrastructure is a "psychological blow" to Putin's "propaganda machine", says former British army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

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