Independent Thinking is back after a short summer break for the start of Season 2 of the podcast. This week, for our first episode, we're returning to the much-discussed topic of Ukraine's counter-offensive.

Since June, the Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting hard to breach the defensive lines established by the Russian army in the east and south, the so-called 'Surovkin Line'. Joining Bronwen Maddox on the show this week are Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the FT and the author of the book 'The War Came to Us: Life and Death in Ukraine' and Ulrike Franke, a Senior Fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. Joining them in the studio here in London are James Nixey and Orysia Lutsevych, the director and deputy director respectively of our Russia and Eurasia programme.

Read our expertise:

US allies need to wake up to the Trump question

Pushing Ukraine to negotiate now would be disastrous

How to end Russia's war on Ukraine

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Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Sound by Alex Moyler and Abdul Boudaif.