European winter is setting in on the battlefields in Ukraine and Russia. After almost three years of outright war, and almost four months since Ukrainian troops launched a lightning offensive into the Russian region of Kursk, there are now real doubts about how long Ukraine can continue the fight. Russian advances continue in both Kursk and in the south, and Russian missile and drone attacks are hitting Ukraine infrastructure hard. 

Then there is the Trump factor. The US president elect promising he would end the war 'in a day' if elected, with strategists and analysts trying to work out frantically want that means. A deal maybe, but in whose favour? What is the future for this conflict in the region? 

Philip Clark is joined on Nightlife by Paul Dibb AM, an Emeritus Professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU. He is also a Former Deputy Secretary of Defence and Director of the Defence Intelligence Organisation. Joined by Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor with The Economist since 2018 who has been writing on the conflict since it began.