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Francis Farrell is one of the very few English-language journalists who still goes right up to the front line in Ukraine. He is Australian, he arrived a week before the full-scale invasion, and he has spent four years reporting the war from the places most outlets can no longer insure their people to enter.Sam Cook and Rob Lee sit down with him in Kyiv on 14 August 2026 — as the Russian advance closes on the Donbas fortress belt of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk and Druzhkivka.Francis describes Dobropillia as the most destroyed city he has seen: twelve glide bombs in three hours, not one civilian on the street, and a basement he slept in that was gone a week later. Rob maps the front around it — why the maps lag reality, and why October and November worry him most.Then the harder question. Russia's assault philosophy runs on a constant supply of expendable infantry. If Putin mobilizes again, what changes — and what does Ukraine do about the manpower asymmetry no drone fleet has solved?Francis closes on something he has been circling for years: there are two Ukrainian militaries now — the elite drone units fighting the war of the future, and the worn-down legacy brigades filled with unmotivated mobilized men. Understanding the gap between them, he argues, is the only honest way to read this war.Timestamps0:00 - Francis Farrell8:50 - The journalist who still goes to the front12:06 - Researching Russia is now nearly impossible14:29 - Kremlinology15:52 - Rosgvardia on the Belarus border17:41 - The Kyiv Independent19:42 - The counteroffensive that made his career21:03 - What the Kyiv Independent is actually for22:07 - The dearth of frontline reporting in English23:31 - The communication gap that keeps widening25:00 - Dobropillia: the most destroyed city he has seen26:09 - Twelve glide bombs in three hours27:20 - The basement that was gone a week later27:45 - Sloviansk and Kramatorsk29:46 - Why the last month has been faster31:18 - Dobropillia and the FPVs that emptied it33:21 - A logistical nightmare: roads, rails, nowhere to sleep35:21 - When it stops making sense to go39:21 - Putin's minimum, and how long it takes to take a city41:28 - Sloviansk 2014, Girkin, and what these cities mean42:52 - Why cities matter militarily — basements and antennas44:13 - The pincer, and the 22 July assault in the Azov Corps sector46:25 - A year ago: the Dobropillia infiltration, and who holds the flanks now48:49 - Kostiantynivka: how a fortress city gets overrun50:35 - Logistics by moped, UGV and trolley52:19 - Can UGVs replace infantry?54:15 - Keeping human beings underground56:54 - The 45-day UGV position that was really drones58:28 - Manpower, being chased by an FPV, and why a breached city is a liability1:02:23 - Five kilometres underground1:05:02 - Weather, Pokrovsk, and the October-November danger window1:08:46 - Back to the strategic picture1:13:45 - Russia's war economy and the recruitment quota1:14:53 - Mobilization: the X factor1:16:29 - North Koreans, and what 10,000 more would mean1:19:54 - Crossing the Rubicon1:21:53 - Sustainability as strategy1:24:03 - Syrskyi, Drapatyi, and valuing manpower1:26:52 - How the US and Europe have actually responded1:28:35 - The commander who told Putin he had taken Kupiansk1:29:55 - Lucky that Russia's system is still broken1:33:23 - Watching the Oval Office meeting from the front1:35:14 - Social media war vs the real war1:37:47 - The human factor that gets lost1:39:35 - Why frontline soldiers sound more pessimistic1:42:41 - Two Ukrainian militaries

Produced by the Borderlands Foundation.Support our work: https://theborderlandsfoundation.orgSubscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistoryGuests:Francis Farrell: https://x.com/francisjfarrellRob Lee: https://x.com/RALee85

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In early August 2026, Ukraine got a new commander-in-chief. General Oleksandr Syrskyi was relieved, and Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi — forty-three years old — took over an army in the fifth year of a full-scale war. It followed the public fight over the firing of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that we covered in episodes 10 and 11.

Sam Cook sits down in Kyiv with Rob Lee, one of the most widely read analysts of this war, and Dima Putiata, who served four years in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and left as a sergeant in the Unmanned Systems Forces. The question: have we reached a turning point?

The answer is more careful than the headlines. Russia is advancing slower than a year ago — but it still holds the initiative.

Timestamps

0:00 - What this episode is and why it matters

7:18 - Have we reached a turning point? Why Russia is advancing slower

10:19 - Kramatorsk and Sloviansk: the hardest direction

12:51 - Why both sides fight so hard for the Donetsk cities

14:21 - What people get wrong about "turning point"

16:01 - Shahed-4, Shahed-5, the pulse-jet engine, and Banderol

19:39 - Ukraine's gap in pulse-jet deep-strike drones

20:39 - The counteroffensive that never came, and the airborne counterattacks nobody reported

22:53 - "Tanks are not dead" - combined arms maneuver

24:18 - What you never see on Twitter or Telegram, and why the best units stay quiet

27:00 - The biggest lie starts at division level, and Russia's 300 vehicles

29:04 - Artillery is not dead either: weather, counter-battery radar, acoustic sensors

33:29 - Preparing the battlefield for armor

35:01 - The casualty debate: drones vs artillery

37:32 - Ukrainian artillery brigades that fly their own drones

40:16 - North Koreans in Kursk: from company assaults to squads

42:13 - Reestablishing maneuver: the First World War parallel and the Azov Corps assault

44:01 - Lancet, Zala, Orion, and Russia's mesh network

48:42 - Arena-M: twenty FPVs to stop one tank, mine rollers and sixteen mines

51:49 - Rubicon's 150-page doctrine - and Ukraine's silence

53:12 - Eighty percent of armor losses come from UAVs

54:26 - The most sophisticated Russian assault of the war

56:39 - Political demands, the lying problem, and the post-war Russian military

1:00:02 - Russia's daily target list, and why their micro-tactical execution still fails

1:04:44 - Starlink: the game changer of this war

1:06:22 - Middle strike: heavy and light

1:08:39 - Lancet-Zala, interceptors, and Ukraine's middle strike campaign today

1:12:34 - RuzSat: Russia builds its own Starlink, and echelons of electronic warfare

1:18:07 - "Starlink is a bit of a crutch", and Kursk: crossing the border and losing it

1:21:15 - Crimea, Operation Spiderweb, and what adversaries learn

1:25:24 - Ground-launched ballistic missiles, KN-23 and KN-24

1:27:50 - Zelenskyy's ask to Trump and Musk

1:29:50 - The PAC-3 shortage, and why missile defense stays hard

1:33:03 - Deep strike: refineries, Wildberries, Flamingo - and is it working?

1:37:08 - The economic war: the Black Sea, the port of Odesa, and attrition

1:40:54 - The firing of Fedorov, a new commander-in-chief, and Bilecki's three reasons

1:44:05 - Syrskyi built a system that worked for him

1:46:32 - Unity of command and the Unmanned Systems Forces

1:49:11 - What is Ukraine's actual strategy, and the manpower problem

1:53:04 - What Drapatyi will change first

1:57:29 - Why mobilization got harder: Bakhmut, and orders with no purpose

2:00:45 - AWOL, desertion, and criminal liability for withdrawing

2:05:38 - How AWOL should actually be punished

2:07:17 - France 1940: leadership, training, then technology

2:10:50 - Better than a year ago, but not a turning point yet

Produced by the Borderlands Foundation.Support our work: https://theborderlandsfoundation.org

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Guests:Rob Lee: https://x.com/RALee85Dima Putiata: https://x.com/kriegsforscherD

His face is blurred and his voice is altered — because he is still fighting. In this episode, Rob Lee sits down with the commander of a separate special forces company in the International Legion of GUR (Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate): a veteran of the SBU's elite Alpha unit who fought through the Battle of Kyiv, the Kherson counteroffensive, and Bakhmut before taking command in the Legion.

From the Zaporizhzhia front, he describes a war transformed. Russian "rat tactics" — two- and three-man teams infiltrating between positions with no evacuation and one order: advance or die. A kill zone where at least 80% of all casualties, on both sides, come from drones. Up to 12 FPVs expended on a single soldier. Urban fights where your unit holds one house and the enemy holds the next one for days. And a new pattern of FPV terror attacks on civilian cars and buses in Zaporizhzhia.

He also explains what the drone war has retired — snipers down to 10% effectiveness, mortars now "like snipers," an FPV team worth more than an anti-tank system — and what NATO special operations forces must learn from it: units that are at most 25–30% infantry, built around technology, adaptability, and commanders who put their soldiers' lives first.

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0:00 - From SBU Alpha to GUR's International Legion

6:25 - The Unit's Drone Arsenal: FPVs, Mavics, Vampires, Ground Drones

8:26 - The Zaporizhzhia Front and "Rat Tactics": Do or Die, No Evacuation

10:37 - FPV Terror Against Civilians — Up to 12 FPVs Per Soldier

12:56 - Russian Spetsnaz and 2–3-Man Infiltration Instead of Assaults

15:17 - 80% of All Casualties Are From Drones; Glide Bombs as Terror

17:06 - Urban Combat: The Enemy in the Next House

19:08 - Walking 10–30 km to the Zero Line; Anti-Thermal Suits

21:33 - Who Joins the Legion (Norway to Nigeria): "You Must Become Better"

25:04 - The Alpha Years: Combat Medic in Donbas

28:16 - The Battle of Kyiv: Hunting Russian Agents Building to Building

30:16 - The Kherson Offensive: Village by Village

33:26 - Bakhmut: Mortars, Mavics, and a First Wound

35:24 - Weapons the Kill Zone Retired — and the Future: Max 30% Infantry

37:45 - How to Join or Support the Legion

In this special episode, Ievgen Malik sits down with Shaun Pinner — British soldier, Ukrainian Marine, Mariupol defender, and fellow survivor of Russian captivity. The two served in the same battalion of the 36th Marines but in different units, fought through the siege of Mariupol from February to April 2022, and both ended up in Russian captivity — where they got to know each other.

This is not a standard interview. It's two veterans who shared the worst experience of their lives sitting together for the first time since their release, comparing stories, filling in blanks, and discovering what the other went through. Shaun talks about leaving a successful business in London at 45 to join the Ukrainian military, falling in love with Mariupol, training Ukrainian soldiers to move away from Soviet doctrine, and watching the full-scale invasion destroy the city he called home. Ievgen tells his side — the fog that could have been their escape, the breakout that went wrong, and why the second year of captivity was worse than Mariupol itself.

Together, they describe the Russian way of war from the receiving end: Grad rockets fired at two soldiers, tanks shooting on the hour like a clock, 80 rockets for a two-man position. They talk about what captivity was really like — the electric shocks, the stabbings, the guards who called themselves Spetsnaz but couldn't name their own weapons, and the forced propaganda videos where the torturer stood behind the camera. And they explain why Shaun now considers it his mission to warn Europe about what's coming.

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Timestampts:

0:00 - Ievgen and Shaun's Story — Mariupol and Captivity

4:57 - A True Ally of Ukraine

6:48 - Why Shaun Came to Ukraine: Unhappy in Business, Happiest in the Military

9:40 - Shaun Joins Azov as Sniper Instructor, Then Transfers to Marines

12:14 - Ievgen's First Memory of the English Guys at the Battalion Gate

14:25 - Parachute Training at 45: "You Couldn't Stop Me"

17:00 - Nine Jumps, One Night Jump — the Only British Foreigner to Complete It

19:13 - "I'm Not a Foreign Fighter — I'm a Ukrainian Marine"

21:30 - The Transition from Soviet Doctrine to Decentralized Command

24:03 - By 2022: Sergeants Making Decisions

26:27 - "We Were Now Ukrainian": British Borscht and the Platoon Family

28:00 - War Has Changed: Drones Are the Sniper, the Mortars, the Artillery

30:01 - The Drone Story: Two Marines, One Drone, 80 Grad Rockets

32:46 - "The First Time in My Military Career, I'm Now the Taliban"

35:01 - Mariupol: "Very Emotional, Very Dangerous — We Lost So Many People"

37:56 - "In War Films, a Tank Is the Worst. For Us, a Tank Was the Minimum"

40:01 - The Encirclement: 200 Kilometers Deep, No Way Out

41:58 - Preparing for Escape: Snapping Credit Cards, Clearing Intelligence

44:14 - Shaun's Capture: Planned to Surrender to a Russian Officer — Got DPR Instead

47:00 - Ievgen's Negotiated Surrender

48:44 - Beatings Begin: Bag Over Head, Stabbed in the Leg

51:05 - Electric Shocks and Psychological Torture: "They're So Good at It"

53:23 - "You're James Bond, You're SAS" — "No, I'm Senior Sailor"

56:08 - The Last Question: What Would Happen If Russia Invaded Britain?

59:34 - "It's My Job to Tell People What Actually Happened in Mariupol"

1:01:32 - "This War Needs to Be Finished Here — It's Imperialism"

In Episode 10 the panel unpacked the politics of Mykhailo Fedorov's dismissal as Ukraine's defence minister — the protests, the strategy clash with Syrskyi, and why soldiers took it personally. In Episode 11, they go deeper: Fedorov's explosive farewell press conference, where he published an 11-point list of systemic problems inside Ukraine's armed forces — and invited the country to judge.Rob Lee takes the panel through the list point by point. Ryan O'Leary — American volunteer, still serving — and Dima Putiata — Ukrainian veteran sergeant — push back, agree, and add stories from their own service that the official accounts never tell. The result is the most granular public discussion of what is actually broken inside the Ukrainian military in the fourth year of war: the E-points system that rewards killing infantry over destroying logistics, the half-built corps reform, brigades that cannot count their own battalions, a mobilization apparatus that has lost public trust, the foreigners' revolving door, and a constitutional structure that means the minister of defence cannot fire a single general.They close with their verdicts — and a shared warning: the window for a Ukrainian offensive operation is open now, but it may close by early 2027.Built with Storyfunnels.aiTimestamps:0:00 - Fedorov's Problem List1:57 - Fedorov's 11 Points from His Farewell Speech2:35 - Problem #1: The Army Fights at the Tactical Level4:06 - The SSO Told Me to File Reports in PDF6:45 - Battalion Targeted Drone Operators — and Got Punished7:32 - The E-Points System9:00 - Brave One Marketplace11:23 - Destroyed Over 100 Starlinks13:03 - Fedorov's Lack of Military Background14:37 - Middle-Strike Coordination20:20 - Problem #2: The Corps System Is Not Yet Fully Formed25:00 - Third Corps Under Biletsky27:50 - Problem #3: Brigades and Corps Have Been Fragmented — Piecemeal Deployments33:58 - Problem #4: No One Is Held Accountable for Anything34:13 - No Ownership & The US Military Model36:24 - 30 Cadets Die in Training37:23 - Mobilization & Busification39:22 - Ukraine's Biggest Mistake42:42 - Civilians Don't Feel Safe49:39 - Foreigners Are the Only Ones Still Dumb Enough54:33 - The Bureaucratic Nightmare 56:35 - Dedicated Foreign Service Branch59:00 - 6-Month Contract Costs Ukraine More Than It Gets Back1:01:10 - Manpower Is the Biggest Issue1:02:01 - Fedorov Identified 200,000 AWOL1:03:59 - The MOD Cannot Fire Generals1:06:00 - Fedorov Was Blamed for Things Not in His Remit1:07:43 - Swap Out the Commander-in-Chief1:09:04 - Post-War1:10:17 - Unfortunate Fedorov Is Replaced1:13:00 - Fedorov Was the Best Minister of Defence1:15:54 - The Golden Opportunity1:20:02 - How Long Can Each Side Sustain This?1:25:38 - We've Got the Russians by the Balls1:27:53 - Sign My Damn Citizenship, ZelenskyProduced by the Borderlands Foundation.🎧 **Listen & subscribe:**All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/Apple: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/d6Vm9DSpotify: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/bEE3Y9Amazon: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/hun4CH▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory

On July 15, 2026, President Zelensky dismissed his entire cabinet — and with it, defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, six months into the job and, to many soldiers and civilians, the most effective minister Ukraine's military had ever had. Within a day there were protests in Kyiv. Two days later, we turned on the cameras.

In this emergency panel — filmed in Kyiv on July 17 — Rob Lee sits down with two men who serve: Dima Putiata, veteran sergeant of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces, and Ryan O'Leary, an American who has fought for Ukraine since 2022 and joins the podcast for the first time — and does not hold back.

In Part 1, they unpack the political thinking behind the dismissal: what Fedorov actually changed in six months, why the streets reacted, who the replacement is, and the deeper clash over how this war should be fought — Fedorov's strategy of making the war unsustainable for Russia versus Syrskyi's push to attack while the window is open.

Part 2 goes deeper: Fedorov's farewell list of the army's systemic problems — E-points, the half-built corps reform, busification, and the foreigners' revolving door — debated point by point.

Subscribe so you don't miss it.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction (Sam Cook): The Week That Shook Kyiv

2:11 - The Panel Convene

3:30 - Dima: Why People Defend Fedorov — and Why Wartime Reform Is Brutal

7:29 - How the Replacement Unfolded: Klymenko First, Then the SBU Man

8:22 - Ryan: "Ukraine Shoots Itself in the Foot"

11:58 - Year Four, and Foreigners Still Can't Transfer

12:43 - Why Six-Month Ministers Can't Work — and Why Fedorov Was Different

15:32 - Replacing People Without Giving Them a Chance

18:10 - Where the Frontline Gains Actually Came From

19:38 - What Fedorov Really Changed: He Opened the MOD to the Public

21:47 - Trust in Institutions — "We're Below Zero Now"

23:38 - The Strategy Vacuum Since 2023

25:01 - "I Asked How We Win — and Got Silence"

27:37 - Kursk: A Brilliant Operation in Search of a Strategy

28:52 - Fedorov's Theory of Victory: Make the War Unsustainable for Russia

31:31 - The New Minister: Brilliant Operator, Zero Public Affairs 33:10 - What Background Does a Defense Minister Actually Need?

35:26 - Dima vs the 50,000-a-Month Metric: Kill More, or Lose Fewer?

38:24 - Strike at 100 Kilometers, Not at the Zero Line

40:12 - Attrition or Maneuver: Where Is Russia's Breaking Point?

41:17 - Crimea Isolated: No Fuel, No Power, No Fleet — but Does It End the War?

44:41 - Making Occupation Unlivable: The Governance-Collapse Theory

48:59 - After the Strikes, What? Fedorov vs Syrskyi on Going on the Attack

49:49 - The Kursk Bill: A Thousand Vehicles and Hollowed-Out Brigades

51:21 - Two Theories of Victory: Raise the Costs, or Break the Line

52:12 - The Counterattack Reflex — and the Lying It Created

53:20 - The Assault Regiments: The Skala Controversy

55:38 - Code 9.2 and the Kupiansk Model: 100 Infantry, Local Drone Superiority

56:36 - Ryan Sides With Syrskyi: The Window for Maneuver Is Open

58:56 - Behind the Drone Line, You Can Do Whatever You Want

59:09 - Area Denial: "Mine Every Tree Line, 15 to 20 Kilometers Deep"

1:00:56 - Bakhmut, Lost Villages, and the Politics of Holding Ground

1:03:23 - Drone Assaults: What Chosen Company Proved in 2023

1:05:46 - The Missed Breach at Huliaipole

1:11:11 - Skala's Problem: Public Affairs

1:15:12 - Ten-Thousand-Man Regiments: Who's Actually In Them?

1:18:01 - Mobilization, Prisoners, and Who Ends Up in Assault Units

1:21:03 - The 155th Brigade Scandal: "Just Dissolve It"

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On February 7th, 2023, Ievgen Malik was told he was going home. He smiled. A prison officer looked at him and said: *"What are you smiling about? You're going to be beaten hundreds of times before you get home."* That was the truth. He was being transferred to Prison No. 10 in Mordovia — the hardest facility in his captivity — where he would spend the better part of a year.
In this concluding episode with Rob Lee, Ievgen Malik details life inside Mordovia: the arrival ritual (stripped naked in Russian winter, beaten by twenty guards with batons and electric shocks for forty minutes); the daily regime (stand from 6am to 10pm, no moving, no speaking, no smiling, no leaning — allowed only to breathe); his 30th birthday (made to sing a Russian song while a guard shocked his fingers for the entire duration); the German shepherd bite that went untreated for weeks; and the moment on September 13th, 2024 — Friday the 13th — when his name was finally called.
Of the 650 Ukrainian prisoners in Mordovia Prison No. 10, fewer than 20 have been released. More than 600 remain there today.
*Continues from Episode 8.*

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▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory 📩 Two Marines (Rob & Dmytro): https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/wt9OCKTimestamps:00:00 What is this episode about05:42 The Transfer: "We Truly Believed This Was the End"08:07 "You're Going to Be Beaten Hundreds of Times Before You Get Home"13:26 Sign It If You Did It — a Confession Means a Death Sentence18:47 The Arrival — Naked, On Knees, in the Russian Winter21:49 The Daily Regime: Stand From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.22:25 "You Are Allowed to Breathe. That's It."31:37 Old News: The Day They Said They'd Captured Lviv32:36 The Guards: Following Orders vs. Enjoying It33:27 Hyenas From Hell — the Laugh That Still Stays With Him42:56 The Dogs55:23 The Ombudsman's Three Days — the Red Cross Never Came56:46 Friday the 13th: the Day His Name Was Called1:00:35 "God, Make This Plane Break Down" — the Flight He Didn't Believe1:02:34 The Man Whose Mother Didn't Recognize Him1:07:02 A Piece of Chocolate1:08:26 A Birthday in Captivity1:10:59 The Exchange: Across the Belarusian Border1:16:11 Out of 650, Only 20 Have Come Home1:20:22 "Sometimes I Sit in a Café and Can't Believe I'm Free"1:22:59 This Isn't Ukraine vs. Russia. It's Russia vs. Europe.1:28:33 Thanks to the supporters

On April 9th, 2022, the Ukrainian garrison in Mariupol attempted a mass breakout. Around 400 men were killed in a single night. The attempt failed. Three days later, Senior Sergeant Ievgen Malik's unit — cut off, out of food, out of ammunition — made the decision to surrender. What came next took two and a half years.

In this first of two episodes with Rob Lee — FPRI Senior Fellow and one of the world's most respected Russian military analysts — Ievgen Malik details the final days of the Battle of Mariupol: the failed breakout, the capture of a 19-year-old Russian conscript sent in with a cigarette lighter, the negotiations on a bridge with a colonel and a T-72 tank, and the decision to surrender with 90 men still alive.

Then: Sartana, Olenivka, a flight into Russia blindfolded, and the beginning of interrogations at Ryazhsk prison. Rob Lee brings the same precise analytical approach he applies to the battlefield — and the result is the most detailed first-hand account of Mariupol's final chapter, and what Russian captivity actually looks like, that you will find anywhere.

Part 2 continues in Ep9.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction (Sam Cook)

04:39 Rob Lee Sets the Scene

05:40 90 Men at the Agla Factory — Ievgen Introduces Himself

08:13 The Surrender Order: April 12th and 13th

08:54 April 9th — 400 Dead in One Night: The Breakout That Failed

16:47 A Colonel From the Security Service — Negotiations Begin

18:34 The 19-Year-Old With the Lighter: Capturing a Russian Conscript

21:02 The Bridge — a Colonel, a T-72, and an Exchange Offer

23:21 "There Is a Chance to Survive" — the Decision to Surrender

27:17 Buses to Sartana — and the Australian They Shot on Sight

31:59 Olenivka: 830 Prisoners

36:13 "An Exchange Through Russia" — the Flight Into the Unknown

42:09 Ryazhsk Prison: Processing

48:02 The Screams Down the Hall

53:10 "Did You Shoot Our Troops?" — the Interrogation

1:08:29 The Sticks: What Torture Implements Actually Do

1:11:55 "Captivity Is 10 Times Worse Than Mariupol"

1:13:19 "Every Day I Thought — Why Didn't I Shoot Myself"

1:13:40 Random Beatings: When Violence Becomes Entertainment

1:19:28 Room 19

1:26:53 Propaganda Is the Nuclear Weapon of the 21st Century

1:30:43 Waterboarding

1:33:57 Outro & Sponsors

🎧 Listen & subscribe: All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/ Apple: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/d6Vm9D Spotify: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/bEE3Y9 Amazon: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/hun4CH Castbox: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/fwdd5A ▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory 📩 Two Marines (Rob & Dmytro): https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/wt9OCK

Produced by the Borderlands Foundation.

Ievgen Malik grew up in Poltava — one of the most historically loaded cities in Ukraine, home to the 1709 battle that ended the last independent Ukrainian hetmanate. He studied international relations in the Czech Republic, watched Maidan from abroad, and understood immediately what Crimea meant. He tried to enlist in 2014. His parents stopped him. In 2018, he went to Mykolaiv, signed a contract with the 1st Separate Marine Battalion — Ukraine's oldest — and then went home and showed his parents the paper.

This episode is the origin story. Sam Cook sits down with Senior Sergeant Malik to trace the path from civilian life to the frontlines: what made him a Marine, what life in the battalion was really like, and what it meant to fight for Mariupol — a city that had no way out — for nearly two months, knowing from the very first march that the only outcomes were death or captivity.

The next two episodes (Ep8 and Ep9), with Rob Lee, pick up exactly where this one ends.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction (Sam Cook)

09:24 Poltava: Growing Up at the Heart of Ukraine

11:01 Two Statues, One City — Peter the Great and Mazepa

15:29 Maidan and the Question of Identity

16:48 Crimea Changes Everything — "War With Aliens Would End Faster"

19:30 Donbas 2014: 138,000 Soldiers on Paper

21:27 Coming Back to Ukraine in 2015

23:52 Army: Plan B Becomes Plan A

26:36 Mykolaiv: Signing the Contract Without Telling His Parents

27:03 Basic Training: This Is Not the Movies

29:29 Life in the Battalion — Living on the Range

32:29 Two Rotations Before the War

35:19 February 24, 2022: "Take Your Stuff and Come to Mariupol"

38:53 One Week Before the Storm

41:20 The War Starts: Holding the Northeast of the City

47:13 Weapons, Ammunition, and What They Had to Fight With

55:14 Under Russian Artillery

1:07:28 The Retreat: 15 Kilometers on Foot

1:15:17 The Left Flank Collapses — the 53rd Breaks

1:19:43 Village by Village

1:22:52 Completely Surrounded: The Order to Hold

1:25:59 Neptune, Charlie, Agla — the Factory Positions

1:32:12 Selecting the Best of the Best

1:33:46 One Month at Agla: March 16 to the End

1:34:54 Night Fights Without Night Vision — the Man With the Lighter

1:37:28 "They Truly Believed It Would Be Three Weeks"

1:38:16 A Month Under Aircraft, Iskanders, and Artillery

1:39:00 Running Out of Food — and Cigarettes

1:42:14 "When You Don't See the Way Out, You Start to Do Crazy Things"

1:46:39 "We Knew We Were Done From the Neptune March"

1:47:44 What the Battle of Mariupol Actually Changed

1:51:52 Sponsors

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Rob Lee sits down with Lieutenant Colonel Vladyslav "Shram" Tovstyi — commander of UAV Battalion "Corsair" within Ukraine's 38th Marine Brigade, operating in one of the hottest sectors on the Donetsk front. Tovstyi built the Corsair battalion from scratch in 2022, starting with two men and a Mavic, and scaled it into a five-division drone force that became a model for the entire Marine Corps.In this conversation, he breaks down exactly how modern drone warfare works from inside a frontline UAV battalion: the three-layer strike doctrine (close / mid / deep), why fiber optic FPVs are a situational tool not a panacea, how Russia's Rubicon unit operates and teaches other units, what losing Starlink access actually changed for Russian operations, and the uncomfortable truth about Ukraine's point-based incentive system for drone kills. Featured in The Washington Post, Tovstyi is one of the most experienced drone commanders speaking openly about this fight.Produced by the Ukraine Military History Institute under the Borderlands Foundation.Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction & sponsors (Sam Cook)03:00 Rob Lee opens — guest introduction03:35 How Corsair UAV Battalion was built from scratch in 202204:40 The drone battlefield today: technology replacing manpower in positions05:10 Seasons and drone war — why winter is the deadliest time to move06:50 Russian infiltration tactics: small groups, same routes, wave after wave08:20 38th Brigade at Myrnohrad: 2,000 Russian casualties in two months08:25 Rubicon — Russia's elite drone unit and how they train other formations09:35 Russia scaling unmanned systems forces: echeloned, organized, spreading fast10:45 What changed when Russia lost Starlink access13:55 Three-layer doctrine: Deep Strike, Mid Strike, and close attack explained16:20 Fiber optic FPVs — Ukraine at 40%, Russia at 50%, and why China changed the math19:35 Starlink on heavy bomber drones — how it's being used now20:55 Hit rates: 40–50 FPVs per day, radio vs. fiber optic accuracy by range25:15 Fighting the enemy in tall buildings — antennas on skyscrapers26:55 UGV ground logistics: 200kg per run, keeping frontline positions alive29:10 Heavy bomber drones: 20 missions a day, logistics vs. strike trade-offs32:25 The point system — perverse incentives in Ukraine's drone scoring34:15 The Corsair structure: five divisions that became the Marine Corps model35:05 Lessons for foreign militaries: kill bureaucracy, think situationally, pick motivated people37:15 Russian mobilization — will another 300,000 change anything?39:40 Molniya FPVs: 200–300 inbound per day, half suppressed, half attacking🎧 Listen & subscribe:All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/Apple: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/d6Vm9DSpotify: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/bEE3Y9Amazon: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/hun4CH▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory📩 Two Marines (Rob & Dmytro): https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/wt9OCK