As Ukraine slips from the international headlines in favour of turmoil in Venezuela and Iran, Roger Moorhouse and Saul David examine a week of \"curious\" developments and renewed escalation. With temperatures plunging to -14°C, Russia has intensified its campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, launching a rare Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile at Lviv—a strike less than 50 miles from the Polish border that the Kremlin frames as a \"false flag\" retaliation.
\nThe hosts also dive into the escalating maritime war, discussing the capture of the Russian shadow fleet tanker Bella-1 and recent Ukrainian drone strikes on four tankers off Novorossiysk.
\nThey explore the shifting policies in the UK regarding special forces interdictions in the Atlantic and the significant €90bn support package announced by the EU, which survived a tense \"EU-first\" debate between Paris and Berlin. Finally, they look at Estonia’s bold move to ban hundreds of former Russian soldiers, citing the \"non-theoretical\" threat of combat-hardened veterans with criminal backgrounds.
\nIf you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - podbattleground@gmail.com
\nProducer: James Hodgson
\nX (Twitter): @PodBattleground
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