Frontline: The War in Ukraine and Global Security

“The Russian idea of encircling the fortress belt within the next six months—that’s not going to happen.”Russia’s 25th Combined Arms Army is in “survival mode”, trying to establish a new defensive line along the Zherebets River, says The ISW’s George Barros.

Lieutenant Vladyslav Polskyi has won Ukraine’s highest military honour for rescuing two wounded soldiers in the ‘kill zone’. Maxim Tucker discusses his time speaking with the former teacher and his unit in Ukraine on Frontline. Read Maxim's interview with Polskyi on The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/ukraine-dispatch-teacher-hero-xkv7qkrk3

“They were certainly deliberately targeting to kill the people, to destroy the train, or at the very least to send a very intimidating signal that it is dangerous for Western VIPs to go into Ukraine.” Russia tries to “choke off” constant Western visits to Ukraine by targeting Boris Johnson’s rail route to Poland, says Lord Ricketts.

“If you have a command structure that thinks Russia is already in charge of a piece of territory and sends more people in, they die in their hundreds.”Putin’s self-deception is causing operational setbacks for the Russian military and making the prospect of a ceasefire even more remote, says Keir Giles.

“Ukraine has managed to attack Russia where it is weak.”Ukraine has managed to suppress Russian drones using manpower and armour in Lyman and hold its position, says former British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

“Witkoff plays right into it … The idea that you’ve been spun by the Kremlin I don’t know how many times is at the top of your list?”Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Moscow was openly mocked by the Russians, who called their meeting with Putin “diplomacy of the doomed”, says Professor Scott Lucas.

“Where is the secretary of state, Mr Rubio? … He is absolutely AWOL.”Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Kyiv was “hard to watch” after they sucked up to Putin during their previous meeting in Moscow, says Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

“Putin's pursuing his own delirious ideas... first he invented history, now he’s inventing biology,”A total consensus is forming across Russia that Putin has gone completely mad, as an exploding economy pushes the country to the edge with zero political mechanisms to remove him, says journalist Anna Zafesova.